Red Riding Hood | BoyxBoy | COMPLETED

Chocola-Tea

Cassidy's POV

Healer Trish had allowed walks in the training compounds, which had doubled as a picnic area for me and Alex more recently. Alex kept hovering around me, and it was just a tiny bit annoying, but I didn't say anything because he would stare at me with such limpid puppy eyes. How could anyone say no to that?

Coincidentally, we passed by Queen Tasha on our way back from one of these walks. And pleasantly surprised to see us, she extended an invitation for us to join her as she visited her husband. King Olcan had been feeling much better lately, enough for visitors apparently.

Despite finally getting the opportunity to do what we had come for, Alex was still apprehensive.

"Thank you for the invitation, your Majesty," I said. "Perhaps we may stop by after a wash?"

"Yes, of course," she agreed instantly.

Having bought some time, I turned to Alex when we were alone in our quarters again. "Do you want to see King Olcan?" He fidgets but doesn't respond. "Alex?"

Finally, he says, "I don't know."

"What are you afraid of?" I asked him gently.

Alex shrugged uncertainly.

I take him into my embrace. "Darling, we don't have to go if you don't want to." His arms circle my back. "I'm sure there will be other opportunities."

"It's stupid," he mutters miserably. "That's what we came all this way for, and I'm scared."

"As I said, we don't have to."

Eventually, he says very quietly, "we should go."

Our eyes meet when I pull back to look at him. He knows what I'm asking.

"Yes," he replied.

~

King Olcan and Queen Tasha were situated in the living room portion of the chamber. And compared to the previous accidental meeting in the library previously, King Olcan did actually look healthier.

"Come sit with us," the queen beckoned. "We are just waiting for Kellen," she added as we sat across the pair. I nodded in acknowledgement. Alex shifted just a little bit closer.

Duke Kellen enters with a tray of tea things. "Hello," he greets amiably.

"You again," says King Olcan. Very much like a spoiled child.

The queen laughs. "That's not nice, Olcan."

As the duke comes closer with his crockery, Alex starts and exclaims. "You do have chocolate!"

The ensuing silence is rapidly uncomfortable. Duke Kellen set the tray down and everyone with sensitive ears flinched at the clang.

"What. Chocolate." Queen Tasha is pale and resolute.

Wordlessly, Alex points at the tea. There is something in the back of my mind; trying to put pieces together. But right in front of us, it is clear to me and my husband, that there is chocolate somewhere.

"That's medicinal tea for my brother," Duke Kellen told us.

Alex and I shared a glance. "Normally, I'd agree that chocolate is a cure for many things, but I was under the impression that shifters couldn't eat chocolate," I said.

"You've not been misinformed, it's true we can't eat chocolate. This isn't chocolate." Queen Tasha explained to us quite patiently.

But a sense of foreboding was being reflected through our bond. I could probably say with certainty that both Alex and I were equally alarmed and concerned at the unfamiliarity with chocolate that everyone in Lupus had demonstrated.

It was especially worrying since what chocolate did to werewolves was what hemlock did to humans. Except that hemlock didn't smell or taste as good as chocolate, as Alex would recall from his childhood experience.

"What else are you mixing the chocolate with? Who prescribed this?" I asked, utterly perplexed. I didn't believe any practising healers or physicians would use chocolate as medication.

My husband and I watched as everyone who wasn't the duke glanced at the duke. I was starting to feel hysterical. "Kellen said he got the tea from a specialist," Queen Tasha volunteered.

"That is definitely chocolate," I said. Alex nodded insistently by my side. "I had some. I know what it smells like."

"Cass eats a lot of chocolate in Nasales," Alex added. I smiled involuntarily. My husband was very adorable for attempting to prove my credibility.

"I'm drinking the tea," King Olcan announced. Up until then, he had not said a word, but his proclamation stunned everyone into silence.

"Olcan-" begins Queen Tasha.

He interrupts her. "I trust my brother wouldn't harm me without good reason," he said, making eye contact with Duke Kellen who bows his head deferentially.

"I would not," he says.

Alex and I are speechless at the exchange. And Queen Tasha's expression is inscrutable.

The duke glances at his timepiece. "Brother, Councilman Laren is waiting." The king gulps down the full cup of tea and pours himself another.

Our bond thrums with Alex's uneasiness more than mine.

No one wants to leave but we all watch until there is no more tea left for King Olcan to drink. The whole time, I was staring with fascinated horror. Alex was holding my hands very tightly. Even Queen Tasha just looked on, eyes sharp, at the emptying cups.

There is some stilted conversation, mostly carried by the king and the duke. They don't seem to care that the rest of us aren't contributing more than the occasional sound of agreement.

Eventually, there are no biscuits left to nervously nibble at and no chocolate smelling tea. Only then, Queen Tasha excuses herself from the room, saying something about having to meet Healer Trish. The men don't pay her any attention beyond a simple acknowledgement of her departure.

Alex and I stood too. "We'll be taking our leave as well, your majesty, Lord Kellen," I say faintly. "It was good to formally meet you." King Olcan waves as we go.

On our way out, we walk by a sharply dressed man who side-eyes us. He nodded as he passed, eyes looking us up and down before his attention turned towards the king and duke. Very likely, this was the 'Councilman Laren' that had been waiting to see his Majesty. And if he was, I didn't like the way his eyes had lingered on my belly.

I wasn't showing enough to look more pregnant than simply paunchy. Still, it was unsettling to be judged with such a lack of feeling. Like a bug in a jar.

~

Much later when we were very far away from the events of the afternoon, I finally realised that we'd forgotten to talk to King Olcan about Alex.