#readforread

Here is the first chapter of s novel I’m attempting to write, let me know what you think!

"Let me see what you have on you, Alenis!" I suppress my eye roll as Jaime's heels click swiftly to catch up with me.

The guard and I share a look.

I turn to face my brother and smooth the front panel of my day dress. I move like I'm trying to do the same to the back of my dress, but instead, I untie one of two coin purses tied around my waist, leaving it for the guard to take.

The weight is lifted from my palms, so I poise them in a way pleasing to the future king, folded in front of my skirt.

Jaimie pays no mind, swiping past the open side panel of my skirt, under which I normally tie my coin purse.

He angrily takes the one I left for him and searches through it, not finding what he was looking for. Upon this realization, he throws it back to me haughtily.

"Good on you, Alenis," he says, nose in the air, "for toughening up on those commoners and not spoiling them rotten with extra payments."

"I learned from the best. You'll make a great ruler, Jaimie."

He laughs smugly and walks away, presumably to give someone else a hard time.

The guard opens the door for me.

"Thank you," I tell him as he hands me my coin purse and head covering.

He smiles and nods, this isn't an uncommon interaction.

After tying the second coin purse around me, I take the scarf like material and wrap it once around my neck and then around my head and tuck it in.

In town I can usually find the ability to relax some.

Even though it's simple, the wrap is enough to conceal my identity. I get a few hard looks, but never any questions because no one wants to be anything but absolutely sure about the identity of the princess. One good thing about Jaimie's strictness is that it does keep me safe enough to travel into the markets alone, keeping attention off me.

The sun shines through the colored fabrics canopying over the market. It is sticky and a bit humid, but the general hubbub and buzz of the townspeople is enough to keep me distracted.

I make my usual rounds, buying things that catch my eye and always paying double the price. Shiny trinkets line several stalls, as well as spices and herbs, bread, and many other daily wares. I decide on a necklace for myself, a purple tear drop shaped pendant with smaller diamond stones around it. I grab bread, a jar of milk, honey, and a few other things, then drop them off with people I know who need it most.

With my pockets empty, I now go to find my favorite vendor.

"Hello, Little Dove," He says the same thing to me every day, followed with, "today are you going to give me something else to call you?"

I smile at him. "Not today, sir."

He sells glass trinkets and little oddities. He wipes them down and I sit on the counter and watch the glass pieces swirl from the beams they're tied from. The red fabric draped over the beams also provides a cool atmosphere, and as he shuts the panels allowing the outside world in, the red tinted light floods in. Waiting for him to finish up, I stare at the ornate carpets that lay on the dirt floor. With the carpet and red light flooding in softly and the spiral shaped glass pieces clinking together softly in the ever-so soft breeze, I feel at home.

"It's been a while since I've seen you, you know."

I give a quick smile, relieving my head of the scarf. "I know."

"You rival the princess in looks," He grins and as I'm reminded by how thick his accent is, I am thankful for it, because if he were local, it would be much harder for me to keep my regality a secret. In all of Avenir, he is the only one before castle walls who I trust enough to see my face clearly.

"What a dangerous thing to say," I smile as he draws near. "You should be thankful she is no Aphrodite." And I should be thankful he's never seen the princess. I think he would say she looks a lot like me.

He laughs a full laugh, genuinely amused by my becomings. He looks at me a moment and smiles softly, studying my face carefully, like he is trying to commit it to memory. I wonder if he sees me the same way I do. I wonder if when I look in the mirror, staring down my dark hair and eyes, my far too big nose, and the light spattering of freckles that dot my cheekbones, he sees them too. I wonder what he thinks.

"One day, Little Dove, we won't have to hide our meetings, you know."

I laugh as he kisses my cheek. I have been his "Little Dove in the village of crows" for three years now. "I hope that it's soon," I tell him, but I know the truth. I know that this probably won't last much longer.