The gift of Fae

Exposed

It's morning again, after getting back to the castle with the girls quite late last night, I decided to not track down my mother and demand answers.  But to sleep on it and go to her with a clear head this morning, which also gave me more time to accept that my life as I knew it, was over. 

Picking out something to wear for the day, just praying that Nicola doesn't barge in at any moment, so I can get out and see my mother. I quickly grab a nice pair of jeans and an olive long sleeve top, going neutral today, I think it suits, I don't want to stand out too much when I'm already feeling nervous and high strung. 

Closing my door behind me, I let out a long loud sigh, like here we go, lets see what messed up s**t we can find out about my life today. 

Heading down the corridor I can hear Nicola and her father the King talking out in one of the garden lunching areas, I quickly hide behind a pillar and hope to not be seen. I cannot deal with the both of them right now, no doubt he will say something about my impending birthday and get all hyped up about it.  Then I will turn into an awkward pile of mush. 

I hear Nicola "Okay dad, I wont let you down, see you later" then the scattering of their foot steps in different directions, phew that was close. I wonder what task he has Nicola doing now, no doubt it's a cover up just for him to get her near as many men as possible so she can find her mate, the sooner she finds a mate, the sooner he can begin grooming him to take over his place.  Everyone knows he can be cruel and a perfectionist, I almost feel sorry for whoever her mate is, but I'm sure with Nicola's company it would be worth it. 

I almost jog the rest of the way to where my mother resides in the palace, I reach her door. I need to stop and catch my breath.  Composing myself I knock on the door, with my special knock, so she knows it's just me. 

"Hello darling, come hounding for hints on your birthday present as usual I see?" My mother, Catana says as she opens the door with a big smile on her face, filled with love. I almost don't want to say anything to her, I feel like I'm going to break her heart. Shatter the existence she is living now as well. 

"Hey Mum, yeah about that, can I come in? I really need to talk to you" I say trying to stay cheery. She senses my unease and ushers me into her room and into an embrace. "Honey, what's wrong? Are you getting worried about the shift?" She asks. 

This breaks me, she has no clue, she honestly believes that I am a werewolf and that I'm worried about shifting, my god, how do I even say this to her. I can feel my stomach dropping to the floor and a lump in my throat, tears on the verge of escaping... Hold it together Felicity, you are stronger than this. 

"Mum, I've had an incident at the Autumn festival and I went and seen Madam Prea about it... For some answers" I start off.  She drops me from her embrace, her face going pale, she steps back and sits on the end of her bed holding her heart. "Why would you go see that woman? Don't you hear all the rumors around the castle? What were you thinking Felicity?" She scolds. 

Then my anger starts to bubble, how can she be getting angry at me for this when she was sleeping with her son. 

"Mum, why I went their doesn't matter, what matters is that I did, and I found out things about myself that I didn't know and I don't think you know.  David is my biological father" I confess to her.

She knew exactly where I was going with this when I mentioned his name, her eyes glistened with tears as she was no doubt reminiscing her time with him, and piecing together in her mind what I had found out off Madam Prea. "How does she know that you are his daughter?" she asks almost too quietly. 

"Madam Prea told me she performed a special burial for him after Dominic had him killed" I see her wince in the corner of my eye at the mention of his death by her now husband "She went on to say that the burial revealed that David had an heir, and she knew that he had no other children so you must have just passed conception, because the timing was very close, which is why she believes that you didn't think that I could possibly be David's child" I finish. 

Now Mum is pacing back and forth at the end of her bed, chewing on her fingernails, which she only does when she is stressed.  "Mum please sit and calm down, maybe you could tell me a bit about you and David?" I ask. She looks at me, tears have dampened her cheeks and she is glowing a deep shade of blue. I can feel the sadness and sorrow radiating off her. 

I can see her mentally deciding what she should do here, she decides to sit back down on the bed and stretches out her hands to me, I grab on and she pulls me down to sit with her. She hitches her breath

"It was so long ago, over eighteen years ago now, I was not much older than you, Dominic had been courting me here at the castle for well over a year and he was convinced that I was his mate, but I just didn't have that pull with him that everyone talked about.. But he was also the King's son, so who was I to refuse? What would they do to me if I said no? So I just went along dating him, hoping that one day he would find his true mate and I would be free of him, he wasn't a bad person yet, just wasn't my person, if that makes sense?" I nod my head along so she knows I understand how she felt, but that I wanted her to continue the story. "Then one day down at the farmer's market I met David, and we just clicked, he was the most kind hearted, sweet, handsome man I had ever met.  He made me feel like I was the only woman in the world and that together we could be happy, no matter what. I honestly fell whole hearted for this man, a human man, crazy I know" she laughed off that last bit. 

Wait what? Did I just hear her correctly? It sounded like she just said David was human... Surely not.... My mind is whirling now...

"After months of spending time with David, confessing to him what I was, we decided to run away together, that I would leave the pack and we would find some place on the other side of the country and live happily ever after.  But I should have known that Dominic would catch onto my plan and that he was having me followed. He knew exactly what was going on and made his move at the perfect time.  I know he didn't kill David himself but he certainly orchestrated the whole thing. The love of my life, hung in the forest at the edge of London" she bowed her head into her arms and cried, I get the feeling like she has never allowed herself to grieve her loss of David. 

Minutes pass by as my Mum cries into her arms as I try and console her by rubbing gently up and down her back. "It's okay Mum, it wasn't your fault, you can't help who you fall in love with, and how were you to know Dominic would choose that moment in time to turn cruel" I spit out. Making myself angry with him now, explains why he has been an absent father all my life though, kind of glad he wasn't around now. 

"I'm sorry Felicity, I was never allowed to shed a tear for David. Dominic had me bound to our bedroom for months after the whole incident, and nobody except for me, him and whoever the men where that carried out his orders knew about the affair David and I had, so I've never had anyone to talk about him with, I haven't even said his name out loud since the day he died" she confessed to me. I could see a weight come off her shoulders as she finished telling me what she had been through. 

If only I wasn't about to put that weight back on them when I confess to her that David was indeed a super natural being himself and that's what I am.