2
THE CLAIM
“What happened in here, Noelle?” Mother bustled in from the shop. “What kind of?—”
But words left her as she took in the crumpled pastry littering the floor among the glass shards of the smashed buttermilk.
“Mama!” Daisy’s cry sounded from upstairs.
Mother shot a glance at me through a flurry of brown and silver curls. “You wake her, you take her. Really, Noelle, today of all days.”
I huffed. It wasn’t me who woke Daisy, but that golden-eyed stranger child. I shook my head, knitting my eyebrows together. Who was he? And had I really seen what I thought I’d seen? I tromped up the flight of wood stairs to get Little Miss ready for the day. Daisy sat on the edge of her bed yawning. Blonde hair stuck up at every angle, lending her the look of a kitten tangled in yellow yarn.
“Hungry, Daisy?” I asked as I knelt before her and held out my arms.
“Yes, Ellie. I always hungry for pastries!” Daisy jumped into my full embrace.
“First, we’ll need to do something about that hair!” I fussed as I carried her over to the wash sink. “We can’t have you looking like a street urchin when the Elf King strides by today.”
Daisy’s bottom lip stuck out. “What’s so special ‘bout a dumb ‘ol elf, anyways? They don’t even like Christmas.”
“That’s just what I think, too.” I tweaked her little nose, causing my enormous sleeves to fall well past my hands. I re-rolled father’s gigantic shirt and brushed out the wild tangles that tumbled around Daisy’s three-year-old shoulders. Daisy squirmed and fidgeted, but I managed to produce two orderly blonde pigtails out of the mess that was her hair.
Minutes later, I stood at the register in the bakery shop beyond the door of my kitchen. The giant iron monstrosity housed the many colorful gemstone chips in circulation. The morning passed like so many before, albeit with a lot more people than usual. With practiced hands, Mother packed biscuits, cookies, and fluffy pastries into wax paper bags and I weighed the stones. A citrine chip for two croissants, two ruby chips for a dozen biscuits, a rare onyx from the mayor, who’d ordered three-hundred mini cinnamon rolls for the parade.
Even little Daisy helped. She ran around at my feet, offering small scones to anyone who looked particularly friendly. Most of the villagers were all nervous smiles and darting eyes. As if the elves were watching their every movement.
Even if I missed the Elf King’s parade today, I didn’t miss the blushing girls and proud mothers who paraded through our bakery doors as if on display. Probably practicing for their big moment at noon, when the first of the Elf King’s retinue crested the hill leading into the village square.
Lila Chiselstein strode into the bakery, her brown skin radiant in her rose-colored gown. Her dress wrapped tastefullyaround her ample bosom and fell to the floor in a cascade of soft curves. Her black hair was woven in an intricate side braid that draped over her shoulder and rested between her breasts. She chirped when she finally got to the counter, “Noelle! Not this ruddy-duddy boy stuff again! How can you bear it?”
“I don’t care about some stupid old elves,” I said truthfully, though I really did just want one small glimpse of the king to satisfy my curiosity. I spoke quickly to hide the blush I felt creep across my neck and into my cheeks. “You know I have to work. Mother needs me.”
“Pssh.” Lila waved her hand dismissively. “You know you’re as pretty as any one of us. You could have a chance to leave this small-minded town. Have a real adventure.”
I shook my head. My town, my bakerywasan adventure. I loved it here. Reveled in the familiar smells and dependable schedule.
“Plus,” Lila leaned in as if to share a secret. “The Elf King is the most beautiful creature I’ve ever beheld. He’s looked the same since I was a child. He never ages. I wouldn’t mind looking at that gorgeous face for the rest of my life.”
“But he treats maids likethings,” I scoffed, though indeed, that traitorous heat blared through my cheeks, impossible to hide. But it wasn’t a naïve desire to finally see this mysterious king. No, it was anger at that depraved creature that roared through me at last. “To be taken and discarded. He probably grows bored with his maidens within a week.”
“You don’t know that.” Lila’s bottom lip protruded.
“No one does, Lila. No one ever comes back once they cross into the Falls.”
“Hmm.” Lila snatched her box of pastries from my hand and raised her chin.
“Hurry, child.” Lila’s mother hovered around the front door, craning for the first glimpse of the elves’ retinue. Her pinchedface grew red, lending her the look of an overripe tomato. “We can’t miss our chance.”
Lila cringed, then turned to me with flushed cheeks and a set jaw. “I will do whatever I can to get out of this backward town. For some of us, the Elf King is our only chance to get out.”
I stammered and blinked, surprised at the sharp edges of Lila’s words. “I-I’m sorry, I?—”
“Save it, Noelle.” The harshness of Lila’s tongue was so at odds with her usual capricious nature. “You’ve known your share of sorrow, to lose your father at such a young age. My heart goes out to you, it does, but still you flourish. Not all of us have the same disposition…or the same mother. Mine is going to marry me off to Axel Armond by the next moon.”
The blood drained from my face as I grimaced, a mirror to Lila’s scowl. Axel Armond was the single most boastful, swaggering jerk in the entire village. I didn’t envy any woman sorry enough to receive that fate.
“Here, have a cookie.” I offered an extra at no charge. “I hope you find your Elf King to be the escape that you dream him to be.”
