Villainous [Wattys 2021 Shortlist]

31: Dead By Dawn

Dante ended the meeting abruptly and swept out, his cloak billowing and making him look like an overgrown bat, much like his cousin the spymaster. Delilah was considering running after him to mention that, and perhaps to suggest he stuck to designing dresses rather than his own outfits, when she noticed how angry and frustrated the council members seemed.

"It looks like he tells me more than he tells you," she said to them, not bothering to hide her vulpine grin.

Hawk just muttered something under his breath before stomping after his master.

The councilmen were shooting daggers at her, and Delilah rose to her feet as Kaya and Nell stepped to her side. Kaya was practically humming with pent-up energy. She'd recovered from the travelling unfairly quickly, whereas Delilah still ached everywhere. And, as always, Kaya wanted a fight.

"Go to hell, Pelenan," one of the rat-faced men spat. "You don't belong here."

"You're right," she crooned, "but as I need tools to get me my throne and you are all so conveniently present, there isn't much else I can do."

Peters was turning purple with rage.

Nell loosed a quiet sigh and placed one hand on Delilah's back, the other on Kaya's, before steering them both out of the room. Kaya tensed at the insults that followed, but Nell drove them on.

"Don't," she said. "It's just not worth it."

"Is that true, Delilah?" Kaya asked as they strolled through tunnels sloping steadily deeper into the mountains. "Does he tell you things, now?"

"Kind of. Well. Not really," she muttered. "But after spending so long together, I'm willing to bet I know him better than they do."

They'd reached what was known as the Second Circle of Irkalla - the First being dedicated to Dante and all of his court and their servants. The Second was filled with commoners and had more patches of rough, half-finished areas, and it was much, much bigger than the First, housing most of Irkalla's population. The Third Circle, Delilah knew, was for the poorest citizens who scratched out a living in hovels, and the lowest-ranking miners and diggers who were sent into the most dangerous parts of Irkalla.

They emerged into the Second Circle's most eye-catching feature: the Honeycomb. It was a massive cavern that had been converted into a communal dining area for most of the Circle's residents, and natural pillars of rock, stalactites and stalagmites peppered it. Best of all, shafts of sunlight pierced this huge room, through long, deep cracks in the ceiling.

Delilah had chosen one of the higher tunnels that brought them out at the roughly-hewn mezzanine circling the Comb. She leaned against the balustrade and gazed across the heaving ocean of people, ignoring the succulent smells wafting towards her.

Kaya's stomach growled.

"You say you know him better than them," Nell murmured. "But you know you can't trust anything he says." Her beaded hair clinked as she stepped closer. "Don't be blinded by him, Delilah."

"I can smell beef," Kaya groaned.

"What do you mean?" Delilah snapped.

"And roasted potatoes."

"Well... He's very handsome."

Delilah nearly fell off the mezzanine in shock. "What? You – like him?" She had never heard Nell utter anything about romance or her own desires for as long as they'd known each other.

"No," Nell replied, her expression stony as always. "But he is handsome, and he probably knows how to use his looks – everything in his arsenal, actually – to dominate others."