Season's Feather

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Delilah was looking over the necklace that the prince had bestowed upon Daphne. The one she now wore. No matter how much she wished desperately that her friend wouldn't marry a man she truly did not want to marry, she couldn't argue that the prince had impeccable taste when it came to showering a lady with gifts.

"It is quite a necklace." She looked over to Daphne, "Do you like it?"

"It is very beautiful." Daphne nodded.

"But do you like it?"

Daphne sighed in her seat and turned around to her best friend. "If you should have something to say, Delilah, please say it."

Delilah looked away. Maybe, just maybe, Delilah could convince her to not move forward with the prince, "Well, I only wonder," her eyes flashed to the necklace again, "If you should wear that necklace at tonight's ball, what will the duke think?".

Daphne let out a groan, "Oh, Delilah!"

"Until you have decided to accept the prince's proposal, I simply think you should keep your mind open." Delilah suggested sitting down on Daphne's bed. Daphne turned to her best friend, giving her a very pointed look.

"Delilah, I do not care what the duke thinks. Besides, he will not even be at tonight's ball."

"What happened between the two of you?" Delilah asked.

"Nothing happened." Daphne scoffed quietly, "He is leaving."

"I know my best friend. And I know Simon.  I know it wasn't - nothing - between you." Delilah argued.

Daphne shook her head with a louder scoff. She did not agree with Delilah's statement, and Delilah was determined to figure out why.

"You do not know. You do not know anything." Daphne dismissed.

Delilah shook her head standing up from the bed. "Daphne, I know what I saw!"

Daphne shook her head with a new look in her eye. Sadness, something in Delilah's mind switched. There was something else going on that Delilah didn't know about. And from the looks of it, Daphne was about to tell her everything.

"What you saw...was a lie."

Delilah looked up to Daphne in confusion, "What?" She whispered.

"It was a lie. It was a ruse. The duke and I..we were pretending, all so I could attract a suitor of a high enough rank, all so that I could be much more..desirable. It was an agreement. It was an act, and it worked. We got what we wanted. Mama did too. I now have a prince. She should be proud."

Delilah could see the glossy eyes Daphne had when she turned around. She quickly embraced her in a hug. "What your mama wanted for you, and what I want for you as well, is for you to have the best not in terms of rank, but in love."

She pulled back slightly looking at Daphne in the face, "And what I have seen between you and the duke-"

"It is not real, Delilah!" Daphne shook her head at her best friend, "Everything you saw..none of it is real. Well, it...it is over now. I do not have to pretend any longer." Her voice cracked slightly, "I am sorry, Delilah. I am so sorry."

She turned back to her vanity, Delilah still partially frozen behind her.

"It is a beautiful necklace. I should like it very much." Daphne spoke quietly.

— & —

Mary Silvester was sitting in the sunroom of the Silvester estate when Simon came to visit her. Mary could not shake the resemblance to Sarah Basset, her late friend. She smiled at the boy and welcomed him to sit next to her.

Her eyes looked over the garden, "I would tell you it has been lovely to see you, Your Grace, but I tend to leave such sympathies for the rest of the Ton."

"I shall miss you too, Lady Silvester."

Mary chuckled softly at Simon's confession, "Are you going to tell me or Agatha where you will go? This time, that is. I don't know if Delilah would be able to handle your absence that long again."

"I am still considering," Simon replied, "But-"

"It does not matter, does it? You will abscond to some remoter corner of the world continuing with the ways you always have. Taking everything for granted and leaving those of us who do care in the dark."

Simon took a breath as Mary looked at him. One of the women who raised him and gave him his first friend and bloodless sister.

She gave him a weak smile, "The young man I have always taken pride in raising alongside Delilah with Agatha. I expect more. Your discernment, understanding, appreciation, least of all some communication."

"Lady Silverster-" Simon tried. Mary didn't relent.

"You allowed the Brigerton girl to slip through your fingers," Mary remarked, "as if it were nothing. Simon, you find things of care to be unworthy. Yet, those very things allowed days to begin over and over again. Look at Delilah and Anthony. Look at the royal family, that kind of marriage.

"We were separate societies divided by color, once. I regret not letting my curiosity about Agatha's friendship drive me to unwind customs then. Now we can be friends freely, and all because a king fell in love with a beautiful woman. Simon, what did I teach you?"

"Love is all we have at the end of the day," Simon looked at Mary with hollow, sad eyes, "But, the king may have chosen his queen. He may have elevated us from novelties in their eyes to now dukes and royalty, and at that same whim, he may just as easily change his mind. A mind - that as we all know - is hanging on by one very loose and tenuous thread."

Mary looked at the boy she considered a son, "What did Delilah show you?"

"We become stronger from the things that weigh on us." Simon answered, "But, I believe that remains to be seen. So, I am sorry, Lady Silvester, but we are in disagreement."

Mary sighed and her shoulders dropped.

Simon sat next to her, eyes on the garden, "Love changes nothing."

"When does your ship leave?" Mary asked.

Simon let out a breath, "Quarter past nine. I will write to you and Delilah."

Then he got up, and Mary watched as the boy she helped raise walk away from something that could have been great. She frowned at his back. But she knew that he would not stay if he didn't want to. Mary hoped he did though.