Heir of Deception

Chapter 17

Tonight Almor would be announcing Della as formal member of the line of succession. Following the announcement there would be a ball which she was more than a little excited for.

Currently she was in a stunning silvery-blue ball gown with beading at the top and off the shoulder sleeves. She looked quite pretty if she did say so herself. The gown brought out the silver in her hair and her eyes popped too. However that was courtesy of Lysandra who had applied cosmetics to her face highlighting her features. She felt semi-princess like, which compared to her normal state of nerves and anxiety that was marginally better.

A knock on the door pulled Della's attention from her reflection in the mirror. Shouting seemed inappropriate given her current feelings of regal-ness so she strode to the door. Scenting of snow and pine she opened the door to her father.

Also dressed in formal attire but in the colors of Terrasen he looked very princely himself. However there was this harshness that accompanied him whenever she saw him finery. She suspected it was because he despised it and so his ever permanent scowl deepened due to irritation.

He blinked at her and offered a half smile, Della swung the door wider and gestured for him to enter. She scanned him once more and noticed he held an orate box in his hands.

Shutting the door she turned to face him. He had placed the box on the little table in her receiving room and now he was tugging on the collar of his green and silver tunic.

"You look lovely." he said as a greeting.

Della twisted her hand in her skirt. She was unsure what to do, did fathers compliment their daughters like that? She supposed they did since hers just had.

"Oh, thank you..."

Another thing she was unsure of; what to address him as. She knew his name was Rowan, obviously, but to call him such felt rude. The word 'father' was foreign to her and got stuck in her throat each time she thought to call him as such. She'd passively mentioned the issue to Lysandra who had suggested calling him 'papa' or something but the thought of calling the male before her 'papa' seemed like an insult. So she had refrained from addressing him. Just waiting until he caught her eye before speaking to him. She was sure he had noticed but he hadn't said anything, she figured he was giving her the space to sort it out herself and she was grateful he allowed her to do so.

"I, uh, brought you a gift." Rowan said gesturing to the box.

"Oh, thank you..."

So profound. Della thought to herself. She could at least shake thing up with an 'uh' instead an 'oh'.

"It's from Aelin and myself."

"Where is Aelin?" Della could seriously use some of the support the female offered when conversations seemed to lag between her and her father. Like they did now.

Rowan rubbed his hand on the back of his neck an unusual display of nervousness from him. "She, uh, didn't want to intrude on our, uh, father-daughter moment as she called it."

"Oh. Well that was considerate of her." Della was unsure how to move the conversation along. Rowan seemed reluctant to move things along himself.

Slowly he reached for the box flipping open the lid he lifted from box an intricate silver crown made of little silver leaves. Nestled between the leaves were little clusters of sapphires and emeralds. It was stunning.

Despite her gift of controlling air she could not summon breath into her lungs.

Her eyes flitted between the crown and her father's face. His eyes flitted between her face and the crown.