She eased herself out the window feet first so that she could grab hold and lower herself to the ground. She did not want to take a chance of hurting the babe by simply dropping to the ground as she did the last time.
Once out she snuck around the back of the castle. She knew where she would go... her safe place. It was where she went as a child when she wanted to escape and feel free. And she needed that now... a place to escape to and feel free if only for a short time.
Then she would return and face her fate.
Chapter Thirty-six
“What do you mean she’s not there?” Cree demanded, his head coming up to scowl at the young servant lass.
The servant trembled as she spoke. “I could find her nowhere in the cottage, my lord.”
Cree stood towering over the woman. “You looked in the other room?”
She bobbed her head. “After I called out to her and got no answer, I went in the other room to make certain she was all right, but it was empty, though the window was open.”
Cree waved the lass away and turned to Sloan. “Come with me.”
They arrived at Dawn’s cottage in no time and followed the footprints beneath the window until they dissolved into an utter mess.
“She covered her tracks well,” Sloan said.
“You sound as if you admire her,” Cree snapped.
“She does have a sharp wit.”
“Let’s see if your wit is sharper... find her!” He turned to storm away and stopped abruptly pointing to the window. “Board it.”
Two hours later and no success in finding Dawn, Cree stormed into Lila’s cottage causing Thomas to cry out. Elsa stepped in behind him. “Take the child.”
“No, my lord, please,” Lila begged hugging her son tightly against her.
Elsa reached out for the babe and whispered, “Do as he says and your child will be returned to you.”
Lila gave Thomas to Elsa and she left the cottage, Cree closing the door behind her.
Lila couldn’t stop her tears from falling. She feared she would never see Thomas again.
“You were the one who told Dawn that my future bride was on her way?” Cree accused.
Lila bowed her head. “I thought she already knew—that you had told her—and only sought to comfort her.”
“She was upset?”
“Aye, my lord, her legs grew too weak for her to stand.”
Cree let loose a low growl. “Where would she run to?”
Lila shook her head. “She would not run. There is no place for her to go, though...”
“What? Tell me.”
“There is a place she would go as a child when she wanted to feel safe, feel free.”
“Where is it?”
“I do not know; she never told me. She never shared its whereabouts with anyone.”
“Don’t lie to me,” Cree warned.
Lila stiffened with fear. “I do not lie, my lord. If I knew where it was I would tell you. Dawn was very protective of it. She told me once that the only person that she would share her safe place with would be the man she loved and wed.”
Her words stabbed him like a sharp knife to the gut. She would never wed, for he would not let her. But she would share her safe place with him... he would make certain of it.
“If she didn’t want to return to the cottage where do you think she would go?”
“The only other place she felt safe,” Lila said sadly. “Home.”
~~~
Dawn sat holding her cold hands out in front of Old Mary’s hearth; her old hearth. She had taken her boots off, her feet cold as ice. She had stayed too long at the glen but it had been so peaceful that she hadn’t noticed that dusk had been fast encroaching. Night had settled on the land by the time she had reached the village. Not wanting to return to her new cottage she decided to go home and Old Mary had greeted her with a smile.
She rubbed her hands together and looked at the old woman sitting in front of the hearth on the floor beside her. She was wizened with age and knowledge and Dawn took this opportunity to question her about what she had said when last she had visited Dawn.
Before she could gesture, Old Mary laid her hand on Dawn’s knee. “He’s coming for you and he’s angry.”
Dawn scrambled to her feet, slipped her boots on and headed out the door, stopping abruptly when she caught sight of him.
He came out of the shadows of the night his cloak flying out behind him as he hurried toward her. Instincts took over and she ran.
She didn’t get far. He scooped her up in his arms and headed straight for her cottage. Dawn was glad night had fallen. There were fewer villagers about to see his fury and gossip about her dilemma, though no doubt she was already talk of the village. Everyone was probably wondering about her fate with the imminent arrival of Cree’s intended.