DUST
And
DREAMS
Lynn Landes
By:
Lynn Landes
Published by:
Landes Publishing
Edited by:
Shane Landes
Cover art by:
http://amdesignstudios.net/
This book is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, and events portrayed in this novel are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2015 by Lynn Landes
http://followlynnsthread.wordpress.com/
All rights reserved.
Other titles by Lynn Landes:
The Angels Covenant
Covenant Breakers
Blood Covenant
Fae Queen
Shadow King
Kiss of the Herald
Serenity’s Song
Arctic Moon
Secret Friends
Dust and Dreams
Perilous Dreams
Stolen Dreams
Mercy's Promise
Table of Contents:
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Epilogue
Chapter 1
Cassandra waits in silence for death to claim her. She can hear them outside laughing and carrying on while waiting for her fear to consume her. Her body jumps when she feels the concussion of the door being kicked in. No help would come tonight.
As she listens to the voices of the men, she recognizes many of them from her father’s funeral. Oh, they all came to pay their respects, but their shame kept them from meeting her eyes.
“Such a tragedy,” Mr. Daniel's had taunted, “Forty-eight is a young age to die.” Eustace Daniels owns the hotel in town.
The minute he touched her hand with his clammy, smooth appendage Cassie had to force her body not to react and jerk away. The vile images flowed into her mind from his, and she closed her mind tight, blocking him.
Her light amber colored eyes met his, and she allowed his thoughts to seep in, being careful not to let the graphic images through.
Cassandra's beauty was renowned, and he had made no attempt to hide his interest in her. He wanted her in his bed and under his thumb. After multiple attempts to win her hand he'd given up, or so she thought. Looking deeper she hears his inner dialogue as his hand sickeningly stroked hers.
‘In five days, you will be begging and crying for mercy, Cassandra. Your land will be mine as well as your body. When I am through with you, I will give whatever is left of you to my boy, Aiden. Enjoy what freedom you have left!’
Through the haze of his vile thoughts, she heard him, saying, “If there's anything I can do, please call on me, Cassandra.” Cassie gave a small nod and pulled her shawl tighter around her black day dress.
“A stampede trampled him to death…” she heard the murmurs floating through the crowd, but she knows the truth. They’d killed him, and she was next. The rest of the mourners had passed through, all offering their condolences. Some brought food, others offered to pray for her.
Pastor Smith tried to reach her talking about God’s will, but she was silent in her misery. When it was finally over, Cassie had looked at her Father's body, one last time before closing the casket. She stood alone when they lowered him into the ground and jumped as the first shovel full of dirt landed on the lid of the black coffin, but she did not cry.
At twenty-one, she had learned that this life only helps those who help themselves. She glanced at the tombstones lining her family plot. Her Father, Mother, her husband and a small stone for her baby.
“They will pay for this. I am through playing by other people's rules. Now it's my turn.” A brisk wind blows, and she ignores the stray strands of her long hair that whip free. Cassie wipes a stray tear and walks slowly through the cold, fall morning back to the main house, remembering.
When her mother drowned in the river on the property, no one could understand what she was doing near the water. She couldn’t swim and had a terrible fear of drowning. Her body was destroyed and bloated when it was discovered further downstream. The sheriff had ruled it an accident, but Cassie knew better.
Cassie was sixteen when she married, nineteen-year-old Jim. They had three years living together, laughing and planning their life. He built a small cabin close to the main house and had worked the land with her Father.
When his body was found broken at the bottom of a ravine, the sheriff ruled it another accident. He had claimed that a tragic rock slide crushed Jim. But Cassie knew the truth, they were killing them off one, by, one, for the land.
Gold. It was a plague that washed across the land claiming everyone. No one was immune to the sickness. The moment it was known that her family found a gold vein running through the property, it began.
She tried to warn her father, but he had believed in the town and the people. He thought if he shared in the abundance, the town would prosper. He paid others to work the mine, even giving them a share of the profits. But greed, envy, and a lust for more was a black cloud that hung over everyone.
Cassie was gifted or cursed. It is a treasured secret that she inherited from her German Grandmother, her ability to see images and hear people’s thoughts. Her mother and grandmother had taught her how to control it and hide it. Not even her sweet Jim knew the truth.
“No more,” Cassie had thought. This time
