Henri sighed, a weight falling off his shoulders. Although he believed Claude, there was a niggling feeling at the back of his mind that would never go away, the fear that he would wake up one morning and find Claude gone again.

Claude seemed to read his thoughts loud and clear through his expressive grey eyes because he leaned forward to join their lips together, the tension in his shoulders easing when Henri accepted the kiss.

He had planned to return when Henri needed his protection, and that was when he started to perform his princely duties which would take him out of the safety of the castle walls. But Henri needed him before that, so he came back but the other didn’t need to know that.

Henri leaned back when Claude slowly rose to his feet, his arms tightly wrapped around his neck like he expected him to disappear right out of his hold. A knock interrupted just as Claude deepened the kiss, making them spring apart.

The Alpha shot a dark look at the door but straightened up nonetheless to take a look, the furrows between his brows straightened out when he saw that it was a staff of the college, Sir Bolton’s secretary to be specific.

The secretary faltered slightly at the sight of Claude, he had been expecting the Prince to answer the door himself. "I apologize for the intrusion but Her Majesty, the Queen is at the college and has requested to see her son."

Henri sat upright at this, "My mother is here?" He repeated, walking over. It was easy to push his heat to the side because Claude took up all of the space in his head but now that he had seen Claude and kissed him even, he remembered that he intended to head back to the castle, good thing his mother was here then.

The secretary saw his life flash before his eyes when the Prince walked up with love bites littered on his neck - who was responsible for it?? He had literally spent the past few days, today inclusive, dealing with a mountain of paperwork as a result of the premeditated attacks on the young Prince, now there was this to worry about??

It wasn’t his place to make a comment on it though so he just bowed slightly and nodded, "Yes, Her Majesty is currently at the Head Chancellor’s office, if you would come with me." He invited, immediately heading off. This was all Sir Bolton’s problem to deal with after all, not his.

"Are you coming along?" Henri asked when it looked like Claude was hesitating.

"Yeah," Claude agreed in a heartbeat, going with him. His original intention was to tell Henri all about what happened with his heat but he had gotten sidetracked. Well, he would find out eventually, there was no reason to hurriedly fill him in when a full report would be given to him by the Head Chancellor.

Sir Bolton didn’t think he could be in a worse position than he already was with the Queen staring down disapprovingly at him with the most displeased expression he had ever seen the Omega wear, not until the reason for her anger walked in with substantial evidence that he had been attended to in his heat.

Like his secretary knew that it was all about to go up in flames, he quickly made himself scarce after completing his task - lucky bastard.

"Henri!" Marina shot to her feet in Henri’s direction, her happiness to see her son dialing up when she saw who was right beside him. She winked at Claude as she pulled Henri into a hug, leaning back to look him over. "Are you alright, dearest?"

"I’m alright, thanks to Claude," Henri said without thinking, he had been referring to the attack during his camping trip but after speaking, he realized just how scandalous his words must have sounded.

Marina took this in stride, not even pointing it out although Sir Bolton had gone a very worrisome shade of red as he glanced up at the noble Alpha in question who had the smuggest look on his face - The young duke was going to have him killed!

"How nice to see you, Claude, thanks for looking after Henri." She said sweetly, returning to her seat with her son in tow. "I suppose you don’t know what’s going on yet," She said to Henri, not letting go of his hand the entire time. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

"No, I don’t." He affirmed, instinctively reaching for Claude with his free hand so that the Alpha could take the chair on his other side.

"Sir Bolton if you could?" Marina turned to the Head Chancellor.

The older Alpha cleared his throat self-consciously, anxious under the judgemental stares of three of the most powerful people in the country. "Ah, it would seem that just like the unfortunate camping incident, there was yet another fanatic group from a different country, and they were responsible for tampering with your heat suppressants." He managed to say without choking on air an expiring.

Henri didn’t even look surprised, he was just disappointed. "I don’t appreciate being the focal point of so many dangerous religions." He said shortly.

Marina immediately straightened her shoulders, a dark look on her face. She was dressed formally today, in an elaborate dress that billowed around her, her crown sitting stately on her hair. "You heard the Prince, make it a rule. Being a member of a fanatic group is grounds to be disqualified from being granted acceptance into the Academy."

Bolton was already writing before the Queen was done speaking, "Certainly, Your Majesty, I’ll have that arranged."

"Do you want to return to the castle with me, Henri?" Marina asked sweetly, in a manner that was far different from the tone she had used with the Head Chancellor.

Henri thought it over, that had been his initial plan but now that he had found out that he wasn’t defective and his pills had just been tampered with, there was really no reason to leave anymore. "No, Mother, I’m just fine."

"Good thing I brought more pills with me," Marina beamed, handing Henri an all too familiar bag.

Henri eyed the package suspiciously, there was really no reason to be self-conscious about his heat suppressants anymore, not when anyone that mattered already knew about what had happened. "I hope it doesn’t have any odd flavors,"

Marina waved his worries away with a slender hand, "Of course not." She had been very worried when she received information about Henri going into heat, and although she had been in the countryside when Eli told her, she immediately hopped into a carriage and headed for the capital.

Seeing Henri looking just fine was enough to calm her down sufficiently but seeing that he had also made up with Claude was the cherry on top. She was still upset but she was also very pleased with this outcome.

She knew that Henri could take perfect care of himself and if he needed her help, he would always come to her so after making sure he was alright and sending him off with another hug, she turned on the Head Chancellor, ready to chew him out.

It was better that she had been the one to show up and not Eli because her husband would have definitely sent heads rolling first and then asked questions later. The first fanatic group had been dealt with quickly, the King of Langen quickly traveling down to Reinhold with gifts and an apology on the tip of his tongue.

He took the offenders back to his country and was quick to serve them severe sentences as penance for their crimes. Their religious group was also dissolved a labeled a crime to participate in.

The second matter would most likely follow the same path, as just like the first incident, the Kings were unaware of their citizens’ plots. King Felton had sent a letter the moment he was informed and would also be paying a visit to Reinhold to resolve the matter in a timely manner.

-*-

Valentin stared over his drink at Alexander, feeling like the entire cafeteria had their eyes on them and that was because they did. What was he thinking when he agreed to this?? Why did he think it was such a great idea?

It also didn’t help matters that Alexander didn’t seem to notice that they were the center of attention, keeping his own attention right on him as he sipped his drink with a placid expression on his face.

"You don’t look very comfortable, is something wrong?" Alexander asked considerately, leaning forward.

Valentin had had enough then, he rose to his feet. "I’ll uh... I’ll leave now." He said awkwardly, leaving the table. "Thanks for the drink." He forced himself to say before turning around and hurrying out like there was a gun to his head.

And maybe there was because he was terrified that Alexander would follow him again but he made it back to the walkway all alone, and one look behind told him that he was not followed. He sighed, maybe he should have taken up Audie’s offer to move in with him after all to spare him all this trouble.

Talking about Audie, his friend must have returned from his daredevil exploration of the forbidden cellar. He should go check up on him, and maybe ask if his offer of being roommates was still an option.