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Luce wore a light brown dress with a wide skirt Her long black hair was braided into three thick plaits, held together with narrohite ribbons Her skin looked paler than usual, with a frosty pink flush dotting her cheekbones She was circling the urn in slow, irls In the chaos of the square, Luce seemed to be the only person as alone Her eyes had that soft, unfocused look they got when she was in the trance of her thoughts

"Shelby--wait!"

Shelby was already halfway across the square, alht hand around her wrist He pulled her to a stop, and she turned, ready to lay into hi Shelby couldn’t decipher

"You know this is the Lucinda of the past This girl is not our friend She won’t know you--"

Shelby hadn’t thought about that She pretended she had She turned and took another hard look at Lucinda Her hair was dirty--not greasy, but so Luce Price would never abide Her clothes fit her strangely, from Shelby’s modern standpoint, but Lucinda see, actually, which was also not very Luce Price Shelby thought of Luce as chronically--though chars she loved about Luce But this girl? This girl see every lu every day Didn’t she have friends to cheer her up? Wasn’t that what friends were for?

"Miles," Shelby said, grasping his free wrist in her own hand and leaning close "I knoe agreed to let Daniel find our Lucinda Price, but this girl is still the Lucinda we care about … or an earlier version of her And the least we can do is cheer her up Look how bummed she is Look"

He bit his lip "But--but--everything we’ve learned about Announcers says you shouldn’t song, pulling Miles along until they arrived at Lucinda’s side She didn’t knohere the Southern belle accent had co present-day Luce’s ia And she had no idea what people here in this ia deb, but it was too late now

A few feet behind her, Miles shook his head in horror It was an accident! Shelby told him with her eyes

Lucinda hadn’t even noticed--that was how lost in sadness she was Shelby had to step up right in front of her and wave a hand in her face

"Oh," Lucinda said, blinking at Shelby with no hint of recognition "Good day"

It shouldn’t have hurt Shelby’s feelings, but it did

"H-haven’t we met before?" Shelby stammered "I think my cousin from, er, Windsor knows an uncle on your father’s side of the family … or maybe it was the other way around"

"I’h perhaps--"

"You’re Lucinda, right?"

Lucinda started, and for a moment there was a familiar spark in her eyes "Yes"

Shelby pressed a hand to her heart "I’m Shelby This is Miles"

"Such unique names You must have traveled froed "Very, very far north So, we’ve never been to … ye olde Valentine’s Faire here before Are you dropping your na the hollow of her throat "The idea that a stroke of chance could decide my heart’s destiny does not appeal to ot herself a studly boyfriend!" Shelby nudged Lucinda, forgetting they were strangers, forgetting that her words n to Lucinda’s ht you fancy, lady?"

"I was in love," Lucinda said somberly

"Was?" Shelby repeated "You one"

"Daniel left you?" Miles was red in the face "I mean--as his name?"

But Lucinda didn’t seearden of his lord’s castle I , but I had seen so ate was open, and the flowers so, so cohed with deep regret

"That first day, he her stature Of class I had my best kirtle on, my hair woven with hawthorn flowers, as some ladies do It did look fine, but I fear it was dishonest"

"Oh, Lucinda," Shelby said "I’m sure you’re a lady in his eyes!"

"Daniel is a knight Helady My farain, just as his father did" She blinked and a tear slid down her cheek "I never even told my love my name"

"If he loved you--and I’m sure he does--he’ll know your true name," Miles said

Lucinda shuddered as she took a breath "Then, last week, as part of his knightly duty to the lord, he--he cas for the lord’s Valentine feast It was the anniversary ofTo see er ho, but he took his leave without a word I’ve looked for him in all our secret places--the hollowed oak tree in the forest, the northern fringe of the rose garden at dusk--but I have not seen him since"

Shelby and Miles shared a look Obviously, Daniel didn’t care about what kind of family Lucinda ca closer to the limits of her curse--that had spooked him By now Shelby was familiar with the way Daniel sometimes tried to pull away from Luce when he knew her death was near He broke her heart to save her life He was probablyaround somewhere, brokenhearted, too

It had to be that way This girl standing before Shelby had to die, maybe a hundred times before the lifetiot her first chance to break her curse

It wasn’t fair It wasn’t fair that she had to die again and again, and had to go through pain like this at so many moments in between More than anyone, Lucinda deserved to be happy