Sloan stepped around her blocking the path between her and Dawn. “You need to see Elsa as Cree ordered, and then you need to return to the keep and rest.”
“No,” Lucerne shouted. “Elsa can wait. And as far as resting, I have done nothing but rest and I am tired of it. I wish to speak with this woman and if she is as brave as everyone claims she is, then she will speak with me.”
Dawn stepped to the side so that she could see passed Sloan to Lucerne and extended her hand to her, curious as to what the woman had to say.
“Cree will not allow it,” Sloan said.
Dawn tapped his arm to get his attention, then pointed to her cottage, tapped her chest and pointed to Lucerne and then her cottage.
“Everything in the village belongs to Cree, therefor it truly isn’t your cottage and whether you invite her to enter or not doesn’t matter. Cree would not permit it. Now we will be on our way and disturb you no more.”
As soon as Sloan turned, Dawn reached out, grabbed Lucerne by the wrist, and rushed her into the cottage, quickly closing the door behind her and latching it. Why she had reacted without thought or consequence she couldn’t say, though she blamed it on her curiosity. She was tired of secondhand information. She wanted to learn for herself about the woman—who in a way—had assumed her identity without even realizing it. And she had only so long before Cree arrived, since no doubt they would send for him, and he would pound down the door… not that Sloan didn’t attempt to.
“Dawn, open this door right now,” he demanded pounding on it until it sounded as if it would splinter. After several moments he stopped and issued a dire warning. “Lucerne if you hurt Dawn, Cree will kill you on the spot.”
All turned quiet and Dawn was certain that they waited for Cree’s arrival. She wasn’t concerned that Lucerne had any intentions of harming her. She had sensed something in Lucerne that she had not seen the other times she had been in her company… fear. And she wondered what had changed.
“I have no want to hurt you,” Lucerne said. “I simply want to talk with you.”
Dawn pointed to a chair and Lucerne sat slipping her cloak off her shoulders. Dawn sat opposite her, closer to the hearth, and waited for Lucerne to speak.
Several minutes of silence passed and Dawn wondered if the distraught woman would ever speak. She sat staring, though not at Dawn, and wringing her hands until Dawn feared she would rub the skin right off them.
Finally, she leaned forward bracing her arms on the table and said, “My mother told me that I should tell you to leave and seek a good life with your father, Kirk McClusky. But I can’t do that. You see I don’t want to wed Cree, I never have. I am being forced to do so out of duty to my family.
“Upon my arrival here I put on a brave persona as my mother had advised. She had told me to demonstrate my strength and take charge so that Cree knew he could count on me.” A tear ran down from the corner of her eye. “But on first glance I feared Cree, though I dared not let him see it.” She wiped away the tear. “I can’t keep up this ruse. My headaches grow worse, I cannot eat, and my own mind confuses me. I pray every day that I will not be forced to wed Cree, but if I do,” —she shuddered— “at least with you here I will not have to bear him in my bed after I do my duty and he gets me with child.”
Lucerne wiped away other tears that trickled down her cheek. “Do you love Cree?”
Dawn nodded and smiled.
“I was in love once.”
Dawn’s brow furrowed.
“Is it so hard to believe that anyone would love me?”
Dawn shook her head, though she continued to wonder how Lucerne could seem so different from all the other times they had seen each other. It was almost as if she was two people in one and it had Dawn wondering if she could believe anything she said. Was everything an act, even the fear?
“Did you wonder if anyone would ever love you?”
Her remark startled Dawn. Had they truly had something in common?
“Nothing is ever what it seems, is it?”
Dawn had to agree with her there. She wasn’t sure of anything or anyone…except Cree. That reminded her that he should be there any minute and she wanted to make the most of the time that Lucerne and she had together.
Dawn pointed to Lucerne, then to herself and shrugged, hoping the woman would understand her.
“What do I want from you?”
Dawn nodded.