Chapter 298 Formal Coronation
ADRIANA
I had completely forgotten about court.
Hazel appeared in my room mid-morning with the expression she wore when she had something to tell me that she expected me to have already known, and when she said “you have court in an hour” I stared at her for approximately three seconds before everything came back.
The Elders. Simone. Lucien — because Hazel had told me on the way home from the hospital that the boy’s name was Lucien, which I had filed away and not thought about since. The DNA results that had come back positive. The ruling that hadn’t been made because I wasn’t there and I had told them nothing would be decided without me.
“Right,” I said.
Lana had been up three times through the night. The first time for feeding, the second time because she simply wanted to be held — which was completely understandable given where she’d spent the past several days — and the third time at some point around four in the morning when she had worked herself into a genuine cry and nothing was immediately solving it until Elijah had taken her and rocked her for nearly two hours while I sat on the edge of the bed fighting sleep and losing.
He had sent me back to the pillow eventually, with the flat authority of someone who had made a decision and wasn’t accepting an argument, and I had slept until Hazel appeared.
“How much time do I have?” I said.
“Fifty minutes. Eat something and get dressed. I’ll hold Lana.”
“I’m bringing Lana.”
Hazel looked at me.
“She comes with me,” I said. “She is not going back in that cot in that room unattended. She goes where I go until further notice.”
Hazel processed this for exactly two seconds. “Then I’ll carry her while you eat and get dressed. Come on.”
I showered quickly and dressed and ate standing up while Hazel held Lana, who was awake and looking around, and by the time we were ready to leave the room I was thirty minutes out from the session and relatively functional.
Elijah was waiting in the corridor.
He looked at Lana in my arms and didn’t say anything about it, which told me he had expected it.
“Lucien,” I said, as we walked. “When were you going to tell me his name?”
“Hazel told you.”
“Hazel told me. You didn’t.” I looked at him sideways. “Have you spoken to him?”
“Briefly. This morning, before you were up.” He paused. “He’s quiet. He doesn’t know what to make of any of this. I don’t think his mother told him everything about what she planned to do here.”
“Has he said anything to you?”
“He asked if I was going to make him leave.”
I looked at Elijah. “What did you tell him?”
“I said I didn’t know yet. That it depended on how some conversations went today.”
We entered the courtroom. The Elders were already assembled and Simone was seated with Lucien beside her, and I watched her register my arrival with Lana and watch me cross to my seat without being able to read my expression, which I could tell frustrated her.
One of the Elders rose immediately.
“My King, on behalf of this council, we wish to extend our sincere apologies for Elder Harry’s comments during yesterday’s session. We understand the offense caused and we ask that you extend mercy—”
“Let’s not waste time,” Elijah said pleasantly. “Was Elder Harry not the one who referred to Lucien as the heir? Before anyone even ruled on the matter?”
No one spoke.
“Right. Then he was going to be jailed regardless. Now—” Elijah looked at the room. “My wife– your queen– is present. Let’s proceed.”
Simone was given the floor for her formal statement. She stood and composed herself and delivered it with more restraint than I had seen from her since she arrived — the years of struggling alone, the child she had raised without a father, the simple and stated request that Lucien receive what was rightfully his.
She was good at it. She had clearly practiced it and she delivered it with the specific calibration of someone who understood they were performing for the Elders rather than for Elijah or me.
The Elders were visibly moved. I watched their faces while she spoke.
When she sat down, the Chief Elder turned to Elijah. “My King. You have heard the woman. What does the court say?”
Elijah leaned forward. “I have been clear since this began that Lucien is not my heir. The fact that the DNA test is positive does not change that position. I already have an heir and I have had one for fifteen years. I intend to do right by Lucien — as his father, as a man who acknowledges his responsibility — but I will not displace the son I chose and raised and prepared for this throne.”
“My King, the Prince has not yet been formally crowned—”
“Elder Peter.” My turn. I had been waiting. “Choose your next words very carefully. I am only going to say this once.”
He looked at me with the expression of a man who had not entirely learned from the previous session.
“What you were about to say is that because Leo’s coronation as Crown Prince hasn’t been formalized, there is technically a window in which his claim could be challenged.” I met his eyes steadily. “Let me help you understand why that argument is going to fail. Leo has been raised, trained, educated, and prepared for that position for fifteen years with the full knowledge and endorsement of the King. A biological coincidence that arrived three days ago does not override fifteen years of intentional preparation.” I paused, staring at him dead in the eyes. “Are we clear?”
“My Queen—” Elder Martins rose. “The law in circumstances such as these—”
“Tell me about the law,” I said. “What does the law say about the first wife’s position when a second party appears claiming a prior relationship?”
He hesitated. “The first wife retains her—”
“Good. I retain my position. My son, as the son formally adopted and raised by the King and recognized by this court, retains his. The law protects both of those facts.” I stood up and Lana, who had been sleeping against my chest, stirred slightly. I shifted her. “I will also say this while I have the floor. I have sat in front of this council and watched you support the position of an illegitimate child — and I use that term in its strict legal sense, not as an insult to Lucien — over the formally recognized son of the King, purely because that illegitimate child shares the King’s biology. Meanwhile, Leo, who shares the King’s name and his formation and fifteen years of his life, apparently requires a stricter standard of proof.” I looked around the room. “I wonder why that is. I wonder what the difference between those two boys is that would make this council more enthusiastic about one than the other.”
The room was very quiet.
“I’ll tell you what I think the difference is,” I said. “But I suspect you already know.”
I sat back down.
Elijah looked at me sideways. He was doing the thing where he kept his face neutral in a room and let his eyes say the rest.