Father's Daughter

Reyna appreciated Kenny's straightforwardness though it made her uncomfortable. Was this the kind of topic people who shared the same love interest normally discussed? She had never experienced anything like this before, so she hoped she wasn't making a fool out of herself.

"No," she said when she couldn't find any reason to tell the truth. She thought it was only fair that it was Kenny's turn to answer her own question. But Kenny said nothing. Instead, she complimented Reyna's delicate features and called her beautiful.

Kenny was more beautiful than her. If this girl put on an expensive gown and a crown, she could be a real princess. Princes and gentlemen would be lining up to ask for her hand. She wouldn't have to settle for that rude Gideon. Maybe then, when she had so many great options, she would leave Rowan alone.

Reyna couldn't believe it. Did she really consider playing matchmaker just to get rid of Kenny? That was low for a princess. She almost didn't recognise herself.

The silence, once again, began to stretch. She was waiting for Kenny to ask about her adventure with Rowan. At least Stefan, Caleb, and Jenny had. People were usually curious about the story. But Kenny didn't raise a single question. She was fine with knowing that Rain, who used to be a maid in King Willem's castle, had helped Rowan out of prison, somehow they had made it back to Theros alive, and most importantly, Rain allegedly didn't have feelings for Rowan. That seemed to be enough for Kenny.

The flame in the fireplace was dancing in Kenny's eyes as she spoke again, "can I tell you a secret?"

Reyna grew stiff. "A secret?"

"Yes. But you cannot tell anyone."

"But...Why me?"

"Because we just met. I'd rather be judged by someone I just met than someone I know," Kenny said, her smile fading.

Reyna straightened her back and took a deep breath. That sounded like a justified answer. But she hoped the secret wasn't something as serious as Kenny having committed murder. Reyna already had a hard time dealing with her own crimes; she couldn't take on someone else's guilt.

"I'm not here to see my mum," Kenny said, and Reyna stopped picking at her own arm. "I lied to Gideon that my mother was sick so he would let me go. He didn't care about my mother to even check on her to see if I was lying. I came because...because my sister's husband saw Rowan at the gate. I had to see for myself if that was true."

Reyna didn't know what to say. A part of her had always known Kenny had come back to this village because Rowan was home. To hear it from the girl only made it worse.

"My father was poor, so my mother wanted me and my sisters to marry rich. She didn't approve of Rowan. She said, 'as long as I'm still your mother, you will not marry the blacksmith's son.'" Kenny raised her eyebrows as she simpered, "She was so happy to hear that he was dead. She didn't care that it nearly killed me."

Reyna knew exactly how it felt. She thinned her lips and scrutinised Kenny. Her feelings towards this girl kept shifting back and forth between jealousy and sympathy. But the next thing Kenny said sent her brain into lockdown, "I'll ask him to run away with me."

What did she mean? Ask whom to run away with her? Rowan? Reyna's Rowan?

"I'll ask him tonight. We'll run far away from here and start a family. And we'll come back to visit his family once in a while. I don't care about Gideon's wealth, only my mother does. He doesn't love me. And I can't love him." Kenny placed her hands over Reyna's, her voice desperate yet hopeful. "I was so relieved to know that you're only his friend. Because I could...I could never compete with you."

What was happening? Please, stop. Stop talking, please...

"I'm telling you this because I need to get it off my chest. No one has loved me the way Rowan did. D-Do you...do you think he still does?"

Reyna could say no. She wanted to say no and tell Kenny to get rid of that idea because Rowan was hers now. But her conscience didn't let her answer on his behalf. When did he ever say that he was hers? She had made it up all in her head because she loved him and felt possessive of him. She didn't know what he wanted. It might not be her.

She parted her lips, her breathing unsteady as Kenny squeezed her hands, asking for the answer she couldn't give. The words rolled out of her tongue before she could swallow them, "You should ask him."

"Really?" Kenny said brightly, and Reyna nodded her head, her smile didn't reach her eyes. "Thank you! I'll speak to him in private after dinner. Then, I'll ask him."

