The Unchaste

Eyes Wide Shut

Delilah woke up to the ricochet of lighting crashing down the birch forest not far away, with a shallow loss of steady breath and one definite understanding in her head_ this was Stormcastle.

The frenzy was over, she knew now_ for though this was the first time she had woken up in concord, this was not exactly the first time she had woken up. Her earlier awakenings had been full of delirium and violent agitations of feverish self. Full of medicated concoctions, wet-wipes and successive sweat and chills.

She felt fine now, extracted from fatality.

The room was unfilled of racket, except for the glittering of firewood in the hearth and rain beating down the window outside.

The crumpled shawl at the end of the bed was her own, Delilah recognized. She sat up and reached for it, pulling it around herself in slow, lethargic shift. The air, though chilly, was rather too full of moisture. An open book that was sitting on the nearby armchair had its pages turned wavy from the dampness. It was a cold, clammy sort of day.

She got off the bed and ambled to the window. Nothing was clear, not anything perceptible. Only, there was a clamor of heavy rain and torrent of gushing, deciduous streams far underneath the turret, down the moors.

And silence.

"It was about time you woke up." A voice chided from behind. "I confess I was getting worried for you."

Delilah turned and found her brother staring at her with half-moons under his tired eyes and a somewhat relieved, inexpressive face. Andrew was here?

Oh, that was troublesome.

"Greetings, Andrew." Delilah smiled nonetheless. "Good to see you after so long, although, I would have rather met you at Windsor"

Andrew raised a brow and smiled tensely. "Now there, sister mine. It has been four days of prostration for you. Can't you imagine what it was to mother? To me?"

"Four days?" Delilah balked. "Surely, you exaggerate."

"Do I, Lilah?" Andrew sighed and shook his head in resignation. "The world turned upside down and you, here_ the root of it all, are questioning my sincerity."

"What happened?"

"Apart from your near-death trauma?" Andrew chuckled mirthlessly. "You will learn for yourself when you step out of here."

The answer was vague, and it exaggerated Delilah by its flippancy.

"Andrew."

Andrew shook his head, retreating. "I must call Dr. Navrozov first."

"Later, Andrew." Delilah deadpanned. "Do not cosset me. I am walking because I feel the restitution in my health. I need no doctor to acclaim it for me."

"You may not." Andrew argued back. "But I do, Delilah Eves and mother does. Do you have the inkling, how many nights I didn't sleep just because you wouldn't stop sleeping?"

Delilah quietened.

"Hemlock!" Andrew scoffed, his green eyes flashing. "You are fortunate to have survived. It was as if death touched you. You didn't even stir for the first thirty nine hours."