The Invictus

Praeteritum vocationis

March came and spring in its tow. The countryside was tinged with a yawning green and the sky was full of blue air.

The proposition Alexis Draven had extended that winter midnight met Delilah's consent.

Bizarre!_ Erratic, that she would say 'yes' but so much more so, that he would offer her his hand. And Delilah remembered the bewildered widening of Alexis's eyes. As much smoothly as he had asked her to marry him, it was evident Mr. Draven hadn't foreseen her acceptance in return. The horror on his face would have pleased her had she not been so horrified herself by what she had uttered. And how much sincerely she had said it.

It had not taken her ten seconds to counter him. He had murmured a distracted 'good' and raced away.

It had been cold and impersonal.

March now_ and not too nippy, Delilah was lounging on a slope by the hillside under the tepid sun, another woman_ a redhead_ humming nearby as she picked berries from the Rowan trees with skilled, veteran fingers. Delilah lay on the grass with eyes wide shut and her arms spread out.

Ajar heaven above and the earth below, dotted with foxholes and furrows.

If only it would let her, Delilah would have embraced the skies with all the love she had. But because it wouldn't, she clinched the Myrtles beneath instead, and cuddled in with their violets flower and green, pungent smell. For this moment alone, she was happy.

....until the redhead started to hum a regional folksong Delilah had come to hate this past month.

Step we gaily, on we go
Heel for heel, toe for toe...

"Bonnie." She furrowed her brows, eyes still shut. "Don't."

"...What? Why?" Bonnie's voice had all the glee in it and all the hilarity Delilah nowhere near shared. "Tis' a fine day and the verse is called Mairi's Wedding'."

"I do not see how a fine day warrants you droning Mairi's Wedding." Delilah accused softly, raising on her elbow. "On the contrary, in fact. And I am not Mairi."

"Two days till your betrothal with Master Draven." Bonnie's reminded her. "Can I not croon and make merry over my friend's espousal? Are we not sisters, Delilah?"

"More is the pity." Delilah grumbled and sunk back into the lofty, wet grasses_ so inviting that she could have sworn they had taken root just to serve her a pillow. "Tell me, Bonnie? Can a man propose a marriage and slaughter the woman for saying 'yes' to it?"

"I wouldna know."Bonnie's snorted. "My man was over the moon when I allowed him the kiss."

"Alexis might then set a singular example for the world." Delilah sighed, not exactly sad. "He is one of a kind. He is offended that I did not reject him."

It was true.

Alexis had dropped all facades of civility after that night and he didn't care to hide his censure every time he came across Delilah. He huffed more than he breathed were he to be in the same room as her_ and that was only if he hadn't stomped away like a hot-headed adolescent. He chomped his breakfast and guzzled his tea around her.

He choked on his very breath if she was in a human range of him.

Laughing, Bonnie dropped her basket on the grass beside Delilah with a thump and a few berries rolled out of it, ending up entangled into Delilah's dark hair as it lay splayed out. Bonnie herself sat down beside Delilah and paralleled her length, staring up at the opal sky.

"He cannot hate you so much." Bonnie reasoned watching the clouds drift by. "Did he hold you too that night? Did he kiss?"

"Yes." Delilah shrugged, watching the larks rage past in the sky. "He did hold me responsible for all the scandals. He did look as though he wanted to spit on my face. What do you think?"