Daughter of Night

Margaret

I pushed the door back into place as Mary leaned the bags of feed in the corner against the wall. I walked toward our pantry and organized the new items.

"We should finish off the rest of that bread and jam, they're about to go bad and I'm starving." Mary said, sitting down at our little table.

"Me too. I'll bring them over." I grabbed the remaining bread, jam, and a couple of knives before setting everything down on the table and sitting across from Mary.

"Anything new at the market today?" She asked as she spread jam over a piece of bread and handed it to me.

"Well." I lifted the necklace the man gave me from under my cloak. Mary's eyes widened.

"My Goddess!" She reached across the table and ran her fingers over the jewel. "May I?" I undid the clasp behind my neck and let the necklace fall into her hand. "Is this from him? The boy you spoke fondly of?"

"Yes." I nodded. "His grandmother wasn't too happy about it, though." A bit of jam spilled onto my hand as I lifted the bread to my mouth. I licked it off, my lips puckering from the tart flavor.

"I can imagine." Mary held the necklace at eye level, studying the sapphire. "It would have gone for a good amount of money." She handed it back to me and folded her hands on the table. "Now Margaret, you know that by selling that you could buy yourself a horse?"

"Yes, I know." I clasped it around my neck and held the charm between my thumb and index finger. "But I cannot part with it."

"It is very pretty, I'll admit." She took a bite of bread, her lips mimicking the pucker mine did only moments before.

"Yes, but it was a gift from him. If he gave me a string instead I'd love it as much." My gaze drifted to the ring on Mary's finger.

"Did you finally get his name?" Mary stood and took the empty jam jar to place by the front door, a reminder to wash it out in the stream later.

"No...no I didn't." I said, remembering my lack of success in asking him.

"Come on, Margaret." Mary laughed, rejoining me at the table. "You finally talk to him after days of longing eye contact and you forget to ask his name?"

"I know, I know, I'm ridiculous." I chuckled, fiddling with the ends of my hair.

"You know the prince rode by today." She raised her hands in front of her to stop me from panicking. "Don't worry, he still has no idea we're living here." I released the tension that somehow built up in my shoulders within that last second. "But I actually got a good look at him..." Mary smiled, as if reliving the moment. "I swear if he wasn't the Prince and my enemy, I'd have had my way with him while you were gone."

"Hard to believe, considering you haven't yet had your way with anyone." Mary rolled her eyes.

"A woman is allowed think about such things, Margaret."

"As much as she likes." We lifted our last bites of bread as if to toast with champagne glasses, then finished them off.

"Did you get that from him as well?" Mary pointed to the ring on my finger as she swallowed her last bite.