Heir of Deception

Chapter 35

Della was perfectly cocooned in the warmth of her blankets. Typically when she woke in the mornings she was freezing, the fire had usually died out and so the morning air penetrated her blankets. This morning however she was the perfect temperature, she snuggled in deeper to the warmth of the bed and allowed herself to drift back to sleep. A rare treat, she decided that she deserved since she'd had such a rough time sleeping these past weeks.
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"Shhh, you'll wake her." A voice chided from beside her...right beside her. Della groaned and shifted, working to dig her way out of her nest of blankets and pillows. She brushed up against a particularly firm pillow. Della froze, and last night came crashing back to her. Oh gods, she was still in bed with Fenrys. She had fallen asleep while waiting for him to return from hiding in the bathroom, the sleeping medicine she'd taken had made her unable to stay awake. Her nerves and embarrassment only deepened when she realized that Fenrys had been talking to someone.

Please be Lysandra, please be Lysandra. Della chanted to herself, but the faint scent of wildfire told her she was wrong, so painfully wrong.

Della looked up and made eye contact with an extremely amused Aelin. The gorgeous female was grinning from ear to ear obviously delighted by the scene she had stumbled upon.

"It's not-" Della rushed to explain the situation, that it wasn't what it looked like but to her horror she heard her father shout.

"Della! We're going for a ride! Wake up!"

Della did not think it was possible, but Aelin's grin only widened, "I'll stop him," she said, "but you'd better bathe quickly and meet us in the stables." Della nodded her silent thanks before flinging the covers back and running for the balcony doors.

"Wait," Fenrys said "let me take you back." He was still worried about her, she could see it on his face.

She shook her head, no "I'm fine, I'll just fly over." She shifted and left before he could respond, desperate to wash his scent off her before anyone else noticed.

Horseback rides were not uncommon, little Evangeline adored riding and often begged anyone and everyone to take her. They frequently turned into a court affair with many people going, using it as a break from the taxing work that they did daily. Della had passed on the last couple of rides opting instead to continue her studies. She'd promised to go on the next one and it looked like Rowan intended to hold her to it.

Della flew through her wrecked living room and straight to her bed chambers. She stripped quickly of her short nightgown, refusing to acknowledge the fact that Fenrys had seen her in it. She started the water not waiting till it was warm before climbing in and furiously scrubbing at her skin. She opted to not wash her hair since they would be outside, she hoped that his scent wouldn't stick to her hair, she would just wear a cloak, or hat, or scarf or something, she would figure something out.

- - -

Several people were already in the barn and saddling up their horses. Della had braided up her hair and sprayed some perfume in it she hoped that combined with the hooded cloak she wore would prevent her father from noticing; she scanned the room for him, she missed him on the first glance across the room. Rowan had squatted down so that he was at eye level with Evangeline, he was smiling at her, eyes alight with whatever she was saying. Della's heart squeezed, it was endearing to see him interact with her as well as the other children in the castle and it made apart of her jealous that he had missed that portion of her life; she knew that he regretted missing her childhood, he'd said so on several different occasions, he mourned the family he could have had but lost to Maeve. Della also knew that Aelin, wrongly felt guilty, as well. Della herself typically did not feel a loss too intensely, she'd had centuries to cope with not having parents, plus she had Annore, so she was never alone. Yet, in moments like these Della couldn't help herself. Would she be more confident if she'd been raised by Rowan? Della suspected she would be, even in the the few months she'd lived here in Terrasen she herself could notice she was more self-assured. Della likely would have travelled more to Doranelle as well. She wondered if she would still have met Fenrys.

Oh gods, courting would likely be even more diastourous for her if she'd grew up in Rowan's house. Already she was a ball of nerves about platonically sharing a bed with Fenrys and she was an adult. A young adult yes, but still she was only 100 years younger than her father. A notably small gap among the Fae. Della had learned that her grandparents had given birth to Rowan in the last century of their lives and as a result her father was raised by his aunt and uncles along with slew of cousins. Another odd thing among the Fae, to have many cousins. 

Rowan ended his conversation with Evangeline and strode over to her. Della tensed, she had her cloak hood just over the top of her head, only halfway and she rehearsed her excuse one more time just in case he said something. She knew that at some point the harder she tried to hide it the more conspicuous she would become. That knowledge was the only thing that kept her from pulling the cloak hood clear down to her nose.

"It is good to see you." Rowan said.

"It is good to see you too, how was your trip?"

"Fine, boring. Everything went smoothly."

Della nodded, she noticed from the corner of her eye that Fenrys had made his entrance into the stables, she'd hoped that he would've opted out of this ride but apparently not. She quickly looked away, not having the courage to meet his eyes, instead she made eye contact with Aelin which was so much worse, the female gave her a wicked grin.

Doing her best to ignore her embarrassment "I am glad everything went well. It is good to have you both back safely." She said turning her attention back to her father and pointedly ignoring Aelin's taunting eyebrows. "I am going to go saddle my horse," Her exist was awkward, but she was worried that if she stayed any longer her father would notice her embarrassment or tenseness or even worse Fenrys scent on her.

Della saddled her horse with practiced efficiency having spent much of fall training how to ride. With everyone saddled and ready the group rode at a comfortable pace, Evangeline at the front adorably shouting that the group was to ride to glory!

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Hi all, hope you all have been well. Sorry for the long gap life has been busy. However, your patience is much appreciated. Wanted to share that it hasn't been for nothing lol, as I shared before I am currently in school and will be finishing the year off with straight A's and got accepted into my top pick program for my degree. Updates are still going to be slow as I wrap up finals and gear up for another move. Happy Spring y'all <3