This chapter seemed to write itself, it so long, I don't know how it happened JI hope you enjoy it! A special dedication for Cat Mai, who is very kind. xx

Keeping up appearances

Adelphi sat with Daryxx's head in her lap in the secret chamber, where no one would really look. She knew Lea was with the other ladies at the temple, as they would always be. The room in which she kept Daryxx adjoined her main chamber, so she could hear if someone came in but she could use it as a hiding place too.

She was calming down after the morning's events because she knew her mother would come looking for her to ask her how it went, and she would have to tell her. The version where her and Therus explored the palace, the royal garden and went nowhere near the library. She wondered what made up story Therus would tell his father. 'Maybe they are talking crudely about my mother', thought Adelphi bitterly as the creature in her lap sensed her anger and stirred. She was angry at herself, she had all of a sudden, become irrationally angry at her father, he must have been an unsatisfying husband to make Pasiphae look elsewhere, thought Adelphi. Pasiphae was using Minos for some plan of hers. She hoped it was only a plan, and not love. She felt sick to her stomach again, clearly Minos had no respect for Pasiphae, Aeson or anyone for that matter, and she wished she had never seen it.

She suddenly slapped her forehead. 'Why would I think the library would be empty when my mother made it perfectly clear they were going to use it?'. She had taken Therus to the library in hopes of showing Therus the scroll of songs, and maybe even sing for him if he asked, but they had clearly got more than they bargained for.

She gets up from her place on the floor and leaves that small room. She looks back at Daryxx sprawled out of the floor, he nearly spans the room now, grown so fast. She sighs, she will have to take him out one night, and let him go into the world. She will miss him dearly. She turns away and into her bedchamber, smiling at the tray of food left on the table. There is one thing that somehow will make her feel better, she thinks, and that is food. She goes over to the tray and picks up a small vial in between the figs. It is honey, lavender infused. She smells it, taking in the indulgent scent, not wanting to eat it but to save it for a special occasion. A simple but expensive and beautiful commodity. Honey. Even better, this is eastern honey, and for a moment Adelphi forgets the horrible sight she saw this morning. At first she thinks it must be from Lea, who has friends and family in the furthest of places and is always receiving gifts.

A folded piece of papyrus is tucked neatly under a bunch of red grapes. She takes it up and opens it. In the neatest characters, there is written a small message, almost too small to even read:

A peace offering gift, to sweeten between us this souring rift.

She reads this aloud, emphasising the poetic sound and rhyming. There is no sender name but she has no doubt of who it is from. A sweet gift indeed, but a vial of honey is a bad way to sort this situation, in fact it is full of innuendo, thinks Adelphi. And now Therus thinks himself poet? All of a sudden, the honey does not seem so sweet anymore, but she can't deny that it is a luxury. Instead of throwing it out in spite as her anger would direct, she places it in her box of private things, which include her bleeding calendar and royal seal.

She takes up the figs, so ripe that they look ready to burst. The plump fruit is just at her mouth when she hears the heavy doors in her wing of the palace swinging open. There is only one person who roams with such authority. Pasiphae.

Adelphi straightens her appearance quickly before her own door swings open, and her mother steps in, but more quietly now. Adelphi sees the message still on the tray and quickly takes it up and scrunches in her hand, balling her fist.

"Adelphi" Says Pasiphae smiling, clearly in a good mood. "I thought I might find you here" she walks over to Adelphi's bed and sits down with such grace that Adelphi almost wants to just embrace her mother. But the matter at hand is still emblazoned in her mind, so she stays stood in her place.

"How was it?"

Adelphi gulps. "It was good"

"Good?"

"Normal"

Pasiphae frowns at her daughter's short and incompetent answers. "Daughter mine. I must tell you something."

'What, she is going to tell me about Minos? I want her to but I also don't want her too!' thinks Adelphi as she nods, fearing what her mother is about to tell her.

"Sit here" Pasiphae pats the space beside her. It is an order, and Adelphi obeys. Looking forward at the tray of fruit, the little message still in her hand.

"I am with child" Pasiphae says this loudly, slowly and clearly. It could not be mistaken as to what she said. Adelphi was prepared to react to the news about Minos but she had no idea of how to react to this. With child. Her mother was going to have another child.

"When did you find out?" Adelphi looked at Pasiphae who looked concerned, but a smile teasing at the corners of her mouth.

