Chapter 288 Face My Wrath
ELIJAH
I had genuinely not thought about Simone in years.
Not because I was hiding something. She simply hadn’t occupied any space in my mind since I was seventeen years old, which was before Adriana, before the kingdom, before any of the things that constituted my actual life. She was a fragment from a period I associated with my father’s pack and a summer I’d spent at my uncle’s house because there had been some political difficulty at home. One night, a bad decision, and then I’d left in the morning and gone back to my own life and that had been the entirety of it.
I had told Hazel about it once, years ago, when we’d been young and in the early stage of whatever friendship we were building, and the conversation had lasted about four minutes before something else happened that required our attention, and I had never thought about it again.
And now here we were.
I found Hazel in the corridor outside the waiting room after Simone had been taken to the annex, and I stood in the middle of the hallway and looked at her with what I suspected was not my finest expression.
“Don’t,” she said.
“I’m not saying anything.”
“You’re about to say something like ‘I don’t know what to do’ and I’m telling you in advance that I don’t have an answer because I don’t.” She leaned against the wall. “How much do you remember about that night?”
“Very little. I was seventeen and I made a poor decision and I left the next morning. That’s the complete account.”
“And the boy.”
“I saw his face.” I pressed my hand over my jaw. “I know what that means.”
“It might mean nothing. DNA is the only thing that means anything.” She looked at me steadily. “But if the test comes back positive—”
“It changes nothing about Leo’s position.”
“I know that. Adriana knows that. The question is whether the Elders will agree.”
That was the question I’d been turning over since the moment Simone had walked in.
The Elders operated on tradition and precedent and the law of succession, and the law of succession in this kingdom had always prioritized bloodline in ways that I had never previously had reason to think carefully about.
Leo was my son in every way that mattered — he had my name, my confidence, my absolute intention that he would sit on this throne — but he did not share my blood, and Simone’s son did, or might, and the Elders were going to have opinions about what that meant.
“I need to fix this before it becomes a formal legal question,” I said. “The moment it goes to the Elders as a succession matter rather than a personal matter, I lose control of the timeline.”
“It may already be a formal matter.” Hazel looked at me. “Simone didn’t come here alone and she didn’t come here unguided. Someone where to find you and when to arrive. This landing in the middle of everything else that’s happening right now is not coincidence.”
I had thought the same thing. It was clear someone was constructing a situation.
“Adriana is the target,” I said. “Everything that’s happening is designed to destabilize her. The letter demanding she leave me. Taking Lana to force her hand. And now this — someone to give her a reason to doubt me, to feel insecure in her own house, to be distracted from looking for Lana.” I looked at Hazel. “Someone sent Simone here.”
Hazel was quiet for a moment. “That’s a significant claim.”
“It’s a logical one.” I turned toward the corridor. “I need to deal with the Elders. They’re apparently already here and I’d rather get in front of this than react to it.” I paused. “And the DNA test needs to happen as fast as possible. I want this question answered in days, not weeks.”
“Simone might refuse.”
“Then her refusal answers the question just as clearly.” I straightened my jacket. “Find Adriana. Tell her the Elders are here and I’d like her in the room.”
Hazel nodded. “Elijah.” She waited until I turned back. “Don’t lose Adriana over this. Whatever the test says, whatever the Elders decide, don’t let any of it cost you her.”
“It won’t,” I said.
I went into the courtroom and took my seat and waited. The Elders were already assembled, which confirmed that Simone had made contact with them before coming to me, which confirmed that this had been orchestrated. Nobody walked into a palace unannounced after fifteen years of silence and somehow had the Elders convened within the hour.
The door opened and Adriana walked in. She took her seat beside me without looking at me and without acknowledging the Elders’ greetings, and I answered on her behalf before anyone could interpret her silence as something it wasn’t.
“Chief Elder,” I said. “You’ve requested this meeting. Tell me why.”
The Chief rose with the careful manner of someone who had prepared what they were going to say. “My King. We received information this evening regarding a potential matter of succession. A woman has come forward claiming to have borne a child for you — a child who, if the claim is proven, would represent your firstborn. We felt it was our responsibility to address this before it became a public question.”
“It has not yet been proven,” I said.
“No. Which is why we are here. We would like to hear from the woman directly, with your permission.”
Adriana had not moved or spoken since she sat down. She was looking at a point in the middle distance with the expression she wore when she was listening to everything while appearing to be listening to nothing. I had learned over fifteen years that this was when she was most dangerous in a room.
Simone was brought in. She told her story again — briefer this time, more composed, which confirmed she’d told it several times before today. The Elders listened. They asked their questions. They noted her refusal to produce documentation.
When they sent her back out, the Chief turned to me. “My King, we would request a DNA test. It is the most efficient way to resolve this matter and protect all parties involved.”
“Agreed,” I said.
“No.”
Simone had been brought back in for the formal ruling and her response was immediate and absolute.
“I know who the father of my son is. I was not the kind of woman who was with multiple men. I shouldn’t have to prove something I know to be true.”
“Then you’re afraid of the result,” Adriana said from beside me. Her voice was very calm. “If you were certain, the test would be the fastest way to confirm what you’re telling us. Refusing only tells us you’re not as certain as you claim.”
“I am not afraid of anything—”
“Then take the test.” Adriana looked at her directly. “Unless there’s a reason you don’t want a definitive answer.”
Simone looked at me. “Eli, I’ll take the test. But I want to stay in the main house. That annex room is not appropriate for the mother of—”
“He is not the heir.” Adriana stood, and the room shifted immediately in the way it always did when she stood up with intention. “Anyone who uses that title in reference to that boy will spend time in my cells thinking about why the law of succession is more complicated than they assumed.” She looked around the room. “The test will happen. Until the results are in, nothing is decided. And when the results come back — regardless of what they say — Leo’s position does not change. Not in this kingdom, not under my watch.” She looked at Simone. “The annex is where you stay. It is comfortable, it is on the property, and it is more than you are entitled to given that you walked in here unannounced.” She moved toward the door. “Do the test or go home. Those are the options.”
She left.
Nobody said anything for a long moment.
“My King,” the Chief said carefully. “The Queen seems greatly opposed to this situation.”
“The Queen,” I said, “is handling a situation in which our daughter is currently missing and this arrived on top of it.” I stood. “She has been more restrained than I would have been. The DNA test is ordered. Simone stays in the annex. We reconvene when the results are available. We’re done.”