Death By Princess {Complete}

CH 32

Elule sleeps for most of the drive back to the base but her eyes shoot open when they come to a stop. She waits for Bertrude to get out of carriage before she makes sure the coast is clear and slides out as well. She brushes off the brown pants she took from Eli moments before she left for Winterton.

"Elule! You're back!" says an innocent voice. She turns and beams at the sight of Eli. Her brother. "I have been so bored waiting for you to come back. Want to play?"

Her face that moments ago reflected loneliness and worry morph into that of a happy child again, making her look her age, perhaps even younger. "Sure!"

They walk into the wooded area that surrounds the base. There is nothing anyone can do about their relatedness but they both know a friendship will only be discouraged.

"So," says Eli picking up a stick from the ground, "your mom is really my mom?"

"Uh-huh."

"So then that makes us--"

"Brother and sister. With different dads."

"Is that even a thing?"

"It is now," says Elule. "But whatever our relation may be, we were friends first which means we will be friends for life. As long as you're okay with that?"

He smiles and says, "I have always wanted a friend for life."

"Hey!" says Eli noticing Elule's attire. "You're still wearing my clothes. Did it trick your parents?"

"I think my mom knew but my daddy... well he is in his own little world. He doesn't notice me or my mommy much these days so it really fooled him."

They giggle, each sweet exhale frosting the air around them.

"Say, why don't we keep playing swapsies? We have lived very different lives and I would love to know what it's like to live like a normal peasant in a village."

"And I would love to know what it's like to live in a castle... er... just don't expect me to wear a girly dress. That ain't happening!"

Elule holds her chopped off, fiery hair high on top of her head then pulls Eli's hat over it, tucking in the strands that fell from her tiny hands.

"Now you need to get my hair. Do you still got it?"

"Aww," he whines. "I don't want to be a girl. Can't I experience castle life as a prince?"

Elule extends her pointer finger like she's a mother scolding her child. "We said swapsies. That means we're going all the way in."

"Fiiine."

"I'll go back to the base and get it. I don't trust you to return with it. You better stay here though. No chickening out. If I can pretend to be a boy, you can pretend to be a girl."

"I'll wait here. Trust me."

Eli takes a seat on a rotted tree stump and Elule runs off. Eli listens to the scoff of her foot until he can no longer hear it. He hears something else though, cantering in the distance, and it's drawing closer.

"That means my mom is back and maybe my dad too. Sorry Elule, I know I promised but I haven't seen my folks in forever." He runs in the same direction as Elule hoping to run into her and his parents along the way.

***

"Where did Eli put my hair? " she says looking around the inside of the base. She goes outside and walks the perimeter until she is at the back where the only thing around are a couple of crates, and a wad of red hair hair still tired in a bow, hanging on the soggy grass.