“Sometimes we fall in love with ideas, not people.”

Della knows this. She’s heard it many times from Cove and from their mother.

“But for me, I fell in love with everything, the idea, the person, the everything.”

She may not be experienced in love, but she knows what it looks like.

Her mother and father. The Queen and the King of Allaver. They had an easy dynamic. A push and pull. When one spoke, the other listened. They rarely overlapped one another. They just worked.

Cove and Thorne. Sure they never courted, but Della knows love. Anyone with eyes can see they were made for each other. With one glance, they knew exactly what the other meant, no matter how complicated it is.

Recently, Kent and Flent. They symbolize young love. She hadn’t seen much of them before, but she witnessed Kent’s side. How he blushed whenever Flent came up in conversation. The starry eyed look when speaking of him. The affection in his voice.

She wants that.

Just because she isn’t very experienced in love doesn’t mean she isn’t aware of what it feels like.

When you are starving, it doesn’t mean you don’t know what the feeling of a full belly feels like.

When she was young, she fell in love with the idea of love. A romantic partner. Having her person. As she transitioned, she became resigned to the fact that that ideal would never happen for her.

No one would want her. The public had told her as much.

But Cade. He is the idea of love. He is the person. He is her person.

If she were to write down what she wanted in a partner, he has it all. Kind, intelligent, aware, emotionally stable, and strong-minded. This is the idea of love for Della. But she never would have accounted for the person that he is.

He believed her ever since they met. Never questioned a thing, even though he could probably tell she was lying about being just part of the royal staff. He listens to every concern, every rant, every thought that she has crammed into her mind. Like it is the most important thing he has to do. He trusts her even though their first meeting was embarrassing and entirely her fault. He made her feel…everything.

So yes, she fell in love with the idea of Cade, but she also fell for him.