Ask who it is

“Who are you?” demands Tam, grasping Dunea’s hand tightly.

“What do we have that we can use as a weapon?” whispers Dunea.

“Nothing that I can think of,” responds Tam. “We’ve only just left our village. Who would have thought we’d need one?”

“You heard her,” shouts Dunea. “We demand to know who you are!”

The cloaked figure takes a couple more steps toward the carriage and then stops. “I know I haven’t been around for a few weeks, but I had hoped you wouldn’t have forgotten me so quickly,” said a voice from under the large hood.

Dunea’s eyes grow wide in realization, and Tam’s grip on her hand tightens even more. The figure pulls off the cloak to reveal his grinning face.

“Caeden!” exclaims Dunea, hastening to throw off her traveling blanket, open the carriage doors, and hurl herself into his arms.

Tam beamed as she watched her friend embrace her forbidden lover and lock her mouth into a deep, passionate kiss. The two held each other tightly for several minutes, kissing and — in Dunea’s case, anyway — sobbing repeatedly.

When they at last tore their mouths away from each other, Dunea asked, “What are you doing here?”

“I heard about what happened with the invitations, and I wanted to come see you, but my mother forbade it. I realized the only way to see you was to bribe your driver and arrange to take his place.”

“But what will your mother say?”

“I’m eighteen now,” he says, defiantly. “I have the right to decide whom I will court! Besides, I snuck away. She thinks I am on a hunting trip with my friends. She will not expect me back for a week.”

“So you will go with us to Central City?” asks Dunea.

“Yes. I want to see who your mysterious benefactor is and make sure no one has evil intent toward you. Besides, I worried about you making this perilous journey without me to watch over you.”

Tam notices that the two cannot keep their hands off each other as they speak, and she wonders if perhaps she should offer to give them some time alone to catch up in private. She looks around, and even though they are not far from their village, they are in a remote area where she has never been, and the prospect of being alone for too long makes her more than a little nervous.