Chapter 269 Planning A Party
ELIJAH
She pressed her lips together hard. Then she leaned forward and I put my arms around her and she let herself be held without managing it or directing it, which was rare enough that I understood what it meant. She was finally putting something down that she’d been carrying for a very long time.
I held her and didn’t say anything else for a while because sometimes the most useful thing was to simply be the place someone could set a weight down and not have to explain why it was heavy.
When she finally sat up and looked at me, her eyes were dry and there was something in her face that looked like the early stages of rest.
“The Elders want to give me a formal role,” she said.
“I know. I was going to mention it.”
“You already knew?”
“They consulted me first. I told them it was entirely your decision.” I watched her face. “But I think you should hear what they’re proposing before you decide anything.”
She listened. I explained it, the prison oversight, the appeals system, the rehabilitation cases, the full authority over the justice side of the kingdom’s operations. Not advisory. Not ceremonial. Real authority, because the past seven months had demonstrated what she could do with it.
She was quiet for a moment when I finished.
“I want it,” she said.
“I know.”
“Then why did you look uncertain when you asked?”
“Because I also know what you’re going to do with it,” I said. “Which is immediately begin identifying everything that’s wrong with the current system and planning how to fix it. And the list is going to be long and some of it is going to be uncomfortable.” I paused. “I’m ready for that. I just wanted a moment to prepare.”
She looked at me with something warm and direct. “You’re a good king, Elijah.”
“I have a good queen,” I said. “She ran the kingdom for seven months and left it in better shape than she found it. I have a lot of catching up to do.”
She stood up and pulled me to my feet with both hands. “Come to bed,” she said. “The file will be there tomorrow.”
“So will the kingdom.”
“Exactly.” She turned toward the door. “Come on.”
I followed her and turned the study light off behind me, and the hallway was dark and quiet and the house was full of sleeping children and for the first time in a long time, nothing was on fire.
ADRIANA
It was one of those rare mornings when I woke up with nowhere to be, I lay still and let myself revel in it.
There was no urgent knock from Hazel. No files waiting on the desk. No session to prepare for, no case to build, no argument to construct for a room full of people who needed to be persuaded. Just the sound of the house in its normal morning rhythm — staff moving through the lower floors, the distant evidence of the twins being awake somewhere, Lana’s occasional sounds carrying down the corridor with the confidence of someone who had learned that making noise produced results.
Elijah was already gone from the bed. I could picture exactly where he was.
I dressed without hurrying, took my coffee to the sitting room, and opened a book I’d been trying to read for three months and kept setting down because something more pressing arrived. I got through four pages before Hazel appeared, which was a personal record.
“Damien arrived safely,” she said from the door. “Nancy sent a message this morning. They’re settled. The boys are settled.”
I set the book down. “How did Kyle seem?”
“Nancy said he ate three full helpings at dinner and was asleep before nine.” Hazel allowed herself something that was almost a smile. “Miller reorganized the kitchen before noon because the layout was bothering him. Collins asked Nancy if there was a library nearby.”
Something settled warmly in my chest. “Good,” I said. “That’s genuinely good.”
Elijah appeared around midmorning, moving better than yesterday. He sat across from me and looked at the book in my hands with the expression of a man who found the concept of me reading for pleasure slightly novel after seven months of watching me not do it.
“The Elders want to formalize the role we discussed,” he said.
“You’re leading with business before noon?”
“It’s not business. It’s an opportunity.” He leaned back. “And I know you’ve been thinking about it since I mentioned it last night so I’m not introducing anything new.”
He was right. I had been thinking about it. I laid in the dark after he fell asleep, thinking of the cases I’d already handled, the things I’d seen in the prison system during Thomas’s interrogation and Damon’s trial that had told me very clearly what happened when nobody was paying consistent attention to it.
“Queen of Justice,” I said.
“Formally. Full authority, not advisory.”
“I want it,” I said.
“I know.” He paused. “But, there’s one condition.” my brows shut up, wondering what the elders might want to add. “This is my condition."
I looked at him. He was always so good at reading my thoughts.
“You have to promise to tell me when it’s too much. You don’t carry it quietly for months and let me find out later.” He met my eyes. “That’s the condition. Everything else I’ll support without question.”
I held his gaze for a moment. “That’s a reasonable condition.”
“I thought so.” He moved closer, leaning in for a kiss.
The door opened just as our lips touched and Leo came in, then behind him, Elijah junior and Liam and Lorain. They arranged themselves in the room, the twins immediately taking the most space, Lorain positioning herself with precision, Leo standing in the doorway with Lana in his arms because he’d collected her from the nursery on the way and she was looking around the room with the bright-eyed attention she gave to anything involving all of her siblings in one place.
“My graduation is in four days,” Leo said, looking at Elijah. “The colors are purple and black. You know what you’re wearing?”
Elijah looked at me for exactly half a second. I kept my face completely neutral.
“I’m aware of the graduation,” Elijah said.
“That’s not what I asked.”
“I’m aware of the color theme,” Elijah said, with slightly less conviction.
Leo squinted. “Mum.”
“Your father is across it,” I said.
“I want Lana there,” Leo continued, apparently deciding to move past the suit question for now. “She should see this. It’s an important day.” He looked at the twins. “You two can come if you demonstrate behavioral competence between now and then.”
“We’re always well behaved,” Elijah junior said.
“Around Dad,” Liam added, with complete honesty.
Leo looked at me. I shrugged because it was true.
“Lorain, you’re definitely invited,” Leo said. “You’ve never caused a problem in your life.”
Lorain accepted this with a gracious nod that suggested she was aware of this fact and considered it simply accurate rather than remarkable.
They filed out with the noise of a small weather system passing through a room, and Elijah and I sat in the quiet they left behind.
“He told you he doesn’t want anything,” Elijah said. “He specifically said presence was enough.”
“He said that because you woke up four days ago and he didn’t want to ask for more than he thought you could manage.” I set my coffee down. “He has been telling people at school about you for months, Elijah. He’s been waiting to show you off since before you were conscious. He wants the party. He wants all of it.” I stood up. “He’s the Crown Prince graduating from military school. We are marking this properly.”
Elijah looked at me. “You’ve already started planning in your head.”
“I started planning the day we got his admission letter. I just needed to say it out loud before I started making calls.” I moved toward the door. “I need the house, the garden, catering, and your suit confirmed by tomorrow morning. Purple or black, you choose which.”
“Those are both options I’m comfortable with.”
“Good. Then this should be easy.” I stopped at the door. “And Elijah — you’re showing up for him. Whatever else happens between now and then, that’s the thing that matters. He just wants you there.”
He looked at me with something in his face that was quieter than what he usually showed in company, something unguarded and grateful and a little undone.
“I know,” he said. “I’ll be there.”
“I know you will.” I turned toward the corridor. “Now let me go plan a party before I run out of time.”