"Finally, something other than ocean fish," Renit says as I enter the new community kitchens carrying the basket of fish with me. He dries his hand with a torn rag after cutting onions and peppers and makes his way over the wooden counter I stop at.
"These are special," I whisper so anyone in the dining room down the hall can't hear. The new community kitchens are smaller than they once were, yet they're more diverse. In the building my father constructed to be the library of Arego, a stone structure with hallways and rooms compared to a single entrance and no diversity through the layout, we've changed the structure enough to accommodate for cooking and sitting areas.
Most of the work happened before Renit and I got here. Since my father was still working on the building, none of the furniture had been placed within the rooms. But the rebels stocked the seating rooms with wooden tables of all shapes and sizes, some that survived the destruction and some they built themselves.
In the biggest room, the walls paneled like the interior of a ship; they constructed wooden countertops, two in the middle of the room, and an oven and a stove for cooking. Pots and pans hang from the ceiling over the wooden countertops stocked with cutting boards, baskets of fruits and vegetables, and anything else that will contribute to tonight's meal.
Renit tips the basket in his direction and surveys the fish. "Dare I ask why these are special?" He pulls one out onto the counter and begins cleaning it. I do the same, sticking the knife in the cold, white underbelly of the freshwater fish. Another task my father taught me; I cleaned the fish when he came home with a sizable bounty.
"These are for the two of us," I respond. "We're going to have a special meal of our own. Celestine gathered berries, I hid those in a cabinet, and we will sit on the cliffsides to enjoy our meal in peace."
Renit arches a brow at me. "If we start hogging food, the rebels might ask questions."
My fingers are covered in blood and guts from the fish. I shrug and toss a limp, scaly body aside—into the basket now empty of river fish. Renit narrows his eyes at me, he's barely halfway through his first fish and I'm making great strides to get to my second. His hands move quicker than they were before so I don't leave him in the dust.
"It's only one meal. We haven't had any privacy since arriving here; it's been one thing right after the other." Renit's too busy watching me to focus on cleaning the fish in his hands. "I promise to share tomorrow."
There's an unspoken question between us that Renit doesn't want to ask. Whether I'm feeling better or not. We've tabled the discussion for a later time when I do start feeling better, but I know impatience is killing him. No one more than the banished prince wants to bring me back to the witch I once was, even more than Bren, but he's also better at stepping aside so I have the chance to take the necessary time.
Nightmares still haunt me, he's aware of them all, and being the only one that sleeps in the same room—the same bed, rather—Renit is the chosen witch to help me through shaken breaths and a racing heart. The Grounding bond, sitting idle until I start panicking, is the connection I pull on to bring myself back to sanity. Renit doesn't have to do much other than provide warmth, forehead kisses, and gentle reassurance before I'm feeling like myself again.
The wooden floorboards groan underneath my boots when I move to the other side of the counter to finish chopping the vegetables Renit abandoned when I walked in. Instead of standing in the kitchen with my mother and chopping vegetables, the prince now stands at my side. Everything has changed—down to the volume of my company.
Having the presence of the prince in the same room as myself...I never thought I'd see the day. The princes were hardly a factor in my mind growing up, and they didn't come into play until rumors of the king and stories of refugees came flooding in along with their wounds and wide, hopeless eyes. How I hated the royal family back then. Part of that truth remains, but it doesn't stick with Renit or Silas.
YOU ARE READING
Conquering The Unbroken
Fantasy[Book 4 of the Grounding the Storm series] Roux is back in the safe hands of those that care for her most. With a ticking clock over their heads, the rebellion forms into the operation Bren dreamed it would be since the day he joined. But the threat...