And Reyna would wait. She hoped there was ale. She would drink a lot of ale while expecting the worst.

"Kenny, can you lend me a hand?"

"Coming!" Kenny shouted back to Jenny and hurried to the back of the house. Quickly, Reyna got to her feet and rushed after her.

In the kitchen full of cooking smoke, Jenny was struggling with the steaming pot of soup while making sure the fire was going at steady heat. Reyna didn't know how it worked. She had never watched people cook before.

She stood rigid in the doorway as Jenny asked Kenny to fry the fish. Kenny gracefully moved around the chairs and collected different ingredients on the crooked shelves. Reyna watched them carry out their tasks so effortlessly, like when she danced with her sword. Sword-fighting suddenly looked like a children's game now.

"Just leave us, Rain. You don't have to do anything," Jenny said, and Reyna should have fled right away. But she was her father's daughter. Arrogance ran in her blood. She had to go in.

"I want to help," she said and padded across the kitchen to where Jenny was standing.

"Okay." Jenny nodded her head at the raw pork on one of the dishes. "You can roast the pork."

Reyna rubbed her eyes as the smoke made them water and fumbled through the ingredients and vegetables. She had no clue how to start. How should pork be roasted? What should it be roasted with? Did you start by chopping it, or putting the ingredients on it? Wait, did you put ingredients directly on the pork, or into the pot?

"Are you looking for onions?" Kenny's voice made her spin around.

"Yes, onions!" She accepted those from Kenny. Thank you, Kenny.

She believed she had seen Stefan cut an onion before. If she wasn't engulfed in smoke, she would have recalled it already. She picked up a random knife she saw on the table, staring attentively at the round vegetable as if it was the first time she'd seen it. It was in the wrong colour! Right, she must peel its skin first.

She wiped the beads of sweat upon her brows with her sleeve and started peeling. She had to do it quickly so Jenny and Kenny wouldn't get suspicious. Once she had the white onions that looked like the ones Stefan had cooked, she picked up the knife again. Thanks to her sword skills, she chopped them perfectly and wiped her hands with a cloth.

"Here. Use this pan." Jenny handed her a pan and that was actually the first time she'd held it in her hands. But these women should not know that. She was Rain, not Princess Reyna of Isolde. Rain was a maid, who should be an expert on pans and pots.

She suppressed a smile at her own stupid joke and poured a bit of oil into the pan. Look at her. She was cooking like she'd done it since she was born. She proudly placed the pan over the fire. But right as she put the onions in, the oil splattered onto her arms and she bounced back, dropped the pan and bumped into Jenny.

The world stopped. Four eyes set on her. She stumbled over her apology and blindly reached for the pan to pick it up. The heat stung her fingertip and she jerked away, sucking the burnt finger into her mouth.

As her heart finally slowed down, she stared at the oil-covered onions on the ground. She'd not only ruined dinner, but also her dignity.

"Are you okay?" Jenny grabbed Reyna's arm, but she pulled away, her mouth wrinkled. It was meant to be a smile, but she was on the verge of tears.

When Kenny asked, "Would you like to lie down for a moment?" and told Jenny, "She's probably exhausted," Reyna almost screamed at her to shut up and stop being so nice.

She couldn't hate Kenny if Kenny was nice. Why wasn't Kenny a money-hungry monster, or only mean to her when Rowan wasn't around? She wanted to hate Kenny so much. She needed a reason to believe Kenny didn't deserve Rowan. But Kenny was too freaking nice to her. Kenny was perfect. And Reyna couldn't even fry onions.

Before she could utter another word, Rowan's mother appeared in the doorway. The woman squealed when she saw Kenny and ran to give her a hug. "I miss you, my sweet daughter-in-law. Where's your husband? Where's my son?"

Daughter-in-law?

"Uh...He went out with Caleb. He'd be back soon," Kenny said with a smile.

