Thicker than Water

Chapter One

It's kind of different from the original Divine Right, but goes along the same plot.  There are minor fixes, but nothing overly important and unnerving.  So, enjoy!  And please, comment/share/vote.

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Bright sunlight and a sweet aroma of coffee awoke me.  I moaned and sat up, stretching my arms out like a cat then I sighed heavily.  Last night hadn't been the best because of the nightmare so I didn't sleep well.  Now my body was suffering the consequences.  "Milady, here's your coffee," the butler, Ivan says kindly as he sets a lavender colored mug next to me on the nightstand.  I take the mug gratefully and sip the sweetness of the mint and creamer in the coffee.  I sigh softly and peered up at Ivan.  He was in his mid forties at most with slightly greying hair and deep brown aged eyes.  Ivan had worked for the family for about ten or twenty years, much longer than I'd even been here.  And in the whole time I've known him he was a very kind person.  He was a man of few words and emotions for the sake of his job.  But this morning, the corners of his mouth tugged upward into a tight lipped smile.  "You like it with two teaspoons of mint, yes," he says, already knowing the answer.

I nodded and set the mug aside as he smiled at me kindly.  I rubbed my temples in an attempt to soothe my headache.  "So, I'm guessing you will be needing another pain reliever," he assumes quite correctly.  Whenever I had nightmares, specifically that one last night, my head aches afterwards like a hammer had taken over.  That and I had trouble focusing throughout the day.  Ivan didn't pry into the details of my horrors, but he understood enough to know I needed the relief of the pain that my head was put through.  He sets a small cup with two white tablets next to the mug.  "Breakfast will be ready in ten minutes," he says with a glance at his pocket watch, "Excuse me."  He bows then leaves without anther word.  I'm left alone in the spacious room.

We lived in a large mansion towards the inner district of Nora, the biggest city in De'Lea.  Nora was known for the best traders and big shot councilmen that resided there.  We were especially known for our dentak trees, resembling that of the cherry blossom tree except with deep purple or blue flowers and tiny fruits called dentaks that tasted sweeter than any fruit known.  They mostly grew in the outer rim near the wall or in special gardens in the inner district.  But here in the inner district, you can find three of the fifteen councilmen along with the richest people in Nora. 

I happened to be the step daughter to Councilman William Stone, which put me in that high society social class.  I was now one of the rich VIP people that lived in a life of luxury.  But even then I was tormented for being the child of a previous marriage.  Before my mother had married William we had lived in the outer rim in a shabby house with four other women that ran a brothel.  I was raised by those women more than my own mother.  My mother had been into the rich guys for as long as I could remember, being married at least three times a year.  But now, she had been married for six years to William Stone, probably because she wasn't able to suck his bank account dry quite yet.  That was the kind of woman she was.

With a soft moan, I managed to finally get out of bed and go to my dresser on the other side of the room.  In the mirror, I brushed my nimble fingers through my long and thick copper red hair.  Since it had been braided last night before bed, it was now slightly wavy and not as curly as usual.  I didn't even know where that ponytail went while I was asleep.  My vibrant violet purple eyes glowed brightly in the morning light, almost looking a hot pink.  They were the only thing that tied me to my real father, the man I knew very little about and could scarcely remember.  My complexion was a very subtle tan and my skin very clean of any freckles or scars, except one anyway.  I lifted my night shirt up just enough to reveal my right hip, and there was the burn mark of a symbol.  Since I was a child that burn mark had been there and for the longest time I had tried to believe it was just a birth mark.  But of course, it wasn't.