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“Well,” I continued to follow him. “Where were you before Rimor then?”

I watched as his body stiffened in response to the question. He looked over his shoulder for a moment and uttered the word, “Sprath.” His tone was that of absolute disgust. It reminded me of every other person who had mentioned the kingdom to me.

Sprath was the least favorable kingdom of the four, and their name always gave me a bad taste in my mouth. It was by far the smallest and housed a lot of corrupt people, from what my father and uncle had told me. My father often called them the “itch on his back that he just can’t scratch.” But what it was really called was the “City of Knowing.” They happened to know the strengths and weaknesses of everyone else. They supposedly had a large number of spies that worked for King Volund, who could tear a kingdom apart by revealing one secret at a time.

My uncle explained to me that King Volund once told him the exact positions and war tactics of Rimor’s army, should there ever be a war, with perfect accuracy. My uncle had to come up with an entirely new war plan when he got home. He and my father described Volund as a snake in the grass. Get on his bad side, and he’ll sneak up and bite you when you least expect it. And the bite will be a slow, agonizing poison.

I gulped, nervous at the thought of Elias being from Sprath. But noting the disgust in his voice when he spoke of the City of Knowing, and how he had said he was from “nowhere,” it seemed he was not Sprathian himself. So I continued on.

“What brought you to Rimor?” I asked.

He thought for a moment as we kept walking. “An assignment,” hefinally answered.

“Oh?” I questioned. “What kind of assignment?”

He stopped in his tracks, and I nearly walked into the back of him. He turned to face me, a solemn look on his face. “You ask a lot of questions, Princess,” he stated.

I looked up to meet his stare. “And you’re quite aloof,” I retorted. “I’m just trying to make conversation. Also, you don’t have to keep calling me Princess.”

His brows furrowed. “But that’s what you are, is it not?”

“Exactly. And I don’t want anyone knowing that.”

“It is also a term of endearment. I don’t think anyone will think otherwise.”

I paused. “Are you using it as a term of endearment?”

He stared at me, no emotion on his face at all. His posture looked stiff and uncomfortable.

“No.”

We stared at each other for a moment, the silence deafening.

“Okay,” I said, trying to shrug it off and return to the original subject. “So tell me about your assignment.”

We maintained eye contact for a moment before his shoulders relaxed. “I was told to locate something in Rimor,” he said. “I can’t give you much more information, for my employer’s sake.”

“See? Aloof,” I said, jabbing a finger at his chest. He looked down at my finger then back up at me, his expression impassive.

“And you are…inquisitive,” he said, purposefully picking a less offensive word than ‘nosy.’

I smiled. “Well did you get to complete your assignment? Before I stole you away?”

“No,” he replied. “But yours pays better.” The corner of his mouth tipped up in an almost-smile. I began to laugh, and I swore his eyes lit up for a moment. “Shall we?” he said, turning back around tocontinue on.

As we walked for several long miles, I couldn’t help but admire the forest. It was quiet and peaceful and…serene. It had been a decade since I didn’t have to stare at stone walls every day. The best views of nature I had were in the castle gardens. But even then, guards followed me every step of the way, and servants and handmaids doted on me. The soft sounds of the forest brought peace and a sense of freedom.

Towards the end of the day, my legs grew achy and my stomach empty. We stopped a few times to fill up on food and water, but by nightfall I was once again starving. We certainly were not eating enough food to maintain the energy needed for these long hikes.

Elias must have had the same thought, because when we stopped and made camp, he said, “Tomorrow we can try to hunt.”

I looked at him with eagerness. “That would be wonderful,” I replied. “I could eat an entire elk right now.”

Elias nodded, then made himself comfortable. We sat in silence for a moment while I snacked on some hard cheese.

“So,” Elias began, taking me by surprise. He wasn’t usually the one to initiate conversation. “I answered some questions about myself. What about you? What are some things I should know about the Princess of Rimor?”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re joking,” I said. He shrugged and took a bite of his own food. “You barely answered a damn thing, Elias.”