Rowan's mother pinched her chin. "What about your puppy Whiskers? Does he eat well?"

Whiskers? Was that the name Rowan had given his and Reyna's imaginary dog? Except it wasn't theirs. It was his and Kenny's first.

Reyna could see him and Kenny telling the same joke and sketching out their bright future, where they were married and had a dog named Whiskers. That was the future they could have if they ran away tonight.

"Let's go, Ma. It's not safe for you to be here," Jenny said and led the sick woman out of the kitchen.

Kenny looked over at Reyna and lifted a shoulder. "Mama Zuko doesn't know what she's talking about. She thinks I'm married to Rowan."

"And you let her believe that?" Reyna blurted as she couldn't help it, but Kenny didn't seem offended at all.

"I often came over to check on her after Rowan was away. I never said that I was his wife, she just assumed that I was, because I always gave her news of him to keep him alive inside her head." Kenny's jaw worked for a moment, her thick eyelashes fluttering to hold back tears. "She has a weak heart. She wouldn't have been able to handle such terrible news. I told her that he was a merchant so he always travelled and didn't have time to visit her. But she wasn't angry at him. She was happy to know that he had a decent job, and alive. She enjoyed the made-up stories about us and our dog Whiskers." Kenny paused for a moment. "We'd always said we'd get a dog."

The girl ended the last sentence with a laugh, so soft yet so destructive. It caused Reyna more pain than her burnt finger. She was burning from inside out; her heart was inflamed. This fire couldn't be put out.

Tears stung her eyes but she tried to hold them back. She wasn't going to cry in front of Kenny.

"The men are home. Let's feast!" Jenny exclaimed brightly as she dashed into the kitchen, putting an end to the depressing atmosphere.

Reyna carried the dishes outside to set the table. Her footsteps faltered when she heard Rowan's voice and saw him come in through the front door. He smiled at her. And she smiled back. She felt like crying again.

.

.

.

Dinner was awful. Not the food. The food was great -- though there was no fried onion because Reyna had wasted the last ones -- everyone's exuberance was what made it so awful. Even though her stomach was growling, she ate very little.

Rowan's mother paused the conversations a few times to ask, "who's this girl?" Reyna had lost count of the times she'd repeated her fake name, but the old woman still couldn't remember it. She already had a daughter-in-law, anyway. Why should she remember the name of a stranger?

When dinner was over, Reyna helped Jenny clean the table. She overheard Kenny ask Rowan to meet her outside but decided to turn a blind eye to them and return to the kitchen. She busied herself washing the dishes. She was less clumsy when she was sad, which was a good thing. She finished the work quickly without breaking anything and then excused herself to go back to her room.

'Room' was such a fancy word. It was a storage place with a window. Jenny had rearranged it to leave just enough space for a dirty mattress on the floor. But Reyna didn't mind. It was still better than sleeping in the woods.

She sat on the mattress, hugging her knees to her chest and letting her worries consume her. She didn't know how long she'd been sitting there when the wooden door creaked open and warm light split her face into matching halves. Rowan stepped in and shut the door again.

"Why are you sitting in the dark?" he asked in hushed tones and sat down in front of her.

"It's not dark. There's the moon."

Her answer made him smile. His eyes moved to the little window above her head. "There's the moon," he repeated as if he'd never noticed the moon before.

Seconds were ticking away in silence. Why hadn't he said anything? Did he come in to tell her what she was afraid to hear? That must be the reason why he was silent. He was trying to find the right words to break this news to her, to break her heart. How stupid she was to think she could compete with his first love.

Silence became loud. Too loud. Deafening. She had to break herself out of the prison inside her head. If this must end, he deserved to know the truth. His eyes met hers as she worked her jaw. She had spent all that time sitting here practising her speech. But with his presence, the words got stuck at the back of her throat and wouldn't come out.

Say it. Say it. Say--

"My real name is Reyna. Reyna Callisto. Princess of Isolde."

.

.

.

