Heir of Deception

Chapter 2

Della had heard tales of her father; the ruthless Rowan Whitethorn, a Prince of Doranelle and one of Maeve's blood sworn.  The Prince, now King Consort of Terrasen, was someone to be feared. His power was only rivaled by that of the demi-fae, Lorcan Salvaterre, another of Maeve's blood sworn that Aelin Galathynius had poached from evil females court. 

Who was this Queen? How was she able to accomplish such feats? Were Aelin and the her father truly mates? Maybe because he was such a powerful male he could have two mates? Della had never heard of such a thing, but recently a lot of things seemed to be different from what she knew to be true.

After Annore had calmed down some, she was able to fill in Della with more details of what had happened to her mother and why her father didn't know that she existed. Turns out Annore wasn't even her aunt. That had hurt Della quite a bit. But what hurt even worse; Annore was pushing Della to leave and find her father.

Della did not want to leave, mostly because she was scared, though she would never admit that to Annore. Della was timid and disliked new situations by the Wyrd she'd lived in the same cottage for 200 years! Her warrior King father would be embarrassed to have her for a daughter. Besides, what would she even say to him?

"Hello father, it is I, your daughter from your first wife who is dead and now that you have a new wife and a new kingdom I would like to get to know you."

Of course not! That is a terrible idea! And even if he wasn't instantly suspicious of her, Nalon had painted a pretty clear picture of the Queen of Terrasen. Queen Aelin was ruthless and cunning and would naturally be skeptical of Della. Besides what new Queen wants the children of a first marriage? Especially when she didn't know about said children. Della did not want the throne or any money. She really didn't even want to see her father that much, so she doubted that they would trust her at face value much less like her.

It was decided Della was not going. The only issue was Annore. In the eleven days since Nalon's visit her Aunt had nagged at her constantly, even going so far as yelling at Della for being a coward. Now Annore and Della were at frigid stand-off, neither had said anything to each other for two days. So while standing in the kitchen making breakfast, Della was thinking of ending the silence soon but Annore beat her to it.

"I have decided to move to back to Doranelle"

"What!"

"Yes," Annore continued unfazed, "since Maeve is gone there is no reason to live so remotely."

Pulling her eggs off the burner, Della turned and looked at her Aunt.

"And what of the humans? Who will supply them?"

"They will be fine, I will send word that I plan to move. You are welcome to stay yourself, Della, but I will be leaving" Annore then scooped some eggs on her plate and sat at the dinner table. Behaving as if this was the simplest decision she'd ever made.

Della could not believe the words of her Aunt. She most certainly would not live in these woods alone. She was afraid of the monsters, and spirits in these woods! She was afraid of the dark and the strange noises that came from outside! Della hardly even used her secondary form of a falcon because she's afraid of heights. With Annore all of those fears were manageable, but how could she live apart from her! How could her Aunt do this!

Annore prattled on despite Della's blatant distress.

"As you so clearly stated the other day. You are an adult and can make choices for yourself.  So whether you stay or go makes no difference to me, but you should know that if you decide to go with me that people will likely recognize you as Whitethorns child. Rumors will spread and I imagine when they reach him he will not be happy. Personally, I would be humiliated by such rumors and would seek to eliminate the source immediately."

Della could see what her aunt's blatant manipulation tactics. But there were some valid points. He would likely be infuriated to have such a intimate secret be made public in such an embarrassing fashion. Or worse, what would his enemies do? Della would be outside his protection! And since he had spent centuries playing sword to Maeve he likely had many enemies! Della's anxious mind snowballed from one bad scenario to another.

To Della's infinite irritation the least bad scenario that she could think of was to go and meet the male in Orynth. But she didn't want that! She wanted things to stay as they were.

"Aunt please!" Della pleaded as she came around the counter to face her aunt. She hoped eye contact might help sway her Aunt. "Why are you forcing me like this? Why can't you stay? Why can't we stay? We're happy, I imagine he's very happy. Why ruin that?"

Annore looked up, her cool demeanor cracking, she was clearly heart broken by Della's attempts to persuade her.

"Because Della, you are not mine. I have had you for long enough. You are destined for more than this and rather than face it you plan to hide from it."

"We'll then can't you come with me? To Terrasen?"

"No. I have said this before I will not leave this continent."

Annore's hypocrisy was infuriating. Della suspected that the older Fae feared the wrath of her father and sought to avoid him. Della also, was afraid of her father yet Annore continued to heckle her.

Della started crying. She'd lost track of how many times she'd cried this past week.

Coming up from the table Annore came to Della's side, "Take a couple days to really think of what's best. I plan to leave at the end of next week." Annore said softly.

She rubbed Della's back in a comforting manner. Sliding her hands gently up and down, Della leaned into her tormentors shoulders and sobbed harder.

She would have to go.

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Turns out that Annore had always had an escape plan made for Della in case Maeve ever showed up to claim her. She had stashed money away and arranged for the humans to escort Della to the coast of Wendlyn.

So with a small pack on her back Della waved goodbye to Annore from the back of the humans wagon. Annore had instructed her that she should not cry, that it marked her as an easy target, but Della couldn't obey. That was her home and Annore was her family, even if it wasn't by blood.

"You'll see her again." said Masse attempting to comfort Della.

Masse was one of the human healers. He looked to be in his 60's and had close cropped dark hair and weathered skin. He had worked as healer for a group of mercenaries and had traveled the world. As he got older he wanted to slow down a little and landed at the one of the convents that Annore and Della supplied. He was also going to be the one escorting Della to the coast and was also going to help her find a trustworthy crew to sail with. While Della was over 200 years old she truly had never left the mountain.

The Fae female wasn't completely naive as to how cruel the world could be but she certainly lacked hands on experience, so Masse was there to help. Hopefully, Della being Fae would deter most swindlers and predators but fearful Della wasn't counting on it.
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