Dalliance

Chapter Thirty Six

Dawson awoke to a bitter chill that made him instantly reach for Holly. Having fallen asleep with his arm wrapped around her, he was startled to find she was nowhere in sight. In fact, he lingered around the site they chose for camp and she was absent. Picking up is satchel that held a makeshift map, a few pieces of fruit, and some herbs, he extinguished the fire and attempted to track her.

Finding her steps in the woods, he carefully and quietly followed them. Keeping his breath at a scarce pace, he continued forward until hearing the sound of sticks breaking up ahead. She cursed quietly as he came up behind her, hearing her sniffle from crying. When she could not escape, he came behind her and pulled her away from the clearing she was heading towards.

"What in the name of God are you doing?"

"Leave me alone."

"What? What are you saying? Last night you..."

"Last night I didn't remember what you did...and now, I recall it all..."

"I beg of you to speak to me...do not run away!"

"I have nothing to say to you! Release me or I will tell them of you as well."

"What are you doing?"

"I am going back to the King."

"For starters, it's the opposite direction, and second, to hell you are!"

She glared at him, clenching her jaw before slapping him. With his head still turned in the direction of her attack, he moved his jaw to try to make the feeling of the sting dissipate, but it had remained. Bringing his attention back to her, he saw how she had turned in the opposite direction and was heading back to the castle.

"They will certainly behead you if not worse! You cannot go!"

"I will not speak of you, for you did save me but the King has to answer."

"To you?"

She glared again.

"You are the most stubborn woman I have ever met, but you are not intimidating to a man who rules the entire four corners...There is nowhere you can go to outrun him, no place to hide where you will not be found-"

"Then what was your plan with me?"

"Eventually, we would answer for what we've done, but I hoped by then his age or his enemies would have played fate itself."

"I would rather be close to the King and beg his forgiveness than be beside someone who broke my heart."

Dawson looked to the ground and pulled her back as she attempted to run.

"What are you getting at? I have never-"

"You ruined my life, YOU killed Eleana! Maybe not your hands, but your idiocy!"

"Am I the only one with a secret?"

"What does that mean?"

"I held you in my arms, saw the birthmark on your skin, cried and found no reason to live...and yet you stand before me now more in life than in death..."

"I have no reason to tell you."

"I believe you do since you carried my child."

She froze, catching herself on a nearby tree as it was difficult for her to stand. Holly brought her hand towards her stomach and let out a slew of tears. Dawson moved to her, holding her as she reluctantly clung onto him. They continued to walk in the woods as she then explained everything to its full extent.

"When did you know you were with child?"

"A day or so before the fire."

"Why did you keep it from me?"

"Dawson...I mean no pain when I say this...but I was not sure if the child was truly yours. I did not wish to cause an excitement only for you to be disappointed. And when I had discovered what you did by Nicholas himself...I realized the one person I trusted had broken that...had broken me. I then went to the now King and begged him to care for me...as I was carrying an Auvere child."

"But your birthmark...your clothes...they were the same..."

"Do you recall when I saved Amelia from being skinned by Nicholas?"

Dawson nodded. "She came to me and spoke of the fear of not being able to supply for her children. She said she owed me her life and would certainly die there. I then came up with a plan later when I discovered the truth. I went to her and asked if she would brand herself with my mark-but I did not know of the fire...I did not know of the revolt-you did."

He nodded. "I was told to leave by noon...I was losing track of time trying to explain to you. You will not believe my motives to be true, but I can promise that they were. I was trying to protect you."

"You know the cruelty he brought onto me and you sold me as if I had nothing but feathers or cotton in me. I loathe everything I went through...all the pain and loneliness."

"And what of the King? How does he play into this?"

"He found me trapped in the kitchen and assisted me out...I begged him to help Amelia but she had already been gone. I realized that she bared my mark and so I did not move her...I wanted you to feel the pain, to be in agony as I was..."

"You were the maiden...you changed your clothes..." He moved from her, more angry than she had ever seen him. "Do you not understand what that had done to me? To see you that way...I lost any shred of humanity that I once had...I swore to ruin Nicholas and the King for what they did..."

"I did not lie of not being able to remember. Truly, I did not."

"Why is it I should believe it?"

"Him and I made a deal to supply for this child until Nicholas was apprehended. I believed he would care after as well, but after eating dinner one night, I grew increasingly tired and then awoke without any memory of you...or any part of former life. I had a ring upon my finger and a title of Queen...it was all genuine."

"Then what made you remember?"

"I suppose it was the little things...the kiss perhaps...accepting and finally believing that you were who you said, and I was who you claimed I had been...I awoke in your arms and stared into the fire and remembered it all. The pain was too much, the betrayal-"

"I have never hated someone so much as to hurt them as you have to me. Perhaps it is better if you return to the king."

"Can we not just be even on the pain we caused each other?"

"My motives for marrying you to him were to protect you! I was still beside you, risking everything to be with you, and you completely changed who I was because you were angry. I had though the absolute best of you, and now it is altered."

"You told me there was nothing I could do that would fade the love you had for me..."

"I said that to the woman who would have never harmed me this way...not to the one who took whatever remained of my shattered heart and made it into nothing but dust now."

"Dawson..." She reached out as tears streamed down her face.

He continued forward, trying to distance himself from her, as she cried out to him.

"Dawson!" Now the tone changed from begging to a warning as he found himself face to face with a native. A spear pointed towards his nose as they were surrounded by several men of the land. With red and blue paint around their faces, their eyes were a soulless black that terrified Holly. The natives then pushed them together and forced them bound to one another by rope as they called for their leader. As they awaited this, Dawson attempted to look for an escape-but found that they confiscated his weapons and there were too many to defeat in hand-to-hand combat. They were trapped.