From Rowan's personal experience, when someone asked to speak to you alone, it was never good news.

His stomach churned with dismay as he followed Kenny outside and closed the door to muffle the chatter in the house. What remained was the rattling of trees, chirping of crickets, and howling of a lone wolf in the distance.

Kenny's moon-washed face appeared paler than usual. She was thinner, too. So thin he imagined her feet floating above the ground underneath the many layers of her full skirt. He'd never thought it was possible for anyone to wear such expensive fabric and look like the unhappiest person in the world. But Kenny had proved him wrong.

Had she not been eating well? Had Gideon been mistreating her? The thought of her crying over the son of a bitch made him tighten his fists. Why she'd agreed to marry that bastard was still beyond him. She could have done so much better. Not him. Not Gideon. But better.

"I've never seen your mum so happy," she said, keeping her hands behind her back like she always did when she was nervous. He pretended to not notice and returned her smile.

"Gem told me everything," he said. "Thank you for taking care of my family while I was away."

"I think of them as my own." She giggled and tucked a loose strand behind her ear, staring at her feet. "But...I did everything mostly because...because of you."

"Because of me?"

Because he'd been temporarily dead and she'd felt bad for moving on. That must be what she meant.

He kept clenching and unclenching his fists while waiting for her to continue. She worked her jaw, still staring at her feet. It seemed like she had to think very hard about what she wanted to say. It was one of the many reasons he'd loved her, though it must be exhausting to walk on eggshells around everyone.

After a moment's hesitation, she fished out a gold hairpin from the pocket of her petticoat. "I had to hide it from my mum so she wouldn't sell it," she said, handing it to him. "After all, this is your first gift to me."

"Gift sounds fancy," he chuckled. "I stole it." It was the first thing he'd stolen in his life.

"And you could've kept it for yourself. But you gave it to me," she said with a subtle grin. "And that was when I realised I was in love with you."

He moistened his dry lips while inspecting the valuable accessory. He wasn't sure what he'd expected from this talk.

"Do you still love me?"

But this was far from it.

"What are you saying?" he asked, appalled and confused.

"Do you still love me?" she murmured. "Because...I still love you, Rowan."

Those were the words he'd wanted to hear many weeks ago. If this were then, he would have kissed her and said yes. But this was now. She was Gideon's wife, a fact that he still refused to accept, but he would have to, eventually. And there was still Rain.

"You don't love me, Kenny. Not anymore," he heard himself say.

She released an exasperated breath. "Crow, I've never stopped."

"You married someone else."

"I thought you were dead!"

"It doesn't matter why you did it." His stare pierced her face. "You married someone else, Kenny. You don't get to fucking do this to us now."

He'd been told he looked intimidating when he got angry, but Kenny was never afraid of him. She took a step forward, catching him off guard as she laid a hand on the left side of his face. The touch was familiar, so he didn't back off, giving her permission to touch the other side. Her soft hands warmed his cool cheeks, and he shut his eyes for a fleeting moment.

"Let's start over. Run away with me."

Then he snapped out of it.

He stepped back. His heart throbbed when he looked into her tear-filled eyes. His gaze dropped to the ground so he wouldn't have to watch her cry. "You should go home. I-I'll take you home."

She shrugged him off when he reached for her arm. "Don't. I don't want to go home. I don't...I don't have a home. You're the only home I've ever known." She grabbed his hand and pressed it to her heart. "I should've defied my mother a long time ago. I should've fought for us. That's what I'm doing now."

"Please listen to me."

She didn't.

"I've been saving money for my sewing business. We can use my money to start over. Just like how we'd planned our future before you left–"

"Before you married someone else."

"Why do you keep saying that?" She laughed mirthlessly. "You despise Gideon! You always have since we were kids!"

"That didn't stop you from marrying him," he said, his voice even. "Let's go back inside and pretend this never happened."

