The Last Princess

Chapter 24

The boy dropped a dagger. And his jaw.

"What is she doing here?" I blinked. "Uh..." Birch looked like he didn't know what to say. "She's with us now." "Okay, so? Why is she at our house, Dad?" Dad?

Oops.

"Aiden. We're all together here." Birch reprimanded. "Yeah, but at our house? Wasn't there any other available place?" "Aiden! Don't be rude!" Aiden muttered something under his breath that sounded remarkably like, "Yeah, because she wasn't rude." "Aiden." Birch warned.

Aiden bent down and picked up his dagger, and, throwing me a glare, stalked out of the room. "I apologize for my son, Princess." "That's alright, Sir Birch. And, please, not Princess. I'm Elvina." Birch cracked a grin. "Fine, Elvina. And I'm not Sir Birch. Just Birch." I smiled. "Alright." "So, why does Aiden dislike you so much? Have you two ever even met?"

"Well, in the palace, when you broke in, uh, he saw me and, I suppose, tried to bring me here. I, um...slapped him." I confessed sheepishly.

Birch looked like he was trying not to laugh.

"Yeah, well, I don't think he likes that very much." "Yes,I can see that." I sighed. Birch chuckled. "Well, he knows how to hold a grudge. I don't think you'll be hearing very much of him in the days to come."

"That- wait. The next few days?"

"Well, yeah. You're going to live with us." "But, what- what are we going to do?" "Well, I'm assuming you know how the palace is built. You've just got to give the information to our leaders, they'll decide what's next. We're basically going to attack the palace."

"Yes, well, I figured out that much. But don't you have a plan?" "That's not for you to worry about. Our leaders take care of that." "My mother isn't going to give up that easily." I said, folding my arms. Then another thought struck me. "Wait, if you were able to...defeat my mother, how come you aren't a leader? And why were you there to rescue me?"

Birch sighed.

"You ask a lot of questions. I'm not a leader type. Planning. I act. I'm the...eh...General type. I'm the best fighter. Not to brag or anything. That's why I was there to rescue you."

I remained silent.

Birch sighed again. "Truth is, I was offered to be a leader. I declined. Prefer not to sit all day cooped up in a tent. I want to be out there."

I nodded.

"Well, enough of that talk. This is just where the families of the rebels live, anyways. And this is just one rebel camp- but it's the main one. There are many others, all across the Forest. Anyways, you can stay here, with my family. We rebels decide things in those tents over there, you must've seen them."

I nodded again. And tried to conceal a yawn. "Why don't you go to bed?" Birch said kindly. "Um, yes. Thank you." "Come on." He led me through a small hallway, where there were three rooms, two with the doors closed, and one open.

I barely registered a bed before he closed the door behind me. Forgetting everything else, I fell on to the bed and pulled the sheets over me.

I had rarely had this kind of comfort in the past years.

But I couldn't think for much longer. Sleep claimed me as soon as I shut my eyes.