A bit short, but I figured I couldn't leave you hanging forever. Enjoy! xoxo
Lady Delia of Eldorne glared defiantly up at her, daring Alanna to voice the shock that had risen up in her so suddenly. The scene was an unexpected one, and Alanna took several moments to compose herself by observing the hidden closet's occupant before she spoke. The other girl had been bound and gagged, and the purpling bruises around her wrists and ankles indicated that she had been struggling for many hours to escape with little success. One eye was blackened, and a trickle of blood ran from a split eyebrow. Her mouth had been gagged effectively with someone's handkerchief.
Finally Alanna regained her composure. "Evening, Delia," she said dryly, as if they were exchanging pleasantries at a ball. Bending down, she removed the gag gingerly, aware after years of being rivals that Delia was as unpredictable as Alanna. Her apprehension was unnecessary. Delia was just able to croak out a plea for water before her throat failed her and she fell as silent as Goldthumb, a man from the rogue who'd had his tongue cut out.
Alanna shook her head. "Not yet. You'd better get out of here before Roger comes back. Look," she paused, considering the risk and deciding that if Delia had become a foe of Rogers, it rather improved their own relationship, "Why don't you go back to my suite?" As she cut the ropes around Delia's wrists and ankles with a dagger, she fished around in the hidden pocket she'd added to her slipper with the other hand, drawing out her room key. Hoping it wasn't a rash decision, Alanna handed the brunette her key.
As soon as Delia had departed from Roger's suite Alanna returned to the loveseat, rather shakily pouring herself a glass of champagne as she waited for Roger's return.
"So that's you're story?" Alanna demanded some time later, having returned from Roger's suite when she had grown impatient of his delay. "You mentioned Thom to the Provost, and Roger found out, beat you up, and threw you in a convenient hidden closet in his bathroom?" She was sitting cross-legged on her king-sized silver trimmed bed, which had been recently updated from the plain wooden one she'd made do with until her betrothal. Delia was perched in a similarly new overstuffed lavender chair next to the fire, her posture perfect, making an odd contrast against her battered face.
Delia laughed slightly at Alanna's refusal to accept her story. "Alanna dearest, we've known each other for years, if not on the best of terms. Do you honestly think I'd try to pass that off as my story if it weren't true? When I lie, I tend to go for the…dramatics." Alanna considered this, recalling time after time that the daughters had punished her for wicked crimes she had not committed, supposedly witnessed by Delia.
Something still did not add up in the story. "What made you mention Thom? I thought you and Roger were on the same side?" And if the gossip had a speck of truth to it, they were lovers as well. Alanna didn't bring it up, not wanting to admit that she paid heed to anything that came out of a courtier's mouth.
Delia glanced at Alanna quizzically. "You didn't hear the rumors? I suppose with that ice-skating fiasco, and then the disappearing act…but I suppose when you are the center of the gossip it seems impossible that anyone should miss it. Alanna, Thom and I were in love."
Alanna gazed out the window at the softly falling snow, taking this in. Part of her wanted to demand that Delia get out of her rooms for suggesting that her brother would ever take an interest in her. Another part was jealous and hurt that Thom wouldn't tell her about his relationship with a woman she knew (albeit despised). But her exhaustion kept her from acting on either emotion, and she considered the claim from a detached perspective. It was, of course, entirely possible that Delia was reciting a well-rehearsed lie. But somehow, Delia's disconsolate gaze at the burning logs in the fire suggested to Alanna that for perhaps the first time in her life, Delia was telling the truth to her.
"So then," Alanna mused, "Roger discovered, used it to blackmail you for help, and," she hesitated, repulsed, "forced you to become his lover?"
"Roger always gets what he wants, Alanna," Delia warned. "Something you'd do well to remember, considering that second only to the throne, you are what Roger covets."