Villainous [Wattys 2021 Shortlist]

MALEVOLENT 7: The Other Princess

"Delilah. You're walking about." Marko's voice was strangled. Was he remembering the chain around her neck at the council meeting, leashing her like a dog?

Well, this was awkward.

Delilah glanced down. "So I am."

"I'm... glad."

"Thank you, brother."

Finias held the sun in his heart. Delilah had often told him so, turning the compliment into a joke as they talked for endless hours while trying to avoid the people meant to chaperone them to ensure they never went beyond holding hands. His skin seemed to drink in the light and radiate it, his eyes were like the ocean in the south, and his hair was spun from gold. He seemed to have recovered fully from the battle without a blemish... and as he stared at her now, he was incapable of speech.

The intensity of his gaze was uncomfortable, and she found she couldn't hold it. She settled for staring at his boots. Her throat had constricted. She was disgusted with herself for how close to reality her broken act really was.

"I'm so thankful that you're here," Finias whispered finally. "I..."

"Marko?" a female voice said, and Delilah's head snapped up. That tone created the impression that the woman called his name often.

Two women entered the corridor, clothed in bright purple and orange, respectively. They both resembled Alana, although the former had a sharp face with wild curly hair, while the latter looked demure, a hand supporting her rounded belly.

The pregnant woman reached Marko first, smiled at her little sister, and gave him a quick kiss.

Delilah turned her face away. "Aylin," she forced herself to say. "Princess Aylin, I take it? I believe we have not met."

Marko put an arm around his wife as she spoke. "Delilah, it's nice to finally speak. You're looking better, thank the ancestors. I visited you while you were still unconscious."

Better? If this was 'better', how dreadful had she looked when Aylin had visited, along with... how many other people?

"I believe I'm on the mend," she said quietly, trying her hardest to avert her gaze from her unborn niece or nephew. "It's slow going."

"Do you remember much?" the other woman, the princess's companion, asked abruptly.

Delilah had felt her heavy stare ever since they'd walked into sight. With a jolt, she realised the stranger was stood comfortably close to Finias.

"Who are you?" she replied, just as sharply.

"This is Zehra, my older sister," Aylin replied. "I see you've already met Alana."

Alana gave Aylin a wide smile.

Zehra currently resembled a hawk swooping in for the kill. "Do you remember much from when he had you under his control? Vallahan? I bet you know the inner workings of that monster's mind. I bet you could tell us everything."

Delilah gaped at her.

"Forgive her," Alana whispered. "Our cousin was a Pelenan soldier, and he died in the Valley of Mist. The soldiers swore they saw the Night Bringer himself cutting him down."

Zehra drew herself up to her full and considerable height, looking down her nose at everyone. "Stop trying to make excuses for me, Alana. Well? Are you going to answer me, or did they mutilate your tongue in Goriath?"

Ice sheathed Delilah's veins in response to Zehra's fire. "They did a lot of things to me in Goriath. If you're interested in my memory, I can divulge all the gory details."