The Gingerbread Princess

Bread and Tea in the Woods

Tina yelled at her mother over the conference call. Her teeth seemed to grow fangs. She briefly covered her painted lips.

"You do what I say! I'll take your father's little kingdom if you refuse."

"Mother, I won't be married off to a vain toad of a man. Even a miller could provide flour to my people; all Braun provides is his one working brain cell. I'm fine with cosmetics, filters, and plastic surgery, but they shouldn't be forced. I like my face."

"You'll marry who I tell you to. Your father gave you too much freedom, you spoiled brat. I am not a fool. Those contests to win your hand were impossible to win."

"And I am not your toy!" Princess Tina tossed off her crown. Artisans created her crown from broken sea glass, and it fell into pieces on the marble floor.

"Your groom will drag you back," the queen whispered angrily.

Princess Tina read the warning note the anonymous writer sent her.

She gathered her supplies and fled her father's castle.

The woods and their wild-fanged animals would be safer than her mother's manicured claws.

Tina turned into a cat with a bit of magic inherited from her father's mother—magic her mother didn't know about.

A mother who hated her because she already had enough perfect children. Princess Tina was the only one of her daughters to question her brilliance and the only daughter who used rudeness as a mask.

Tina tied her soft curls into a bun. Her orange roots showed because she hadn't been bleaching them and was too busy camping in the woods.

Trees surrounded her.

She checked her watch and waited underneath a stream of light that broke through the heavy branches of the oak trees.

Minutes passed, then an hour.

Tina's sister Alana and Alana's betrothed, Hansel, ran out to meet her.

Alana looked more like her own mother, and her wings fluttered as she flew a few inches off the ground.

Hansel rummaged through his canvas bags. The count handed Princess Tina jarred butter that his servant, Mary, had prepared especially for her.

Whispering blended with the caw of the birds. Someone watched them. A guard of some kind.

Tina made out the voice belonging to Mary. She could hear Mary whispering in the distance, hidden by the trees.

Alana set the bread and gingerbread Hansel had baked next to the dancing fire. It's popping and cracking as if they were burning fairies, inviting and warm, but waiting to engulf those who ventured too close.

"Are you sure you want to run, sister? But what about fighting for your freedom?" Alana asked. "Tina, you believe in fighting."

"Don't be an idiot. Of course, this is the only way I can choose my own path without dying. Even I can't cut down fifty men with a sword, nor do I want..." Tina paused. "I'm sorry for being rude, but this will save me from the arranged marriage to Prince Braun. His ex-wives all flee in the end. Even though Father is still King of his small kingdom, Mother has more power."

Princess Tina removed dried mint from her sack. "Let's eat dinner. I'll leave in the middle of the night."

"Then we'll go with you. There will be no place for us here," Hansel said. "For even though Alana is not The Shadow Queen's daughter, she'd marry her off to Braun next. The queen has already refused our engagement."

"If your mother likes Braun so much, she can marry him herself," her half-sister Alana said.

"She'll do it too, but only to save herself humiliation." Princess Tina bit into her bread. "They can have each other."