Princess Elodi's Arc

Chapter 13 of 55

Morning light struck Elodi's face. She stretched on her cloak and blinked at the bright clearing. The stream ran clear a few steps away. She had slept through the night under open sky, and no guard stood over her. For a moment she only breathed and remembered where she was. Free. Then a smell reached her, warm and sweet, and her stomach woke too. Damon crouched by the fire. He was the prince who had helped her flee the castle, the one man who saw her cage and broke it open. Now he flipped something on a flat stone set in the coals. His blue tunic was still streaked with dirt. His dark curls stuck up on one side. He looked nothing like the polished prince from the ball. "Smells amazing," Elodi said. She sat up. Her otter slid off her lap and shook itself, the jewels on its collar catching the sun. Damon glanced back and smiled. "You're up early." "So are you." She rubbed her eyes. "What is that?" He lifted the stone and slid a pancake onto a wooden plate. "Nothing fancy. Hand-made pancakes with wild berries." He picked a few dark berries from a folded leaf and pressed them into the top. Then he held the plate out to her. Elodi took it. The plate was warm in her hands. She had eaten at long tables with silver forks and servants behind every chair. No meal had ever looked as good as this one. She tore off a piece and ate it. The pancake was a little burnt at the edge. The berries were tart and sweet. She closed her eyes. "Well?" Damon asked. "Better than anything in the castle," she said. She meant it. He laughed and started cooking another for himself. Elodi watched him work. At the castle, food simply appeared. Someone gathered it, someone cooked it, someone carried it. She had never learned how. Out here, no one would carry anything for her. If she wanted to keep going, she would have to learn to feed herself. "Show me," she said suddenly. Damon looked up. "Show you what?" "How you made these." She set the plate down. "I can't ride behind you forever and let you cook every meal. If I'm free, I should know how to live free." He studied her a moment. Then he nodded and moved aside, making room by the fire. "Watch the stone. Too hot and it burns." He handed her the leaf of berries. Elodi knelt in the dirt beside him. She had spent years learning to be a princess. Now she started to learn something harder and better. She poured the batter herself. It hissed against the hot stone, and she leaned in to watch it cook.