Chapter 158 - Star - Dinner With Aunt Gloriana And Father Part 4
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Star
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After the exact details were figured out for who was going where for the dinner, it was time for me to go. I didn't want to be late to meet with Aunt Gloriana, especially since she had told me that I was going to meet my father when I went there this time.
As I followed behind Acacia toward the same private study from before, the one where we had eaten lunch, I felt several emotions coursing through me. Excitement was of course the first thing that I felt pumping its way through me. After that, naturally, was fear. I was so nervous and happy, scared and filled with anticipation. It was nearly overwhelming me with just how much I was feeling the shifts in my emotions as I walked toward that room.
My brain kept going back and forth on me. I would think things like 'this is going to be fine, he's going to love me and we're going to have so much to talk about'. Then, of course, I would flip right over to the complete opposite side of what could happen. My thoughts would turn dark, and I would tell myself things like 'oh my Goddess, he had been so mean and cruel to my mom; he told her he didn't love her, and he left us to our fates, whatever they may have been'.
These dark thoughts made me think about the letter that my parents had sent back and forth to each other. It made me remember how he had told her that he never loved her at all and that he had just been leading her on the entire time. I had brought that letter with me when I came to the Fae compound, and of course I was bringing it with me to dinner.
I understood that this basically meant that I was just asking for an argument or fight to erupt between us at some point throughout the evening, but could anyone really blame me? I had learned that my father was spending time with other women around the city while ignoring my mother.
He had left her, left us. And for what? All he wanted was to be a slut. He wanted to have more women, more chances to whore around and do whatever he wanted instead of being tied down.
I would never approve of what he had done. I would never accept him. I wanted to meet him, that was true. I needed to meet him, it had nothing to really do with want. I needed to know who he was and learn about that part of me. I was half Fae, whether I liked it or not. I needed to know what it was that I was capable of, and how to control whatever magic it was that I had. This whole meeting had less to do with me wanting to connect with my father and more to do with me wanting to connect with myself. As far as my father was concerned, I was probably going to smack him across his face.
I sighed in relief as we got closer to Aunt Gloriana's private study. This line of thinking had really helped and imagining myself smacking my father had actually calmed me down quite a bit. When we reached the door that was opened by a waiting guard, I was actually smiling.
Acacia just smiled at me encouragingly as I walked through the door. She wasn't coming inside this time. She had just been my escort here so I wouldn't get lost. If I had not already met the Queen and found out that she was just my really nice aunt, then this would have been harder. And likewise, if Aunt Gloriana wasn't here with me I would never have the courage to be meeting with my father like this.
"Star." Aunt Gloriana smiled at me warmly as I walked into the room. She was waiting by the fireplace with a thick book in her hands. "I am so glad that you agreed to come back for dinner."
"Thank you for inviting me, Aunt Gloriana." I returned the smile she was giving me as I walked over to her side. "Is my father not coming?" I asked her. I had scanned the room when I first came in and of course she was the only other person that was here.
"I thought it was best that you arrive before he did." She almost seemed to grimace, just a little. Well, her smile faltered a little at least. "To be completely honest, Star, I have not told him about you yet." She looked embarrassed at that. She was acting like she didn't want to look me in the eyes.
Well, would you look at that? I guess she thought that my father wouldn't even bother showing up if she told him that he was supposed to be having dinner with the daughter that he abandoned before she was even born. That didn't give me much confidence. I was pretty certain that most of the people in the castle knew why I was here. At least all of Acacia's family knew why she had brought me here.
I was going to wager that my father was going to miss this dinner. I don't know what excuse he was going to give for missing it, but I was certain that he was going to avoid seeing me at all costs.
I know that I was planning on smacking him across his face for what he had done, but that doesn't mean that I wasn't hurt by the fact that he didn't want to see me. All of this was just so confusing and infinitely conflicting. Why couldn't I just go back to thinking that I was just a normal, non-Fae wolf?
While I stood there next to the Queen, my aunt who looked absolutely nothing like me, I thought about what my life might end up like when I left here, or at least I tried to. I couldn't quite wrap my head around anything anymore. And just moments before I allowed the emotions to start to take over, the door to Aunt Gloriana's private study opened up again.
There was a man walking into the room now. I recognized him, I had seen him in pictures after all. The man that walked into the room had dark green hair, even his eyebrows and eyelashes were green. His eyes, which had not been easy to see in the pictures that I had of him, were a cross between blue and purple, it was best described as blue violet I guess, but you could see the purple in there.
I recognized many of his facial features, and it wasn't just because I had seen his picture before. No, we shared similar bone structure. I had the same shape to my cheeks, nose, and jaw. So much of my face came from him. Aunt Gloriana had been right earlier, you can see so much of him in me.
I also had not expected that my father would be so tall. Knowing that he was a pixie, which you think of as being a tiny little creature, I had not been expecting someone who was about as tall as Artem.
Another thing that shocked me was the fact that he still looked like he was in his mid twenties. He looked the exact same age as he did in the pictures he took with my mother all those years ago. That was just another reminder to me about how the Fae aged differently than the rest of the world.
"Aaron, my dear boy." Aunt Gloriana beamed at him and held her arms open for him when he came into the room. I hadn't needed her to say his name to confirm that this man was indeed my father, but hearing her say it made my heart race nonetheless. It was exciting and nerve wracking all at the same time.
"Aunt Glory, I've missed you." He smiled back at her as he put on a smile and hugged her tight. "I was so shocked to get your invitation to dinner. This was so sudden that I didn't know what to think. Has something happened?" He looked worried when he asked her that question, but then he let his eyes slide toward me, and the smile that he had been wearing faltered for just a moment.
I swear there had to have been some form of recognition there. Why would his smile falter like that if he didn't know who I was. Did he see remnants of my mother in my face? Could he tell that I was her daughter and therefore his daughter? Was I grasping for something that wasn't even there and just imagining things? This was all just too much for me right now.
"And who might this be, Aunt Glory? I know that I have never met her before."