Dandelions don't die [Ongoing]

SEVENTEEN - Glenna

Sanctuaries and nests

"Do you know if Vidar is going to come back any time soon?" 

Glenna looked up from where she was washing the windows of the tavern to look at Elizabeth, who had spoken in her usual quiet voice. She was scrubbing a spot on the floor on her hands and knees.

Glenna wasn't fully surprised by the question. Her poppet was a sweet, kind woman that had probably forgiven their beta's harsh treatment already. Even though she should be rather furious with him in Glenna's opinion.

"Do you want him to come back?" Glenna retorted.

She turned back to her task and wiped the glass clean.

It was quiet for a minute or two, during which only the sounds of the coarse brush on the wooden floor could be heard.

"I don't want him to stay away from his home because of me," Elizabeth replied.

Glenna looked back over her shoulder. The younger woman kept her head down.

"This is your home as well," Glenna said.

Elizabeth's scrubbing paused before she continued with more vigor.

"Please don't say things that you don't fully mean," Elizabeth said and shook her head.

"I don't."

Glenna abandoned her cleaning and took a seat on a random chair.

"Poppet, look at me," she spoke in calm authority.

Elizabeth followed the command but more unwilling than usual. She sat back on her heels and looked up through her lashes.

She was as obedient as an omega. Once again Glenna wondered if Donahue's theory was actually right and she was at least a half-blood but without a beast.

"Have I ever said something that wasn't true?" Glenna asked sternly.

She did not take well to being called a liar.

"No," Elizabeth replied softly. "But this isn't my home."

"Why not? Do you not want to be here?" 

Nobody would make Elizabeth stay, if that wasn't what she wanted.

The younger woman turned her gaze away.

"I don't know what I want," she admitted nervously. 

Indecisiveness was a natural reaction, considering what has happened to her before.

"Well, then let me tell you what I want," Glenna offered and leaned forward. "I want you to stay with us. I want you to get so used to us that you will finally stop hiding. I want you to make friends and to learn to trust. And I want you to make Vidar prove to you that he is worthy of being your mate. The beta is a complicated man but that doesn't give him the right to treat you the way he did."

"You say this, like it was a possibility for us to be together," Elizabeth replied bitterly. "Human women aren't allowed to fraternalize outside of marriage."

She gave Glenna a look that showed just how torn and unsure she was.

"Ernest would never divorce me and wives can't make the divorce," she continued. "And maybe I don't want to have a mate."

She said the last word like she was saying something that she had heard in a foreign tongue.

"You don't?" Glenna asked slightly surprised. 

She had been sure that Elizabeth had feelings for their grumpy beta. They would be a good pairing.

The larger woman didn't react to the unexpected answers about human marriages that Elizabeth had given her. They would find a way to cut the stings that attached Elizabeth to the bastard should never be allowed to call himself her husband.