His fingers closed around her wrist and pulled, but her feet refused to cooperate. "What's gotten into you? And don't you lie to me and say that you care about my marriage. Rowan, you don't. You–" She sucked in a breath, closing her eyes. "Be honest with me, please. You don't love me anymore, right?"

Instead of answering, he tugged at her arm to get her to follow, but she shoved him away and stepped back, their eyes locked. A battle of mixed emotions was taking place inside his chest – anger, frustration, sadness, regret, guilt – but there was no sign of love.

In his mindless daze, he heard her whisper, "You're in love. But...not with me."

He didn't confirm or deny her accusation, instead, he asserted, "You can do better than Gideon, but I'm not the one."

She stayed silent for too long before asking, "It's her, isn't it?"

"What?"

"Rain. You're in love with her." Her lip started quivering when he didn't respond. "You said you'd love me forever..."

"You married someone else."

"Stop using that against me." She didn't shout, but her nearly toneless voice turned him stiff. "I don't love Gideon, and I couldn't sit around and wait for you to come back from the dead. You know my mother. So stop blaming me for everything just because you feel guilty."

She was right. He was guilty of making her wait, of leaving her in the first place. But the next thing she said was definitely to hurt him on purpose.

"I'm sorry to break it to you, but Rain doesn't have feelings for you."

"You don't know that." He was taken aback by how fast he'd replied, but her expression stayed the same.

"I do," she stressed. "Because she told me."

"She told you?"

"Back in the house. I asked her."

"She wouldn't discuss her feelings with a stranger."

"Are you saying that I made that up?" Her voice was dreadfully quiet, and then she lifted her chin, tears swimming in her eyes. "Ask her then. She told me to talk to you. If she had feelings for you and wanted you for herself, why would she do that?"

Another question he didn't answer.

"I'll walk you home."

Before he could seize her hand, she jerked away and pressed it to her throat as if trying to stop her ragged breathing.

"The last thing I need now is your kindness."

Those were her last words to him before she left. The hairpin was still in his hand. She hadn't forgotten it. It was just worthless to her now. Because what would you do to the love you had for someone who didn't love you back? You gave it away. Or better, you gave it back to them and let them decide what to do with it. They couldn't give it to someone else, so they had to keep it, and every time they looked at it, they'd be reminded of the heart they'd broken.

He idled outside, just peering at the hairpin until the door swung open. Jenny and Caleb stopped in their tracks when they saw him alone.

"Where's Ken–"

Jenny elbowed her husband as she interjected, "Ma is asleep. You should go check on Rain."

"What's wrong?" Rowan asked, putting the hairpin back into his pocket.

Jenny shrugged as she said nothing, and Caleb hurried after her after wishing Rowan goodnight. Rowan's night was already terrible. He'd be blessed if it didn't get worse.

Crossing the dark living area, he lit a candle and padded to the pantry. He pulled the door open and found Rain sitting alone in the dark. She didn't ask where he'd been.

His mind was occupied with the conversation with Kenny, especially what Kenny had said about Rain. It could have been a lie to get back at him, which he deserved for breaking her heart. But he doubted Kenny would lie to anyone, especially him.

"Why are you sitting in the dark?" he asked before sitting down in front of Rain on the dirty mattress.

"It's not dark," she said. "There's the moon."

Smiling, he glanced up at the little window above her head. "There's the moon," he said self-consciously.

Moments were wasted as neither of them said a word. He felt suffocated by this silence. Should he tell her about the conversation with Kenny? Should he ask her if it was true, that she'd encouraged Kenny to talk to him? Why was she so quiet? What was she thinking of? He opened his mouth, but her words got out first.

"My real name is Reyna. Reyna Callisto. Princess of Isolde."

His heart stopped for a split second. He felt like he was levitating before being slammed to the ground so hard it shattered his bones. A small part of him wanted to believe it was just her crazy sense of humour, but the rest of him always knew something was off.

No maid could ride a horse like that, or treat swords like toys, or have the softest hands in the world. She could've been anything. Just not a maid. However, his list of anything didn't include a princess.