"Yesterday"

Adelphi's heart dropped. She knew that she was with child, yet she still chose to couple with Minos. That snake Minos! Adelphi wanted to cry, she wanted to slap her mother and blame her own father. But all she said was.

"Congratulations mother" facing forwards, not looking into her eyes. What would happen if the secret ever got out? This new child would not be happy, Pasiphae would be banished, the king heart broken.

"I have not told your father yet, though we will announce it tonight" Says Pasiphae, rising and becoming her stern and aloof self once again. She turns to Adelphi. "This baby will be a boy, such news will give everyone a cause for celebration" Pasiphae says these words, not realising the hurt they are causing Adelphi.

"I'm glad that I will have a brother" Adelphi too gets up. "When will I see Ariadne?"

"Tomorrow. Her ladies are very protective over her."

"And what of Iros?"

Pasiphae stops, surprised. "He will arrive. Though there is no doubt in which way the favour is swaying at the moment."

"I see" Therus the idiot, thinks Adelphi, still holding that cursed note. Pasiphae is about to walk to the door, when she seems to remember something and turns around to face her daughter.

"How really was your walk with Therus?" she asks, trying to read the expression on Adelphi's face. Adelphi was silent for a moment, she would obviously have to tell her the made up story, Adelphi let out a little laugh, and she seems to becoming a story teller recently. Pasiphae sees and hears the laugh and seems to be mistake it for other feelings. "What?" she asks. Demands.

"Oh, we only walked around for a while, we went to the exotic garden and watched the fish and frogs…" Adelphi trailed off, not one of her best stories.

"I see…"Pasiphae opens the door. "I only ask because, well, it seems he might become your husband after all"

'I hope not' says Adelphi in her mind.

"But why Minos?"

"What?" Pasiphae looks shocked and panicked.

"I mean why is he here, I thought he was an enemy, you said that you would explain."

Relief flooded over Pasiphae's face. "Oh I see" she says relaxing her shoulders. "It is not complicated. Minos has the strongest army for leagues around, whether it is sincere or not, we need him on our side"

"Did you decide this, or father?" Asks Adelphi, although, she cannot imagine her father thinking of such plans. Pasiphae simply smiles and turns around, walks out of the door. Adelphi breathes a sigh of relief.

Adelphi shake her head in disbelief, unable to comprehend what her mother is thinking. But there is a glimmer of hope in all this. She will have new baby brother. Her mother had only borne dead sons, hopefully this one would live to become prince.

Leah was suspicious.

"What is the matter with you?" she kept asking as she wouldn't let Adelphi, who was actually dressing herself, out of her sight.

"Nothing"

"It's not nothing" she says, hand on her hips. "Is it Therus?"

"Why does everything have to be about Therus?"

Lea raises her eyebrows at Adelphi's defensive tone. "What happened?". Adelphi needed to tell someone, but Lea hated being involved in secrets, if she didn't want know about the tunnel secret, she would certainly not want to know the Minos one.

"It's…" Adelphi racked her brain for another lie, it was starting to become a bad and difficult habit. "He didn't actually act as though he was fond of me" said Adelphi, feigning a dramatic voice. But she laughed to herself. She was willing to let people think that his opinion mattered to her. HA! She thought.

"I'm sure that he is, maybe he just doesn't want to offend you" said Lea, sounding un sure for once, not knowing what to say. Adelphi was bored of the whole idea already and wanted to get this evening over and done with, it will be a difficult one, what with the pregnancy announcement and Minos there and her and Therus knowing what they know.

"It's time to go to the hall"

"Is it a secret that I will not like?" Lea says at last what has been clinging on her mind since she came back from the temple to find Adelphi praying to the household gods.

"Yes, there is no doubt"

"Alright" Says Lea nodding. "Your hair, do you not want it braided?" she says, moving the locks over Adelphi's shoulders. Adelphi just wanted to get out of there. No time for braiding gold thread into her hair.

"I thought I might try something different"

Lea and Adelphi both made their way to the hall, just like the night before, arm in arm. As always the noise was already audible, the lords and ladies and the king's foster sons.

Her mother and father were in their designated places at the table, with their honoured guests, there would be no formal greetings of guests today. Apparently, no Iros.

Lea kissed her check and left to go towards the other ladies, all distributed around the hall. The queen's ladies were famous for their excellent hosting. The walk to the table was a short but solitary one, and she felt self-conscious all of a sudden, eyes watching from everywhere. The men at the table got up, bowed, sat back down. Adelphi did not dare to look up at them in fear of betraying the betrayal. She sat down, her mother looking at her almost excitedly. It was almost unnerving. But she couldn't help catching her mother's excitement. Past her mother she saw Minos, smugly sitting there.

