The Protected (Book 2)

Chapter 8: Fishing

The awkward silence between Mathew and I was broken by the growling of our stomachs. I still had not eaten anything since the moment we left the castle and Mathew barely touched his bird from the afternoon.

"Let's stop to eat. The sun is about to set in a few hours," I said breaking the barrier.

"Oh thank god," Mathew expressed, making me feel slightly guilty for starving the prince. Slightly.

I decided to continue my lesson with him by taking him with me to catch our dinner. "Have you ever fished before?"

"No... is it hard?" He asked curiously.

"I guess you'll find out." I shrugged my shoulders. I obviously would not know since everything came oh so easy to me.

I grabbed a fallen branch I found on the ground and pulled out the dagger my father had gifted me. I began making a spear out of the thick branch. I looked up to find Mathew grabbing a branch of his own. So he was a good student after all.

I pulled out an extra knife I kept in my boot and gave it to him. "Here."

He gave me a sheepish smile before accepting the knife and watched me shape my spear before working on his.

"Be careful not to cut your fingers princeling," I warned. I wouldn't want him to get too confident. I was suppose to guard him after all.

He sighed at the nickname. He hated when I called him princeling.

"Yeah... I won't," he said without looking at me and focusing on his task at hand. "Hey Clary?"

I answered with a hmmm.

"That dagger, what does it mean to you? You've had it for so long," he asked. He stopped carving his sphere long enough to look at me.

"Oh," I was taken by surprise. I never thought he had noticed. "It was a gift from my father. To remind me how strong I was. He said that even though the dagger was small in comparison to a sword, it still cut the same. It was a metaphor. Even though I was not like the other guards, I could still be considered the same. It didn't matter if I was a girl. It kept me going in hard times. It also reminded me of how proud my father was of me. I consider it like my good luck charm."

The prince looked shocked but yet in awe at my confession.

"That is very kind of your father. He has always been so proud of you and is not afraid to show it. I used to envy the relationship you two share," he admitted with red ears.

"You make it seem like your father is not proud of you?" I asked. Mathew only shrugged his shoulders not really accepting nor denying the fact. Was he crazy? "You obviously do not know your father well enough. He always brags about you to me."

"Yeah right," he scoffed. "He wanted a man but he got a bookworm instead."

"A man? You think a man is measured by how well he does on the field? You know how many men in the guard I am embarrassed to even know?" I asked. "Do you know what your father told me? He said that a man is not measure by how hard he can punch but rather by his actions. He told me that even though you've done some mistakes he is still so very proud to call you his son."

"He-- he said that?" Mathew looked up at me with hope in his eyes.

"Yes, the only reason he ever wanted you to train in the guard was because he knew how dangerous the world was and wanted you to be able to defend yourself. All he did was worry about your wellbeing like any normal parent," I pointed out. I couldn't believe the king had never told any of this to his son. Much could have been avoided between the two.