Descendants of the Kings (Book 2)

Ch 44: Fair is fair

Callan did not, in fact, allow Ella to weasel out of an unbraiding just for pouting and looking sweet, as Aedion had insinuated.

Rather, the very next day, as promised, they'd had a very stern talk. It had mostly consisted of Ella explaining her poorly thought-out plan to retrieve her sister's belongings that had somehow ended in accidentally encountering demons and dismantling what was likely a mass summoning. All the while, Callan had simply observed her with that disapproving look he'd perfected. The one that made her feel like a thoroughly chastised child.

Up until coming to Faerie, Ella had never truly experienced being reprimanded in a healthy manner. All that Harrion managed to do was whip her and make her hate him more, and never had she once truly repented for anything she'd done. Why would she? Physical and emotional violence rarely bred obedient children, rather, resentful children who learned how to be sneakier.

But with Callan, it was different. He was just a concerned, albeit frustrated father. Even as he reprimanded her, it never felt like he didn't love her, only the opposite. He reprimanded her because he loved her. He explained why he didn't want her to do the things she did. He never insulted her, he never spoke down to her.

He was fair. Truly. It still didn't make Ella dislike his punishment any less.

"Believe me, this hurts me more than it does you, Elowen," Callan finalised, shaking his head with his mouth turned down dourly. "I never wanted it to come to this, but you've forced my hand."

"Come to what?" Valren asked, catching the tail end of the conversation as she ambled into Callan's study. "Gods, is he sending you to clean the dungeons? I swear, there are blood stains there older than Callan himself."

Callan gave Valren an unamused look as she settled into a chair beside Ella and gave her a quick squeeze. "Hello, you. Have a fun time running away from Kelpies, I heard?"

Ella huffed and shook her head. "You already know?"

"Do we ever," Blaise answered, coming into the study followed by Aedion. He brushed her shoulder affectionately when he passed by and settled into a chair beside Val. "Are you feeling better? Aedion looked terrible last night."

"Like death thrice warmed over," Valren agreed cheerfully.

"Thanks ever so for your kind words," Aedion commented dryly, forgoing a chair and leaning a hip against Callan's desk.

He looked better than he had last night by a landslide. He'd showered, his hair was swept in that purposely messy look, and he wore the usual black tunic beneath a dark velvet doublet. His eyes, despite still having a hint of shadows beneath, looked much more rested and awake.

Ella and Aedion had spoken very little since that morning. Sometime after sunrise, they'd been risen by a maid coming by with breakfast and a summoning from Callan. Still too sleepy to be coherent, they'd stayed in bed a while longer, sharing a pot of tea and a tray of buttered toast in comfortable silence.

Despite it being the routine they'd had during the trip, that morning, it had felt different.

There was no one forcing them to have breakfast in bed, shoulders pressed together, Ella's thigh casually draped over Aedion's lap. It had felt natural for her to dress in front of him as he read the morning Kingdom reports, propped up on a pile of pillows on her bed, sneaking glances at her every so often. It felt normal for her to press a quick kiss to his mouth, telling him to go back to sleep as she rushed to her meeting with Callan.

She hadn't even realised she'd done it until she was halfway down the hall. When had it become so natural to touch him without a thought?

Even now, as Aedion stood close to her, she just about curbed the impulse to lean her head against his side and ask about his morning. Good grief. When had she become so pathetically clingy? Ella hadn't even liked physical touch before Aedion. To think that now she'd normalised it in such a way was unfathomable. Sickening, truly.