Chapter 5
Responding to a knock on her hollow door, Kel bolted out of
bed the next morning. Frantically checking herself in the mirror, she tugged on
her chestnut locks, and opened the door, hoping it wasn't someone important. Keep
dreaming, she thought to herself wryly, as she opened the door and found
herself face-to-face with none other than Dom. His eyes widened as he looked at
her, and he hesitantly tilted her chin upwards to the light, his eyebrows
rising at the sight of her face. "What?" she sniffled, narrowing her eyes. You
sound like a baby. Straighten up! She told herself sternly. With one hand
on her back, Dom led her over to the mirror, pointing at the glass. Her eyes
were bloodshot, her nose was red, and she had dried tears in the creases of her
eyes. "I'm a mess," she voiced flatly, not caring one bit.
"It looks like Ruby and Arrow decided to nest in your hair!"
Dom exclaimed, jokingly. "Just kidding," he added hastily, as Kel glared at
him. He smiled an apology. By the
Goddess, is he ever handsome! She thought, flicking a small lock of
dark hair off his forehead. Dom took hold of her hand, gently. Wait! How can
you even think that when Cleon is…is…" Kel snatched
her hand away, feeling the hot tears spill down her cheeks once again.
"Dom…please…"
she started.
He nodded. "I understand. I just wanted to tell you that
Neal leaves for the palace again tomorrow, and he'd like to know if you made up
your mind about being bridesmaid at the wedding. Since I was on my way down
anyway, I told him I'd deliver the message." Kel thought for a second, as Dom
added, "I'm his Best Man."
"Tell
him…tell him that I'll tell him when I see him off tomorrow. I need some more
time to think." She replied, musing.
As Dom
turned to leave her cabin, she grabbed his hand suddenly. "Why were you 'on
your way down anyway'?" she asked, out of curiosity. He turned to her, smiling,
and brought her face close to his. She
could feel his warm breath on her mouth. Suddenly, she decided she really
didn't want to know why, and, pushing him away at the last second, turned to
face the wall. Dom fixed his eyes on her, a startled expression on his face,
then slowly walked out the door, shutting it softly behind him.
"Poor
Cleon…" Kel sobbed, her face in her pillow. "Poor, poor Cleon!"
Three weeks later
Kel felt like she was being ripped into different pieces.
One piece of her wanted to cry, and cry, and cry some more for her beloved
Cleon, who was gone forever. Another piece, the more sensible, said to stop
mourning and get on with her life…go look for those large Scanran machines like
the Chamber had told her to. And yet
another piece wanted to love Dom. Kel felt that piece of her come out every
time he came within sight of her. She felt that part of her scream, No!
Please, Dom! I'm hurting, please, hold me! Even in her mind, it
sounded stupid. But it was there, greater than ever as the weeks went by.
Kel continued with her duties. The men of the Own were getting
restless at camp, keeping lookout when it was obvious that the Scanrans were
not headed in their direction. In fact, there were more reports from the King
about battles being fought down on the more eastern side of the border, where
the Riders were. And according to King Jonathan, they were doing fine by
themselves.
