Chapter 175 School is not Optional
THIRD POV
They changed quickly and went down.
The beach in the afternoon was warm and unhurried and they behaved, without either of them planning to, like people who had been temporarily released from all accumulated responsibility.
They went into the water and were surprised by waves and laughed about it. They built something in the sand that started as a castle and became, through a series of collaborative decisions that neither of them had initiated, something more like a fortified structure with pretensions. They buried each other up to various depths and argued constructively about the correct technique. Adriana found a shell she liked and Elijah carried it back to the room for her without comment.
By the time they returned to the penthouse they were both exhausted and salt-dried and happy in the uncomplicated way that physical activity and sunshine produce, and they fell asleep with the windows open and the sound of the ocean coming in and neither of them woke until the room had gone blue with early evening.
Adriana woke to find Elijah already dressed in a suit, sitting in the chair near the window, looking out at the water.
She stared at him.
“What is happening right now?”
“Dinner,” he said. “Your dress is on the chair.”
She looked and sure enough, there was a dress on the chair that she had not brought with her, alongside shoes and a small set of accessories that she recognized as things she had mentioned once, briefly, in the context of something else entirely, months ago.
He had been listening. He always had been.
She got ready quickly, mildly frantic, not knowing what was planned and therefore not knowing what the appropriate pace was. She made it downstairs only to realize she had left her phone in the room and also had no idea where she was supposed to go. A member of the hotel staff appeared and offered to show her the way, which confirmed that Elijah had organized even this detail in advance.
The man led her through the hotel and out onto the beach.
The table was set on the sand, directly on the shore. Elijah was standing beside it in his suit, the ocean behind him, and when she saw him she laughed. Unable to hide her joy.
She walked across the sand and took his hands.
“You are completely unnecessary,” she said.
“Happy anniversary,” he said.
She laughed again and let him pull her in, and the ocean kept moving behind them, and the candles held against the evening wind, and the dinner was exactly what it was supposed to be — the two of them, finally, with nowhere else to be.
ADRIANA
The thing about Elijah’s feet was that they had absolutely no concept of consideration.
I had been sleeping peacefully, or as peacefully as one sleeps when sharing a bed with a man who generated body heat equivalent to a small furnace, when the weight of his footsteps began making their way around the room in a purposeful pattern of someone who has decided their morning has begun and sees no reason why this should be a private event.
I opened one eye.
He was at the wardrobe, already half dressed, moving through his morning routine a little absentmindedly. If not, he would have immediately noticed I was awake. I had learned to read it the way you learn to read weather.
“You could have warned me,” I said.
He turned around and the focused expression gave way to something warmer. He crossed the room and sat on the edge of the bed and leaned down and kissed me properly.
“Good morning, beautiful. How did you sleep?”
“Adequately, considering the snoring.”
“I don’t snore.”
“Elijah. I have recordings.”
He had the audacity to look unconvinced. I pushed the covers back and stood up and moved toward him, beginning the process of helping him with the buttons he was working through because he always missed the third one when he was thinking about something else, which was most mornings.
“You came to bed late. What was that about?”
He sighed, which was its own kind of answer before the words arrived.
“The elders have been pressing me about the diplomatic situation with the wolves. They want formal treaty relations established and they’ve been making the case that it would benefit the kingdom in measurable ways, economically and in terms of border security.” He paused. “They’re not wrong. I just resent being steered into things, even when the steering is correct.”
“So you agree with them.”
“I agree with the outcome. I object to the process of being managed toward it.”
I smoothed the collar of his jacket and looked up at him.
“It’s one meeting. You have walked into situations considerably more threatening than a diplomatic table and come out the other side without injury. You are the Lycan King. Walk in, say what you came to say, hear what they have to say, and come home.” I paused. “Besides, it was my pack that merged with yours. If anyone at that table has an opinion about wolves and Lycans sharing space, you can simply point at your Luna and tell them it’s been working out.”
He almost smiled at that.
“I’m taking Leo with me.”
I stopped.
“Leo is in school.”
“I know.”
“Elijah. He has examinations this month.”
“He’s been asking to come to a formal meeting outside the pack for the better part of a year. He’s ready for it. This is exactly the kind of experience I want him to have while he’s still young enough to absorb it without the weight of expectation on it.”
“He has examinations.” I pressed. He needed to focus and ace his exams.
“He’s my son and I need him.”
I looked at him for a long moment.
“You cannot pull that boy out of school every time you want company on a trip. He is going to grow up thinking education is optional.”
“Education is optional when the Lycan King decides it is.”
“That is an absolutely terrible thing to teach a teenager.”
He kissed my forehead as a way to end the argument, and I knew I wasn't going to win this.
“Have a wonderful day, my Queen.”
He was out the door before I had assembled a sufficient response.