Cordelia DeThane

**Biography:** The second child and only daughter of an architect and a horse breeder, Cordelia was born in Hawk’s Roost and was educated to a far higher degree than most children. When the current king and queen began looking for a companion for their second daughter, Cordelia was eventually selected from several hundred candidates, and she and Francesca became close very quickly, especially after the death of Francesca’s sister that led to her becoming the heir apparent. Though they remained close friends throughout their lives, as they grew up they became romantically interested in other people, and Cordelia eventually met and married the heir to the western House DeThane, Isabella. Cordelia remained as one of Queen Francesca’s top advisors after her marriage, and she has three children with Isabella. After a coup in Kyaine killed her companion and separated her from her family, Cordelia recently finds herself loving life a good deal less than she used to.

**Notes:**

* As Francesca’s companion, Cordelia learned everything she could about politics, but rapidly realized that where she was valuable was in giving Francesca advice into the more emotionally-driven side of things
* Being named godmother to Francesca’s children was the proudest moment of Cordelia’s life until her own children were born
* Cordelia never thought she’d love a place as much as Hawk’s Roost, but going to Bright Harbour with Isabella changed her opinion of that rapidly
* Cordelia’s life philosophy, learned from her father, is to be kind to people unless there is absolutely no alternative
* Cordelia has an understandable blind spot when it comes to House DiGorre. She tends to overlook their flaws too readily
* Cordelia used to have tea with her mother twice a week. Now that she doesn’t live in Hawk’s Roost, she writes letters instead
* Cordelia does not like Three Hills. She finds it dark and closed-in compared to Hawk’s Roost
* She has, however, become far more adept at the less emotional side of politics since arriving in the north
* Cordelia wishes she was less angry than she is, but she can’t make herself be that
* Not knowing where Isabella is hurts Cordelia more than anything else.

**Quotes:**

* “I’m cutting all my hair off. I’m going to leave this world behind, become a nun in Saint Ophelia’s monastery and shave my head.”
* “How did we end up with a daughter who likes boys?”
* “I’m just trying to stop Stephan Fyrhawk from taking over the kingdom.”
* “Remember that boys are stupid. Use small words.”
* “You got old and pessimistic, so I had to get old and cheerful.”
* “We’ve tried it, it didn’t work out, angels don’t have to sleep and we do, and the day should be shorter so we can do more of it.”
* “It’s hard to be sexy when you’re stuck in your clothes.”
* “I really am blessed with the most beautiful wife in the world.”
* “You know, they say disagreements are the key to a healthy marriage.”
* “You have to come too, Francesca.”
* “I love you too, Francesca. I’ll get them out.”
* “He’s the only one I could get out, Franz. He was the only one I could help.”
* “I don’t know how the hell we’re going to find her. The world’s too bloody big.”

**Trivia:**

* Fish all taste the same to Cordelia, no matter how long she’s been married to the head of the noble house responsible for the continent’s biggest coastal city
* When she was little, Cordelia wanted to be a nun. As an adult, she recognizes that this is probably because she wanted to be in an all-female environment for a variety of reasons, not all of them religious
* Cordelia’s first sexual experiences were all with Francesca. She decided she only liked girls at twelve when Francesca wanted to try kissing boys and Cordelia didn’t like it
* For about a year Cordelia was baffled as to what the use of men in sex would even be until it was explained to her, after which she decided that was just silly
* Patrice is a monk and Carmelo is a eunuch thanks to a horse-kicking incident, so Cordelia wanted children partially so her parents could have grandchildren from before she was married to Isabella
* When Cordelia and Francesca started to drift apart sexually, Cordelia dated and slept with a number of young women in relationships that ended disastrously before she met Isabella, who she broke up with four times before marrying her
* Cordelia and Francesca used to pretend to be each other when meeting visiting nobles who hadn’t ever seen them before
* Cordelia remembers that she loved being pregnant. Others reports that she was nigh-unbearable the whole time
* Cordelia once climbed on the roof of the highest tower in the castle, and was stuck there for several hours while Francesca tried to find someone to help her get down
* As a child, Cordelia met an angel who tried to convince her that she needed to come with him to train as a divine warrior to avert the apocalypse. She didn’t believe him because he said God was a man, which everyone knows is foolish

**Modern AU:** Modern Cordelia is the wife of a politician and best friend of another politician, and is herself a political activist who advocates for economic justice and prison reform, serving as the executive director of a not for profit organization dedicated to these causes. Some recent upheaval has led to her and her family moving farther from home than she’d have liked, but she’s adjusting very well, she thinks. When not parenting, changing the world or spending quiet days with her wife, Cordelia gardens, volunteers at the soup kitchen, reads French novels, and tries in vain to keep up with the trends that the kids these days enjoy.