A Stolen Crown Read Free Page A

might have been from the day before. She wandered for a bit, thinking about how hungry she was. Her stomach growled at the thought and she pressed her hand to her belly. She had grown thin. She touched her face and felt her cheekbones, sharp under her skin. She felt the rough texture of the scar on her face and, even though she had not seen her reflection, she wondered how she must look.
    She had noticed that Aaron’s shoulders had gotten smaller and his legs, while tight and strong, no longer had the bulky muscle they had before. He was looking gaunt and it could not be doing him any good. Ariana missed her home and she missed the kitchens of Maramyr. It dawned on her just how ridiculous things were. She was the Crown Princess of Maramyr, perhaps the most powerful Kingdom in the western lands, and yet, here she was, starving in a cave in the Kandaran mountains with a strange boy who had saved her life more than once and had a strange magic about him.
    The thought of Aaron warmed her for a moment. He was truly wonderful. She smiled, thinking about his earnest charm, so boyish still for one who had known such hardship in the last year, losing his home and everything he had known, and now he had been thrust into her world and her problems. His mind, while still warded by the strange spell that caused him such pain, was slowly opening up to her and now she found she was able to read him easily, almost as though his thoughts were her own. She knew it made him uncomfortable, so she waited until he slept before she delved into his dreams and memories. Ariana hoped he would not mind. She thought he truly remarkable and she was awed with the power she sensed lurking behind the barrier. A gust of wind pushed her hair into her eyes, rousing her from her thoughts and Ariana realized that she had been standing in the snow for some time. It was getting dark and Aaron was nowhere to be found. She was beginning to worry now but the grey sky was growing dark so she turned back to the cave hoping to find that he had returned.
    As she rounded the outcropping of rock, she saw the familiar wisp of smoke from he cliff face, telling her that the fire she had left burning was still lit. Soon she would be warm and she hurried her step as she neared the entrance to the cave. It took her numbed senses a moment to notice what was different but within seconds she felt her feet running of their own accord into the entrance of the cave. The most wonderful smell wafted into her nostrils the further in she went. It was something she had not smelled for weeks. Ariana almost caught herself on a rock corner right at the inner entrance to the cave as she rushed in.
    Aaron was back and stood over the fire tending the large metal skillet. Large strips of dark meat sizzled on the metal, turning brown. Ariana let out a cry as she dashed toward the fire and Aaron smiled as he looked up. Ariana had not realized how hungry she was until she fell to her knees next to the fire and reached into the pan and snatched a piece of the sizzling meat out with her hands.
    “Careful!” Aaron said. She yelped as the heat burned her fingers but she took a piece anyway, blew on it and put it in her mouth.
    It had been weeks since Ariana had eaten meat and it tasted wonderful.
    “Are you okay?” Aaron asked.
    “Yes, I’m fine, where did you get this?” Ariana asked him, still staring at the pan with her mouth watering and the pain of her burned fingers being the only thing holding her back. Aaron gave her a strange look.
    “Do you want to know?” he asked.
    “Yes, where did you get it?” she repeated, a little suspicious now that she had swallowed the first piece.
    “Well…” he said tentatively, dishing some of the meat onto a wooden plate. “It’s a Kandaran delicacy,” he said finally. Ariana picked up another piece, from the plate this time, and ate it, enjoying the rich flavor, the satisfaction of having something real to eat. Then it dawned on