Page 4 of The Lady
Amy snorted, amused by this sad little confession as Delilah had hoped she would be. If it were true, it might even be humiliating. But Amy shook her head.
“What a load of hogwash. Sylvie and I would know if such a lord were walking by the house. Sylvie, show her what happens to liars.”
“No!” Delilah spun around, hands reaching, but it was already too late.
Utter malevolence filled Sylvie’s eyes as she dashed the vase to the ground. Behind Delilah, Amy screeched with laughter as Delilah fell to her knees, already frantically trying to scoop together the shards. Perhaps, somehow, the vase could be salvaged before Lady Felton saw. No, that was ridiculous. In her heart of hearts, she knew it was hopeless, but her panicked emotions weren’t logical. She desperately wanted to forestall the oncoming disaster.
“Are you going to tell us now?” Amy asked. “Or do we have to break something else?”
“I was just watching the street!” Delilah would have screamed the words, but her voice caught in her throat, little more than a hoarse whisper. The bars of the cage they’d neatly trapped her in were closing in around her. The irreplaceable vase was unsalvageable, the twins were relentless, and Lady Felton would blame Delilah, regardless. What would she do?
Would she send Delilah away?
Hope rose up inside of her at the thought.
She wanted to be anywhere, but here.
The sound of glass breaking behind her had her spinning on her knees. Amy was staring at the ground, her head cocked at the shepherdess figurine she’d just thrown there. The urge to scream was rising again. What was wrong with them? Why were they doing this to her? What was the point?
Answers were not any more forthcoming than compassion from the black-hearted pair.
“Stop it,” Delilah whispered.
“What was that?” Sylvie asked.
Delilah whipped her head around just in time to see Sylvie drop another glass ornament. Delilah dove forward, hands outreached, but she was too far away. The vase scattered beneath her skirts, which at least protected her legs from the shards of glass. There was no protection from the twins’ animosity, though.
“I could not hear you, De-li-ar.” She drew out Delilah’s name, twisting it at the end to sound like ‘liar.’
Pushing herself back carefully, Delilah stood, fists clenched at her sides. She glared at Sylvie.
“Stop it. That’s enough.”
“What is going on here?” Lady Felton’s strident tones cut through the air, like a portent of doom.Delilah spun around to face her. Standing in the doorway, her wrinkled face full of anger, Lady Felton glared at all three of them, not just Delilah. For just a moment, hope rose up inside of her. All three young ladies started talking over each other, Amy and Sylvie both pointing at Delilah as she tried to make herself heard over the din.
“She went wild, Grandmother!”
“Theystarted breaking thing-”
“- we tried to stop her - “
“- they’re lying to you, they always lie -”
“-she broke your vase, grandmother-”
“-there was nothing we could do!”
Despite the cacophony, Lady Felton obviously got the gist, her eyes darting around to see the small piles of mess on the floor... The shards of the vase were still at Delilah’s feet, and her heart sank in her chest as Lady Felton’s steely gaze rose to meet hers. The outcome had been inevitable from the beginning, even if she’d foolishly hoped otherwise. The older woman’s eyes narrowed, and Delilah took a step back, glass crunching under the heel of her shoe, which made Lady Felton’s outrage even more palpable.
“You... you ungrateful brat! I took you in, treated you as my own,”—Delilah almost laughed at the absurd claim—“and this is how you repay my generosity? Thompson!” Lady Felton turned in the doorway to call over her shoulder to the butler. “Fetch me the cane!”
“The cane?” Delilah asked faintly as Amy and Sylvie both sniggered.
Lady Felton’s sharp gaze cut back to her. “You are finally going to get the thrashing you deserve, girl.”
No.
No.
