This chapter is a bit more morbid then the rest

I think it creates a bit of balance in the story

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CHAPTER 8

It was my second carriage ride in less than a day, but this one was much different than the last. I had received a letter from Sanders that my father was deathly ill and was not expected to make it through the week. I felt like I had been hit in the stomach and could not catch my breathe.

Sanders was only eight hours away, but it felt like an eternity. When I finally got there I jumped out of the coach and ran toward my fathers shack. I stopped before entering, looking at the crude home. It was worse than I remembered, the walls were crumbling and the ceiling had many holes in it, but it was still the place were my father and I had shared many good nights around the fire telling stories.

I ran inside. My father lay on a small table, surrounded by a pretty young woman and a doctor.

"Who are you?" I asked with some agitation.

"The man smiled grimly, "I am Doctor Valrius, and you must be Ella. My, my, my, you are even lovelier then I remember."

I closed my green eyes and searched back in my memory. And there he was, the doctor that tended to the sick serfs, taking care of their ailments.

I smiled sadly, "Doctor Val, I remember you. But, what is wrong with my dear father?"

He looked down, "My lovely Ella, I do not know. Whatever it is, it seems t be eating him up alive, both mentally and physically. He goes in and out of conscientious, I am afraid he may not make it past a week." Valrius shook his head sadly and left the hovel.

I looked at the girl across the table, curious as why she didn't follow him. I glared at her, "Mistress, why do you not leave as well?"

She looked up, "Sister, I belong at my father's side just as you do." I gasped, what did she mean sister?

As though reading my thoughts she answered, "About three years after you left, my mother fell in love with our father. So, at a gathering, when our father was quite drunk, she made advances at him. In his drunken stupidness, he lay with her. Nine months later, I was born." She curtsied politely, as if to excuse herself for her mother's evil deed.

Anger filled me; I was the only child of my father! This bastard girl was not going to take my place in his heart. I, the lovely goddess, was not going to be replaced by this dark haired girl and her innocent brown eyes. "Get out," I growled.

She looked up at me, her eyes filled with confusion and resilience. "I will not leave my father's side," her soft voice firm with resolution.

"Fine, then make yourself useful and get me a cool cloth so we may cool his sweating brow." The girl, my sister, ran out of the hovel to complete my command.

"Ella?" A parched voice from the table asked. I spun around and saw my father was awake. I ran and hugged him, gently, but lovingly all the same.

"Father! How I have missed you all these years. How handsome you look, even in your sickness."

He smiled tiredly, "My dear, beautiful child, how like your mother you have become. With the same golden hair and emerald eyes, I though your mother had come back from the dead for me."

"She is probably too angry to come back for you, now that you have slept with another woman!" I said furiously. A look of anguish crossed his face, and I instantly regretted my words.

"Know this, Ella. I will never love anyone has much as I love you and your mother. Sabina came to me when I was drunk. But, out of that unholy union came a wonderful girl, Cordelia."

I did not chaste him anymore, for he looked exhausted. His eyes fluttered shut and his breathing deepened. I covered him with a large, cotton blanket and went outside to get some fresh air.

I ran into Cordelia on my way to the fountain and instructed her to wipe the cool cloth over our father's forehead, to keep the temperature down.

I arrived at the fountain a few moments later. It was in a small grove surrounded by blossoming flowers and tall, oak trees that provided more than enough shade. Before I left Sanders, this used to be my favorite place. It provided the solitude I needed to escape life. I sighed and sat down on the edge of the fountain.

My thoughts immediately went to the prince, whom I missed terribly. "He must be searching for me, for he will never find someone who fits him so perfectly, or who is as radiant as I am." I said aloud to myself.

I rose a few minutes later, straightening my neat, grey dress. I walked slowly back to the shack. I prayed silently to god, begging him to let my father live, for he was the only thing I had left on this earth. Tears slid down my rosy cheek, knowing that my father was already dead. I ran to the house…

Well I think this is the second to last chapter

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Thanks Jolly rancher for all the wonderful reviews you sent me on both my stories

I so appreciate them

shanice