The Princess Pact_A Twist on Rumpelstiltskin by Melanie Cellier

Author:Melanie Cellier [Cellier, Melanie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction & Literature
Publisher: Luminant Publications
Published: 2017-01-23T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

Life in the forest camp settled into a routine. In the mornings, Marie helped in the kitchen; in the afternoons, she practiced archery; and, at all times, she attempted to avoid R. At first, he sought her out frequently, but he quickly picked up on her reluctance and seemed content to give her space.

She observed him from a distance and tried not to attract unnecessary attention to herself around camp. Word had quickly got out, however, that she was a favourite of R’s, and many of the rebel foresters treated her with deference. It hadn’t been her desire, but neither did it seem disconcerting. She had been raised a princess, after all.

Only Rafe, Lisa and Danny treated her in the same way as before, apparently blind to the changed perceptions of the other foresters. Marie was grateful for their friendship. They brought fun and light to her days in the camp, marred only by her constant chafing desire to go searching for William. She had to keep reminding herself he was almost certainly safe back at the palace after scouting out the camp. It was nothing but foolishness to let baseless worries about him overwhelm her when she had enough real worries of her own.

With R back in camp, Danny had resumed his role as head hunter. On days when game was scarce, he didn’t make it back for the afternoon training and Rafe stepped in to take his place. Marie’s skills slowly improved, and she moved up to one of the middle targets.

Despite her pride in her new ability, Marie was conscious that it wouldn’t have helped her during the attack in Northgate. She mentioned the thought aloud one mealtime and Lisa quickly agreed.

“It’s why I was so eager to learn to fight with a blade,” said the other girl. “Arrows are extremely effective in their place, but they won’t help you defend yourself in close quarters. Foresters are a fairly egalitarian bunch, but my parents never wanted any of their children, boys or girls, to learn sword fighting. I think they were afraid we would run away to join the army, or become city guards or something.”

She paused for the briefest moment and met her brother’s eyes across the table. The emotion they shared was difficult to read. Grief? Guilt?

Marie glanced across at Rafe, who raised his eyebrows the slightest fraction. So he’d noticed as well.

Was there a limit to R’s powers? Were her friends starting to question their decision to turn against their own families?

But in another second, the moment was gone, and Lisa was continuing to speak. “So as soon as we arrived here, I joined the sword training. Putting up with Peter is a small price to pay for learning such a valuable skill.”

“Archery isn’t so limited,” said Danny, his brow creasing as he considered his sister’s words. “A bow can be drawn quickly and an arrow loosed at a short range. And, if necessary, an arrow can be used as a sort of knife.

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