Lakota Princess by Karen Kay Read Free Book Online

to see him watching her intently. “I appreciate your kindness. I am glad you are here. It is only that I…thought you might have married.”
    “I have not, as you can see. I have kept my vow to you. I have even come to you. And what of you? There is a ship sailing within this next moon. We could be on it. We could journey back to our home. You, Waste Ho Win, have a chance to keep your vow to me. You have a chance to become my woman and return to the people, as we planned.”
    Estrela winced inside. She longed to cry out, to accept his proposal, to tell him that she had never forgotten him, that she never would. She couldn’t. She was bound by a promise to another, bound by her own integrity. And so she looked away. It was all she could do.
    “What is it?”
    “I cannot leave here now.” Her words, though soft, held a note of finality, a note she knew would not escape Black Bear’s notice.
    He didn’t say anything in response. He didn’t even move. And with his back toward the window, Estrela had a difficult time seeing the effect of her words, for the light encircled him, blocking out his features.
    She swallowed hard, and had she been able, she would have gladly died at this instant. Her stomach twisted, her heart quietly cried and every part of who and what she was now demanded she run to him, that she put her arms around him and tell him that she loved him still, would always love him.
    She didn’t, however. Instead she began to speak softly in Lakota, “Please believe me. My heart is happy you are here. I have much longed to see you. But I must tell you that I cannot return to the prairie with you. I…” Tell him. Tell him and let him leave. “I…I cannot leave because…I am…” Tell him. She closed her eyes, unable to voice what she knew she must. “I have discovered that I may yet have parents living here.” She trembled and looked up to him. “The Duke and Duchess of Colchester,” she said, all at once in a hurry, “the people I am staying with, have found I may be related to them because I so closely resemble the Duke’s mother.” She paused, studying him, straining to see the effect her words had on him.
    “Humph!” Black Bear stood before her, in front of the window, hands folded over his chest. “I fail to understand”—he moved a little, pacing toward her—“what this has to do with our vows.”
    “Don’t you?”
    He shrugged. “ Hiya ,”he said, still treading toward her. “No.”
    Estrela sighed. Tell him now. Tell him the truth. “I have never known my mother and father,” she said instead. “Not those who gave me birth,” Estrela added. “I have never known who I truly am. I have that chance now. The Duke of Colchester is tracing our lineage. Don’t you see?” she asked, glancing up at Black Bear as he had come to stand over her. “Until I discover who my parents are, I can go nowhere.”
    He said nothing for a long while, simply looking down at her. At length, he spoke, saying, still in Lakota, “You wish to stay here where people shoot at you? Where there are enemies whom I cannot follow, whom I cannot see? You already have a father and mother in my country. Why do you need another?”
    “I…” What could she say? She did have parents in the American West, adopted parents she loved. Estrela groaned inwardly at the half-truths she was speaking, though outwardly all she did was sigh. She searched within herself for explanation and at length said, “Be it good or bad, right or wrong, Black Bear, now that I know my natural parents might still live, I cannot turn my back on finding them. How can I explain it to you? I have a need to discover them, if only to talk with them for a moment.”
    Black Bear stared down at her for a long while, as though debating between his need and his understanding of hers. She knew it would never occur to him that she told him only a partial truth. To him, she was Indian and no Indian ever lied—and certainly never withheld