Henrietta

Betrayed

~Chapter Sixteen~

"How did this happen?" she asked. Her hand reached out to touch the wounded cheekbone and Luther merely took a step back preventing her from laying hands upon him. He turned from her his broad back creating a wall between them as he looked down to the dirty ground. Luther figured there was no point in beating around the bush and so he exhaled trying to gather the right words to say to Ettie.

"He came." He began.

"Who?"

"My brother...he came in search for you, he offered a large sum of shilling's for your head." he confessed.

He turned to look at her now and Ettie held a surprised expression as Luther walked past her and rummaged through a large burlap sack.

"He wants me dead?" she timidly asked.

Uncertain if it had been a personal thought or directed towards him he answered anyways and stood to offer Ettie another dress. The white material stretched in flurry thin layers of see through material. The short sleeved were decorated with glittering beads along with the bottom rim of the dress.

"I'm not certain what he wants with you...here takes this." He offered.

Ettie reached for the dress and admired it as she let her fingers caress the soft texture of it.

"This is beautiful." She murmured.

"I want you to have it...it belonged to Lydia long ago. This was the dress I met her in before Calvin sunk his claws into her." he said.

Ettie's eyes watered as she looked down to it, she felt her lip quiver and her smile reach one corner of her lips as she inhaled the dress and hugged it.

"You still think highly of her after what you've learned?" he asked.

"Lady Lydia saved my life, she was like a sister to me and never look at me below her class rather she treated me like an equal. Whatever errors she committed she had her reasons." She replied.

Luther stood a bit amazed at this timid shy girl; he would think that after finding out the truth she would have looked at Lydia with a scorn. Rather Ettie tried to look beyond that, deep down to where the good in a person lay. His mouth itched to confess a daring idea as he watched her still admire the dress in her hands. Could he have the courage to tell Ettie to flee with him to Sovereignty?

"I must confess something." He found himself saying.

Her eyes lifted to look into his and she offered a shy smile while she waited for him to continue.

"Have you heard of Sovereignty?" he asked.

***
Calvin mounted his stallion and commanded it to go forward. He had waited for Luther to show, but he never did. His worry began to grow as he pushed his horse to move faster and quicker towards the woods. The feeble and pitiful soldiers appointed to him to aid him in his search had been dismissed. He was amazed how weak the army had grown and how bad of an excuse for men they had. Nonetheless, he could not fully hate them, for they were after all putting their lives on the line for Theodosia.

I am such a fool, if only I had not stopped looking for Henry instead of relying on my own brother to do it for me. What was I thinking! He thought to himself.

His thoughts clouded as he watched the tress and the town go by in a blur. Then a familiar hidden path came into view and Calvin decided to leave his horse far away from their camp. Knotting a tight knot on a branch, he began his walk towards Luther's hide out.

Twigs and leaves snapped under his boots as he moved quietly through the faded narrow path. At last, their camp came into view as a few men gathered their belongings loading it into a large wagon.