Avalon: Princess (Avalon, #1)

Chapter 13: Winter Solstice

Jade woke up with the sun falling lazily across her face. Remembering what day it was, she sat up like a bolt of lightning. Throwing the covers off of her legs, she jumped out of bed. The stone floor was ice cold beneath her feet, but she didn't let that stop her as she rushed across her room to the door. It was open a jar, but Jade flung it wide. She paused just for a moment at the threshold, checking to see if anyone was in the hall. When she saw no one, she ran to the door just down the hall and knocked quickly three times. Almost immediately, Menelwen opened the door. She was already dressed with her hair pulled back.

"It's today! It's today! It's today!" Jade cried gleefully as she threw open her arms.

"It is today!" Menelwen smiled and scoped Jade up in a hug. "Come on, let's get you dressed and ready for breakfast."

Menelwen had made Jade a special dress for the festivities in the evening, but for the day time, Jade just wore one of her old dresses.

This one had long sleeves and was very loose fitting, which Jade liked because it gave her space to move underneath. What she didn't like about this dress in particular was that the skirt fell all the way to the floor, just covering her toes. She would have to pull it up anytime she wanted to run, but Menelwen insisted on it.

"Princesses shouldn't be running anyway," she said when Jade complained. "Just ask Princess Sylvi. I'm sure she never runs."

The dress was a pale yellow to reflect the celebration of the return of the light.

Just as soon as Menelwen was done braiding Jade's hair, Jade was off and running down the hall, her skirt hiked up to her knees.

"Amalthea," Menelwen called sternly to her.

Jade slowed to a walk, dropped the hem several inches to be at a level with her ankles, and looked back for Menelwen's approval.

"Much better," Menelwen said as she caught up to Jade.

Jade couldn't wait to get to the dining room, and every step felt like it took a hundred years. When they finally made it there, King Vidar and Queen Liselotte were already seated, as was Princess Sylvi. Prince Freyr must have still been asleep. Jade paused when she entered to curtsey to the family.

"Good morning, your majesties," she said as sweetly as she could, secretly hoping they wouldn't want to talk to her so she could get into the kitchens.

"Good morning, Princess," King Vidar said to her politely.

No one said anything else, so Jade quickly hurried through the door to the kitchen. She had been in the kitchen many times before but never during the hustle and bustle of a meal.

People were everywhere, but it was her father she searched for, and she found him quickly standing at a large stove, stirring something around in a large pot.

"What's that?" Jade asked, trying to peer into the pot, but she was too short and the stove was too high.

"I've been demoted to porridge duty," the King explained, and then he leaned down to whisper to Jade, "I burnt the toast, and apparently my eggs left something to be desired."

Jade giggled. Thinking about the King being bad at anything was incredibly funny.

"Princess Amalthea," a large man dressed all in white said as he approached her. Jade knew this man from her other ventures in the kitchens. His name was Louis, and he was the head chef. "We are just about ready to serve your guests. Would you help us bring the food out?"

"Oh, ok," Jade said, all her enthusiasm vanishing. "I actually wanted to help cook."

Louis smiled at her, "Don't worry, Princess. We will need all the help we can have to cook dinner, but for now, the most important thing you can do is help us get the food to the hungry royalty out there. Take it from me, royal families don't like to be kept waiting, especially when they're hungry."