Chapter Thirteen

It was about five months after Rianne got her job at the bakery that the terrible thing happened.

It was a hectic morning. Rianne was late to work, putting up her hair in a bun with one hand and eating a piece of bread with the other. I was feeding Rosalie porridge.

"Oh dear, I'm so late," Rianne moaned.

"You'll have to run," I said. "Don't wear that skirt. It's too long and if you don't let me shorten it first, it'll rip."

"My other two are already ripped," Rianne said. "Did father come home last night?"

It was common question for her to ask and I gave the common answer. "No, still gone. Shall I go look for him?"

"I'd give it a few hours." She paused to kiss Rosalie. "Good-bye, angel. You know, I feel like the man of the house going off to support the family."

"You don't mind very much, do you?"

Rianne smiled. "Not a bit. Don't be too lonely now." She rushed out the door, the piece of bread still in her hand.

Rosalie's lower lip jutted out, a warning sign that I knew very well. I lifted her into the air. "We won't be lonely, will we, darling?"

I washed the dishes, all the while singing songs and chattering to Rosalie, then changed her clothes and brushed her hair. I had just begun to slice the vegetables for soup, when there was a knock on the door.

I wondered who it could be. A neighbor? Certainly, father never bothered to knock. I wiped my hands on my apron and opened the door.

And there stood Olin, the very last person I expected to see.

"Olin!" I threw my arms around him, then leaned back to study him. "What are you doing here?"

Olin grinned. He had grown amazingly in the past year. "I told the servants that I wanted to visit you. So they took me here."

I looked up at the path behind him. There was no one else. "And left you alone?"

"I ordered them to leave me," Olin said grandly. "I told them to come back tomorrow."

"You're staying the night?"

"Of course! Don't you want me to?"

I smiled. Naturally, living in a castle that was full of empty rooms, it hadn't occurred to him that we might not have anywhere to put him.

Well, it wouldn't do to disappoint him now.

"Of course, I do. But, Olin, I'm afraid our meals and beds are not quite what you are used to. Still, perhaps…this will be a good learning experience for you. Come in and help me cook."

Olin drew back. "Me? Cook?"

Haven't you ever wanted to try cooking?" I teased. "Honestly now?"

I let Olin in, told him to wash his hands and began teaching him to hold a knife properly in order to cut a carrot. Olin quickly lost interest in the task, and went over to sit where Rosalie was stacking some smooth blocks of wood on the floor.

"Hello," he said to her, smiling. Rosalie looked at him shyly but didn't smile back.

Olin looked up at me and brushed away the curls that kept getting in front of his eyes. "When will you come back, Ellis? It's dull in the palace without you."

"As you see, I'm needed here now," I said. "Although I've missed you too."

Olin watched as I set the vegetable soup to boil. He watched as I washed clothes in the big rub. He watched as I swept the floor and he watched as I put Rosalie to sleep. I tried to amuse him by talking to him the whole time, but still, I could see the expression on his face growing more and more unsatisfied. I suppose that he had assumed that I'd be free to play with him, as I had in the castle.

"Do you ever have fun here?" he finally asked me, glumly.

"It's not the sort of fun you are used to," I said. "Olin, why don't you go out and play with the village children?"

He stared at me. "What?"

"Just go and find a group of children playing and ask if you could join them," I said.

I realized that there was a certain risk to my plan. If any child dared to harm Olin in any way and the king found out, his punishment would be swift. But the children in our village never seriously hurt each other. True, sometimes, in their noisy games, they knocked each other over. There was a risk. But I decided that it was about time Olin made some friends of his own age. And if in the process, he did get a bruised elbow or a skinned knee, surely he wouldn't make a fuss over it in front of his father.

Olin looked a little frightened. "Just ask?"

"Yes," I said. "Don't tell them that you're the prince. Tell them…tell them you're my rich relative, come for a visit. That will explain your nice clothes."

Olin hesitated but I could see longing come into his eyes. Surely, I thought, he must have wished sometimes to be just like all other children, to play in the streets and to get dirty.

"All right," Olin said. "I will." With a smile, he stepped outside and ran off.

About time, I thought. About time.

I checked on Rosalie, then, went to the henhouse to see if the chicken had laid any eggs. There were none. I was just about to turn away when something in the straw moved.

I drew back. A rat, perhaps?

Something moved again and a face appeared. A face with small cunning eyes and a crooked nose.

Chapter Fourteen

Goosebumps covered my arms and I couldn't make a single sound.

The little man stood and brushed the straw from his clothes. "I see that you didn't scream this time. Congratulations on your courage."

"What are you doing here?"

He grinned. "Visiting. I like to see how my old friends are doing."

"How did you find me?"

"I can always find my old friends when I want to. It's magic. Aren't you going to invite me in?"

"What do you want?"

"So many questions. I'll tell you what I want. I want to rest awhile inside your house. I want something to eat. And I want to discuss a certain agreement we made a while ago."

Everything seemed to grow dim and unimportant, the house, the straw, the ground. All I could see in my mind was Rosalie sleeping in my bed. "I have nothing to discuss with you," I whispered. "I have no children."

The little man smiled toward the house. "I believe that's a matter of opinion."

The words cut me, ripped me apart. "No, you have no right! Don't touch her, don't you dare!"

"Why is it always the same?" said the little man to nobody in particular. "Why do they always get hysterical?"

"You can't take her!"

The little man kept smiling.

I turned around and ran to the house. I must get to Rosalie, I thought. If I can get to her, I can protect her… Something touched my foot. I glanced down. A piece of straw wound itself around my feet like a snake. I watched, horrorstruck, as it turned into a shred of bright gold. I attempted to yank it off but it had become cold and hard and tightened around my feet like a chain. I lost my balance and crashed to the ground.

I was sobbing and gasping. "I won't let you take her! I'll die first!"

The little man scowled. "If you wish to have some extra time with the child, you will control yourself," he said sternly.

I took a deep breath, my shoulders quivering. I forced myself to think.

"That's better," he said.

"She isn't my child," I said. "We made an agreement."

"Since you have cared for the child as a mother would for many months, you have become a mother to her as far as I'm concerned, and I am within my rights to take her from you."

"You never mentioned that when we made our agreement."

"You never mentioned that you couldn't have children. It seems that we both withheld important information from each other."

I yanked at the shred of gold with all my strength but it remained where it was, binding my feet together. I began to sob harder than before.

"Now I would like to rest awhile first, like I said. You will bring me into the house. You will feed me. You may try to poison me if you want. It won't work. When I have eaten, I will take the child."