Page 23 of The Forsaken Heir

After a few minutes, she put her fork down. “That’s it. Out with it. I can’t stand seeing my girl like this.”

My girl ? Well, fuck. Here came the goddamned waterworks.

I let out one single sob, and tears streamed down my face. Delphine’s smile vanished as her face crumpled in concern.

“Elle?”

I wiped my eyes and sniffled. “After all these years, my family still finds a way to let me know how much they hate me. As soon as I think I’ve put it all behind me, something new pops up.

It’s almost like they realized it’s been a few years since they fucked with my head, and they do something to make sure I know how worthless and embarrassing I am to them. ”

“Oh, my sweet girl. Come here,” Delphine said and stood, opening her arms.

She wasn’t the touchy-feely type. She was kind and had basically raised me through adulthood, but she’d never been one for physical touch. Seeing her with her arms wide, beckoning me to her, made my heart ache even more. Never in my life had I needed a hug more than right then.

Leaping up from the table, I fell into her arms, dwarfing her tiny form. I rested my forehead on her shoulder, sobs wracking my body.

Delphine rubbed my back, letting me get out years of frustration, heartbreak, and shame. My tears soaked into her shirt and hair.

“Your family are idiots,” she finally said, hissing the words out in more anger than I’d ever heard from her.

“ Delphine !”

Even prior to my banishment, Delphine had been a loyal and long-time servant to House Laurent. She’d been one of my mother’s assistants and had basically grown up with her. In all the years I’d known the woman, I’d never once heard her utter a single bad word about them.

“You heard me.” She scowled, but her face softened as she smoothed down my hair.

“They are idiots . At least, most of them. Colette was always pleasant and kind with you, and I still hold out hope for Freddy and Sophia, but the others are all blinded by the old ways and the old ideas. So blinded that they can’t see this beautiful and funny girl.

” She shook her head sadly. “I’ve waited all these years thinking they would come to their senses.

That letter from your mother sealed it, though.

They’ve turned their backs on you, and probably will forever. ”

I let out another small sob, but choked back another flood of tears. Delphine grasped my chin in her hand, holding my face so I had no choice but to look into her eyes.

“I will tell you this. I will never turn my back on you.”

My eyes throbbed from the tears I’d spilled.

Emotion welled up inside me, and I had no idea how to get it out.

I wanted to scream, rage, cry, do a million things to try and get the awful beast inside me to go away.

Something about the way she looked at me made me feel a hundred times worse and a thousand times better.

“Once upon a time, I respected your family. Especially your mother,” Delphine said, then lifted her chin defiantly.

“But now, I hate them. I hate them for what they did to you back then, and I hate them for what they are doing to you. Your family turned you out, but I’m your family now.

” She swallowed once, and tears shone in her eyes.

“I don’t have a daughter, but you…you’re the closest I’ll ever have. I hope it’s okay that I said that.”

Words wouldn’t come, only more tears. All I could do was nod.

I felt ashamed that I’d never noticed it before, had never put the pieces together.

This was why she’d chosen to stay with me after I came of age.

She loved me. I loved her too. She was right, we were family, whether there was any blood to connect us or not.

My past had forced me to be so guarded with my emotions that I’d never told her how I felt, always afraid of being hurt again.

Maybe if I hadn’t felt this way, I’d have taken some initiative and kissed Aurelius; I could have told Delphine I loved her; I could have cussed out my family and told them to go fuck themselves.

A hundred things could have happened differently.

Delphine smiled as I continued to nod my head. She picked up a napkin and used it to blot my tears and wipe my nose. Then, her eyes brightened.

“Hey, you know what I think we should do?”

“What?” I said, my voice thick from all the crying.

“I think we should take that trip. We can go to Costa Rica and hang out on the beach, explore the jungles, and drink pina coladas.”

I snorted with derision. “Oh, please. Mom only offered that so I wouldn’t ruin Freddy’s wedding by showing up. You know that.”

“I do,” she said, “but just because a gift was given with ill intent doesn’t mean you can’t still use it. When’s the last time we went on a big trip?”

For a few seconds I thought back on it, and realized it had been years.

“It must have been when we went to Paris for my twenty-first birthday,” I said, taking the napkin from her and cleaning my own face.

“Exactly.” She lifted an eyebrow suggestively. “And if you wanted to take someone else , I wouldn’t be offended.”

“Someone else?” I said. “Who the hell else would I bring? You’re the only person I’m close to, Delphine.”

“Hmph,” she said, ushering me back to my seat. “Maybe. Though, I’m not sure I buy this whole story about where you were this weekend. You can tell me. If you’ve got some guy on the hook, I’d absolutely love to see you head off on some romantic getaway with him. You deserve it.”

Her words struck me hard, and my imagination flooded my brain with images. Aurelius, in a speedo, muscled and lean body coated with sunscreen, handing me a cocktail, a knowing grin on his lips, my face reflected in his sunglasses. Aurelius, slowly slipping my bathing suit off my shoulders?—

I shook my head to clear away the fantasies and laughed, though it sounded forced.

“Oh, please,” I said, unable to meet her eyes. “There’s nobody. Seriously.”

“Uh huh,” she said, eyeing me up and down with a coy smile on her face. “Is that why you were wearing high-end clothes I’ve never seen before when you came down?”

“Uh…well…uh, I went shopping,” I managed. “I decide to treat myself.”

“Sure,” Delphine said, her eyes crinkling together mischievously. “And that scent I caught on you while we were hugging? That alpha male scent?”

My heart thudded in my chest loud enough I thought she might actually be able to hear it across the table. Heat flashed across my cheeks and chest.

“You’ve been gone a few days, and you just happen to smell like a hot guy?” Delphine said. She then tilted her head upward as if thinking. “A hot guy who smells…different. A strange scent for an alpha wolf.”

“Okay, okay, I’ll think about it,” I said, desperate to get her off topic. “The trip. I’ll think about it.”

Delphine’s face brightened. She looked truly happy.

“Oh, good. I really think it will be good for you,” she said, and began to devour her salad. “It can be just you and me, or it can be you and any new friends you may have made.”

Ignoring that last bit, I took a piece of bread and looked at Delphine across the table.

“Thank you. For everything.”

“It’s my job to help you out. To make you happy when you’re down. It’s what I live for,” the older woman said.

I smiled, my heart bursting with love for her. As I started to eat, I decided it was best not to tell her about my time with the dragon shifters. I didn’t want her to know that the few short hours I’d spent there had made me feel more like a shifter than I ever had before.

When I’d walked the halls and grounds with Aurelius, I’d felt alive in a way I couldn’t even describe.

They hadn’t treated me differently because I couldn’t shift.

They’d accepted me. I’d dreamed of being accepted like that, yet it hadn’t come from my own people.

It had come from the leaders of our rivals.

For well over a decade, Delphine had done her best to give me a home here in this city, to make me whole and happy in my exile. Yet, I’d found peace and happiness in the one place I was never meant to be.

In the house of a dragon.