The (Not So) Perfect Princess

Eily confesses

Once I caught up to Eily, we were a good ways away from the soldiers little camp. I just hoped we wouldn't happen to stumble upon The Cap. , Archie, or any of the other guards. I threw a quick glance over my shoulder and found that Mercer was no longer in sight-I couldn't even hear Runstrom snoring anymore. Had we really gone that far? Maybe it was because Eily was walking very fast, almost running. I mean, yeah, I was excited to be out of that place too, but I wasn't about to start sprinting. She was acting almost as if she was mad. Maybe she was, maybe she wasn't, I couldn't ever really tell with Eily. She suddenly grunted in pain, and I remembered the slice on her palm. In fact, now that I was right behind her, I could clearly see the blood dripping off her hand. That cut looked like it hurt, and she needed to cover it up.

"Here, wrap this around your hand, it'll help," I persisted, grabbing her forearm, but she just wrenched herself out of my grasp again. She whirled around, green eyes burning into me.

"You know what, princess?" she snarled. "I am sick of you always trying to 'help' me. Cause to me, it seems like every time you stick your little nose into our problems, something goes wrong."

"Oh really?" I snapped. "Cause to me, it seems like for the past couple of days I've been the one getting you out of problems! I saw you looking at that kid's crossbow. I knew what you were thinking. You would've shot him and made our situation even worse!"

"A situation you got us in!"

"You think I want to go back to the castle?!"

"Maybe not, but I know you want me in the dungeon."

"Why would I want you in the dungeon?!"

She rolled her eyes and started walking away. "I think it's pretty obvious we hate each other, smarts."

I clenched my fists. Heat was rising to my face. I was sick of this.

"What is your deal!?" I said, my voice rising rapidly. "I've done nothing but sacrifice for you, and you still treat me like dirt! I haven't done anything to you! Or if I have, you're too much of a coward to come up and say it too me, face to face! You hear me Eily?! You're a coward!"

Eily spun around, looking like she was about to explode.

"I'm jealous of you!" she finally screamed. "There! Are you happy now, princess?! Am I a coward now?!"

The hot liquid fury inside me suddenly melted into cold sludge. "What?" I murmured.

But Eily was on a roll. "You're smart and kind and funny and pretty and-well, you're the princess! You saw three kids outside your window-three mud covered, injured runaways-and you brought them into the castle, even though you could've been caught." Eily's furious expression slowly changed into a pained one. "You risked your safety for ours, and all I could think was that if I had been the one that saw three strangers outside my window, standing in the middle of a storm, I would've left you there." She stopped to scrub her eyes with the back of her hand. "I was mad because you were so nice to me, even though we'd just met. Every stranger we'd talked to before treated me like I was a gnat, and I was surprised when you didn't." She shrugged. "What can I say? I want to be just as kind and smart and everything else like you, but I can't. It's just not in my nature."

I couldn't help staring. Eily was jealous of me? What a joke! I had always thought myself to be the rude, klutzy, annoying princess nobody wanted to be a part of. I most certainly did not think of myself as smart or pretty.

"Eily," I said softly, shaking my head. "You've got it all wrong. Even if you are a total jerk to me, I admire how strong you are. You take charge, no matter what the situation. You get an idea in your head, and you stick with it to the end. I'm never as sure as myself as you are." I meant every word I said, even if I hadn't admitted it to myself.