The king rose in his seat, lifting the ceremonial gold goblet. At this the whole hall fell silent. Not even the rustling of clothes could be heard, they were so quiet. Aeson transformed his soft and gentle voice, to that of a proud king. "My dear people" he paused looking around. "Atlantis is on the verge of a new age, new alliances forming and our army rapidly growing" at this the men at the tables erupted into cheer, praising the king and each other. "The future of Atlantis lies in the hands of a prince who will be dear to us all". There is almost an inaudible gasp in the audience. All eyes go to prince Therus, will he marry the princess after all? They all think. Even Therus and Minos looked shocked, exchanging glances with each other. Only Pasiphae and Adelphi share a knowing glance. Adelphi now actually feels the eyes of the hall on her.

"My dearest wife and queen is carrying a child, and a son at that" there was a momentary silence then a momentous roar, the queen beamed. The men clapped: the lords, foster sons and Minos's men too. Adelphi now dared to look at Therus in the eye, to see how he felt about what they saw now. She looked at him, and he turned to her in shock, his eyes wide with concern, brows furrowed. He looked at his father who had recovered rather quickly and was celebrating with the king and slapping him on the back, congratulating the potency of his seed. At this Adelphi wanted to hurl an urn at him. How dare that man even dare to mock her father like that? Therus must have seen the indelicacy of this too because he looked at her, almost apologetically. But what could be done, Minos and Pasiphae did not know that they knew, so everyone was happy, except for the four involved. They would have to keep up appearances and were now bound by this secret, even though Minos and Pasiphae did not know that their children were bound too their secret too.

The king sat again and many toasts were made to the king and queen, which meant much drinking, but Adelphi took care to not gulp down too much. She couldn't afford a slip of the tongue today. The musicians who always knew the perfect tune for the perfect occasions began to play and sings songs of love and fertility which many seemed to enjoy. Adelphi once loved the tales in these songs, but now they seemed to make her uncomfortable.

There was no sign of Heptarian, who according to Lea, had been bribed to stay in bed by offering him the opportunity to represent Atlantis in the inevitable future wedding games. He had practiced so much the he couldn't have attended this evening even if he tried.

Adelphi ate with the appetite of a man, the food helping to keep down her nerves. She kept her eyes at the front and her mother was actually talking to her today in the excitement of her pregnancy. Adelphi couldn't help but admire in her mother's radiance, which seemed even more pronounced now that she knew that she was pregnant. Minos and Pasiphae spoke less this evening. Minos instead spoke to Aeson of politics. Aeson simply wanted to celebrate and was not embracing all the talk of politics.

Half way through the evening, the atmosphere had finally died down and the musicians had grown weary. They began a slow song of young lovers, with the lyre being the primary instrument. Some of the king's foster sons and the younger ladies came to the middle of the hall to dance. The ladies were giggling, it was the only time they could be so close to men respectably before marriage, it was often the best part of an evening. Adelphi would normally join one of the foster sons, normally Actaeon, the most handsome, a great hunter who always made jokes so the dance was never awkward. She could look in to his handsome face and smile and laugh, and they would part at the end of the dance as brother and sister. Today however, given the recent circumstances, he took the hand of another lady. Adelphi stayed at the table and could not help but feel envious of the young people dancing. Pasiphae leaned her head towards her. She whispered

"You may dance with Therus"

Adelphi surprised herself the speed and stubborn tone of her own answer. "I don't want to"

"What objections can you have?" whispered the queen, but sternly, telling her that if asked, she has no choice. Adelphi just wanted to scream the queen's secret at her, but that would be deadly. Instead she turns back to the front, almost laughing. If Therus knows what is good for him, he will not ask her, she thinks to herself as she remembers the vial of eastern honey, annoyed that it was such a good gift.

"I have no objections" she says reluctantly. She turns to see Therus, but he is not in his seat. The adultery supporting fool is stood in front of the table before, kneeling. She cannot see his face but she hopes it is a face of shame. After her mother's news, she wonders how he feels now about his father's actions. Adelphi internally screams. Please in the name of Poseidon, save me, she thinks as she rises.

The name of the next chapter will be 'Deceitful Dangerous Dance' and I am hoping for some exiting character interaction. Keep an eye out!

If you have any feedback, please let me know in the comments J