Excerpt: Ashes, Ashes, They All Fall Down

“What should we name her?” Druella had rewrapped the little one who had started to whimper at the coldness of the air when Cgynus had torn away the warm blanket and was now stroking her daughter’s cheek, gazing with adoration down at her child. She was a mother! This little girl had come from her. A perfect little girl who now depended on her for everything. Yes, Druella had wanted a boy, just like her husband, but now as she looked down at the perfect child in her arms she could not imagine wanting anything else. Her baby was beautiful.

Looking down at the baby, Cygnus scoffed inwardly at the child’s tears. Already crying, sign of weakness. A weak girl instead of a strong boy. He was sure that had the child been a boy, it would not be crying like a small pathetic thing.

“I don’t care. Give her a strong name. She’s already acting like a waterfall.”

With that he left the room, disgusted with the thing sitting in Druella’s arms, letting the female relatives start suggesting name at his wife. No, he did not like his firstborn daughter. Let the women fawn over her. In his eyes she was nothing more then a disappointment. A thing that had dared to mar his previously perfect life.

Four days later the baby was named Bellatrix Callidora Black. Her mother named her after the warrior star, Bellatrix, a strong name because her father had demanded one. Callidora, which meant gift of beauty, and was already a Black family name. Her mother thought she was beautiful. Her father never got over the fact he wanted a son; that his daughter was supposed to have been a boy.

Little Bellatrix was a disappointment from day one. A disgrace in her father’s eyes simply for existing.