My Mate Can't be a Bird! (I swear I'm not into that kind of stuff)

4: Too Young to be An Evil Stepmother

Calaena

"Are we here now?"

"Yes." His handsome, tattooed face broke into a small smile.

"Welcome to Doranelle," He moved aside, revealing the valley behind him-clear blue skies; lush green grass; and a roaring waterfall cradling a splendid city of stone and water.

She placed her hands in his outstretched ones, unable to hold back a smile when he brought them up to his lips, kissed each hand twice, and then led her to the bridge, never letting go. He led her through the towering city gates and bright white avenues as wide as mansions, all the way to the entrance of a large stone house surrounded by large gardens.

Then he stopped, and turned around, giving her a reassuring smile. She smiled back, squeezing his hand, and they faced the door.

Rowan knocked.

Screams of excitement burst from the house before the door flew open, revealing a large, curious, crowd of children and adults alike. They ranged from adults who looked as young as twenty-three(but were likely centuries old) to triplets no older than six. Some had blonde hair, others silver, and their skin tones ranged from deep golden to pale porcelain.

All thirty of them, however, had those unique, pine-green eyes-eyes that were staring at her with open curiosity and...love?

"Is-is it her?" The one who appeared twenty-three whispered with excitement.

"Yes," Rowan replied proudly, placing a large hand around her waist.

The smallest of the triplets stepped forward, pine-green eyes gazing at her with hope and disbelief. "Momma?"

Aelin blinked, the hand she'd outstretched to ruffle the child's hair left in mid-air.

"Momma!" Declared the child happily and hugged her around the waist.

"...What?"

"Momma! Momma!" A read-haired boy shouted joyfully, practically tackling Aelin to the ground as he jumped to embrace her.

"Now hold on, just what the-"

Jubilant shouts surrounded her, screams of "Mother!" and "Mum!" and "Mummyyy!"

Children jumped and piled on top of her, big and small, all of them gone mad in a desire to get to her first. And slowly she could not see the sunlight due to the crush of bodies, and could not breathe -she was dying, dying in the cold mines of Endovier, nothing but another body inside a mass grave, the rotting stench of corpses all around. They didn't know she was still alive, but it did not matter, because she'd be crushed, frostbitten and crushed alive by the rotting corpses piling on top of her -

A hawk cried out from the treetops, jerking Calaena awake. She shuddered at the lingering dredges of the nightmare which had haunted her as she'd dozed atop her horse in broad daylight.

Calaena glanced ahead, where Rowan was. She had tried to speak to Rowan a few times after leaving Varese behind. He hadn't really been responsive. At first, she was still a little mortified, thinking that Rowan had illegitimate children. She'd eventually stopped being so paranoid, realising that Rowan was simply a quiet kind of person, and concluded that those words about "brothers and sisters" were merely lies to go along with the charade of being her father.