Chapter 138

Delia closed the room behind her and sighed. Lady Helena's lessons were getting easier with Laurel teaching her to read and write at the level of a noblewoman, but they were still grating. She'd barely had enough time to plot how to get rid of Laurel, but it had come to her in a flash.

Simplicity was always best. She could figure out a way to orchestrate an accident the same way she had killed Laura, but she would need to garner some manner of rapport with Laurel.

To that end, she'd shown up at the orchard to make sure Maria and the rest reported that she was helping. She'd avoided the servants who irritated her to make sure she would lose her temper.

It had been working out well for now and today she'd been making her next move. She walked up the stairs to Laurel's office and knocked, preparing to put on her best act. She had to convince Laurel that she meant the best when she invited her out to have dinner in a few days.

It was the start of her plan to get closer to Laurel. She hadn't figured out who to frame for her death, quite yet, but that would come up soon enough.

Maybe she'd frame Lily or Sarah. She smirked, it would serve the two of them right and would probably be the easiest.

She knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Delia entered with a tentative smile. Laurel looked up from the papers on her desk and for a moment Delia froze, seeing Laura's face. The mirage vanished and she shook herself free.

"Laurel," Delia said, "Do you have a moment?"

Laurel eyed her warily, a bit suspicious and a bit curious. She set her quill down.

"Yes. Come on in and take a seat."

Delia wrung her hands, approaching the table, "I'd rather stand. I don't think I can say this without pacing. It helps me think."

It would also make it easier to disguise expressions she didn't want Laurel to see if she kept moving.

"I've been thinking," Delia said. "Since you came we've gotten off on a pretty bad foot."

Laurel sat back watching her pace back and forth. She wouldn't look at her and that made her a bit suspicious, but it could have been nervousness. Maybe her pride was getting to her.

Alice seemed skeptical, but she didn't say anything.

"I was very mean. I well, I'm not sure what you know about how Basil and I found each other. I was attacked and scared of losing this great life with him. After Laura's death, we started having trouble, and then you showed up It just seemed to get worse and I reacted poorly."

Delia glanced at her, "Honestly, you look so much like her it's unnerving. It's almost like they have a type."

Delia laughed, shaking her head, "I was I am a bit unnerved and concerned about our relationship because he's been acting so differently, but that's not a good reason to have treated you the way I have. Could you forgive me?"

Laurel tilted her head, "Forgive you?"

"Yes."

"When you haven't apologized?"

Delia's lips twitched and she flinched, "Well I"

Delia clenched her fists. Anger swelled in her but she stomped it down, trying to remain calm. She had to do this for her plan to progress well enough.

"I apologize," Delia bit out.

Laurel searched her face. She wasn't sure if Delia meant it. She wondered for a moment if someone put her up to this little act. She could believe that Basil would think to do it, but she doubted it was him.

Maybe she had come to apologize and her pride was nearly choking her.

"Well, I hold no grudge against you," Laurel said, calmly. "But I can't say that I can forgive you just yet."

Delia wanted to scream at her. What the hell did she want from her? She'd already apologized and she didn't want to do that. Why was this little girl being so difficult as if she deserved to be in the luna's seat? It felt a bit like Laurel was just taunting her.

"Well, I hope we can become closer since we'll be family soon" Delia wrinkled her nose. "Well, we are family already, but so much more since the baby will be my niece or nephew."

"... Your brother or sister-in-law."

Delia flinched, "Right well what I meant is that I'd like us to have a more sisterly bond. Don't you think it'll be strange for me to treat you like an elder given our ages?"

She laughed nervously. There was no way in hell she would call Laurel mother-in-law under any circumstances.

She might just explode at the thought.

"I suppose you're right," Laurel chuckled and wrinkled her nose. "It would be strange, and I have no interest in being Basil's mother-in-law."

It would be weird and would make her start to rethink her indifference towards him. The birth of the baby would be complicated enough to keep her indifference in place. It wouldn't turn into hatred, sure, but she didn't want to ever develop any sort of feelings more intense than cordiality for Basil if she could help it.

The wounds were healed, but the scars were still there. She doubted they would ever go away.

"I was thinking that we should have dinner together. Just the two of us to get to know each other," Delia said. "It would be nice to have a less formal dinner so we can talk plainly."

With any luck, she'd learn something about Laurel that she could use later. Wouldn't it be nice if Laurel was using a similar trick against Adolph? Basil was too weak-willed to kill Delia, but Adolph, if he knew he was being deceived, would murder Laurel outright.

It was doubtful as Delia was sure that the werewolf king would know the moment such a thing was used on him, but that didn't mean that Laurel didn't have some sort of secret that she could use against her in the future.

"That would be nice," Laurel's voice pulled her from her thoughts. She looked at the young woman and found her smiling. "It would be nice to have a casual meal with someone closer to my age."

"That was my thought exactly! Don't worry, I'll get it all organized with kitchens. How about out in the gardens?"

She nodded, "Sounds good. Thanks, Delia I look forward to us having a better relationship."

"Me too!" Delia said, "I'll let you get back to work. See you later!"

Delia waved her goodbye, keeping her smile sunny until the door had closed solidly behind her. She hurried down the stairs, careful to avoid Adolph who was coming up the path towards the stairs that led to their offices. Her heart lurched as she glimpsed him in the hallway and she turned down another hallway, but she relaxed the farther away she grew from him.

It had gone well.

Now all she had to do was figure out the best way to get rid of Laurel and blame someone else.

Could she maybe blame Basil?
She turned that thought away. She needed Basil alive as a buffer between her and Adolph for as long as possible.

As she thought before, the servants were the best bet.

Adolph stopped, looking down the hallway after Delia whose gait seemed too quick to be leisurely and too pointed to be without purpose. Something at the back of his mind turned with suspicion and he followed the scent trail she left behind until he reached Laurel's office.

Why would she be there?

He knocked on the door.

"Come in."

He opened the door and found Laurel at her desk. She smiled at him and the small bouquet in his hand.

"Are those for me?"

He smiled, "They are."

He closed the door as she rounded the table to greet him. She lifted on her toes to kiss him and he pulled her closer, intent on getting a deeper kiss.

Laurel giggled as she pulled back, "I missed you too. What brings you up here?"

"A moment's reprieve," he said walking her back to the table and placing the bouquet in the empty vase on her desk. "What was Delia doing?"

She frowned, "Well she sort of apologized and wants to have a better relationship with me."

Adolph eyed her as Laurel shrugged.

"Maybe Lady Helena's teaching and our tutoring session have gotten her to warm up to me."

Adolph hummed thoughtfully. Laurel mused about eventually coming to a point where she and Delia will get along, but Adolph wasn't certain about it. If anything, he felt colder the longer she spoke about it, as if he was waking up from one of his dreams to a vision of Laurel and their child dead.

Elizabeth told him they were warnings, but how was he supposed to know where the threat was coming from?