He would have been just fine if she'd told him she was an assassin raised and trained in the castle, which had been his very first guess. But a princess? Hell, she wasn't even a princess. She was the princess.

"Please...say something."

"You lied to me," he said before his mind could form a proper thought. He couldn't even look at her right now.

"I had to."

"At first."

"I didn't have the chance–"

"You had plenty." He rested his elbows on his knees and buried his head into his hands. "We'd nearly died a hundred times and you waited until now..."

Until he'd fallen madly in love with her.

"Rowan, please let me explain." Her voice was so gentle it stabbed him in the heart. "I was going to tell you when we get to my uncle's castle." Her uncle was King Edgar. She'd visited her uncle that summer when they first met by the river. It all made sense now. "I never meant for this to happen."

"For what to happen?"

She didn't answer.

She got on her knees and touched his arm. Her hands were cold, but they blazed his skin. His brain told him to pull away while his heart was yearning for her touch. He ended up sitting so still he wasn't sure if he was still breathing.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you the truth sooner...I'm so sorry," she said. "But I will fix it. Once I get to the castle, you can have as much gold as you want."

She squeezed his arm, and his stomach shrivelled in agony. Was that what she still thought of him? That all he wanted was her gold?

"I'll find the best doctor for your mother. I'll have people look after her when you...when you and Kenny aren't here anymore."

He jerked his arm away. His eyes jumped to her pale face. 'I never meant for this to happen' meant she never wanted him to fall for her.

Kenny had told the truth. Rain—No, Reyna didn't love him.

Tomorrow, when she reunited with her uncle – the King – she'd be a princess again. Princess married royalty, not a dirty thief. She'd had the answer to his question all this time, and she'd led him on and made him believe he'd had a chance. They'd been a lost cause since the moment they met again in that dungeon.

All the things she'd let him do to her had been driven by lust. Not love. She was saving herself for someone worthy – a noble like her. Now that she'd thrown the truth in his face and forced him to accept it, she was going to leave him.

"You are your father's daughter," he scoffed painfully, stopping himself before he said that endearing name. It was reserved for Rain. And she wasn't Rain. "With all due respect, Your Highness, you used people for your advantage. My life might not matter, but Stefan, Thunder and Lightning could've died for you. So could the people in the brothel and those sisters in the woods–"

She was staring at her fingers, which were clawing at her thighs. "I know."

"No, you don't." The rush of adrenaline made it hard for him to think. "Your brother won't hurt you, Princess. It's my family who's in danger..."

And how was he going to choose between his family and her?

"Your family won't be harmed. I promise." Despite her ragged breathing and tears in her eyes, she managed to keep her voice steady. "I'll leave right now. You don't even have to take me there. Just give me directions and I'll go on my own. I won't bother anyone else."

It wasn't that easy. His anger toward her didn't change how he felt about her. It'd kill him to let her go, and it'd also kill him to keep her here.

He clutched her arm before she could stand up. "Stay. I'll take you there tomorrow." His throat felt stuffed as he tried to speak. "That was our deal, remember? You helped me reunite with my family and the love of my life. Now I have to make sure you get what you want."

Kenny wasn't the love of his life. He didn't know what had made him say that, but he felt awful afterwards. It was then that he understood why Kenny was always careful with words. Saying the wrong things was more damaging than not telling the truth.

"You don't have to worry about me, Rowan."

The way she said his name made him weak. He would miss it when she was gone.

As he met her eyes, sadness had replaced anger. He suddenly became aware of how tight he was gripping her arm, so he withdrew his hand and dug his fingers into his palms.

"I don't," he said coldly. "All I ask of you now is to let me fulfil my promise to you. And then we won't owe each other anything else."

She gave a nod, facing down.

"Thank you, Your Highness."

"Rowan," she said when he rose. "you can still call me Peach..."

Her voice. So sweet, so desperate, so–

Stop. Don't do that to yourself.

He gave a bow, pawing the door open. "Goodnight, Your Highness."