11 The Bakery

The walk back was pretty quiet until I spotted a familiar name—Carmine's Bakery. That was where Marcy worked. I grew excited at the prospect of checking it out. The pastries there were famous, after all.

And I looked like a wreck even after putting my shoes back on (the bonnet was a lost cause with my windblown hair so Percy tucked it under his arm) so no one would guess I was a noble. I could come back later to talk about getting a job with no problem.

"Percy, I want to go there! I heard their pastries are the best in the kingdom! Please buy me a chocolate éclair? Pretty please? Or a cream puff? Or—"

"Alright, come on," he said irritably. Percy had had more than enough adventure for one day and wanted to be safely at home.

I could identify with that back when I was sick. I hardly wanted to leave my house either. But now that I was healthy there was just so much to see and do! I'd spent five years inside; I was done with it.

"I love you!" I said as sweetly as possible and the expression on his face softened.

When we entered the bakery the smell of sugar and yeast assaulted our nostrils. Delicious! I peered into the glass display cases. Everything looked so good; how could I possibly pick?

"You can choose three things," he said gruffly. "I will not tell Mother as long as you give me a bite of each."

I looked up at him with shining eyes, bouncing on the balls of my feet. "I will, I promise!"

In the end, I settled on an éclair, a lemon tart, and a small strawberry shortcake. Percy went to the counter to pay and I noticed the very pretty, very smiley girl behind the counter. That had to be Marcy.

She matched the novel's description of "delicate as a flower but shines like the sun." She had beautiful auburn hair tied up in a bun that was falling apart and wide green eyes behind thick eyelashes.

No wonder the prince had fallen for her at first sight. After all he had been through at the hands of the crown prince's cronies he was a rather gloomy fellow at the beginning of the novel. A brightly shining girl like this would appeal to someone like him.

I waved to her good naturedly on my way out the door after Percy paid, chattering excitedly about how much I looked forward to the pastries and not noticing the man in the cloak who came in as we were leaving.

***

He could hardly focus on what to buy. Entering the shop had been impulsive, having seen the girl through the window. The girl from the ocean side.

The one who acted like she didn't have a care in the world; the one who didn't care who was watching as she had fun. The one who perplexed him since two minutes later she went from ditzy to determined as she told that doctor off for trying to treat the boy stung by a jellyfish the wrong way.

Who on earth was she? Was she really from a fishing town as she claimed? That dress looked awfully expensive.

He tried to remember if there any nobles who lived in fishing towns. The only ones he knew of who lived by the ocean were directly connected to the palace.

If she was from the palace he would have known of her. No, she wasn't from the palace. A daughter of a wealthy merchant, perhaps?

The man accompanying her seemed to be well-dressed too. Was he her husband? Her fiancée? She looked young but that didn't necessarily mean anything.

That man had held her clothes for her as she splashed through the incoming tide and later bought her a bunch of sweets. Clearly they had some sort of relationship. The thought rubbed him the wrong way.

Why did he care about some random girl anyway? Sure, she was breathtakingly beautiful, but he saw beautiful women all the time. Beauty was not enough to affect him.

Maybe it was because of how alive she looked as she played in the water. He had never seen anyone so spirited or free. Freedom wasn't a part of his world.

He was lucky he even managed to escape today. He was glad he did; if he hadn't slipped away exactly when he did he would have missed her. Missed the girl with the sunshine hair and laughing eyes dancing around in the ocean.

Absentmindedly, he ordered the first thing he saw and thanked the cashier without even looking at her. As he munched on his treat—which he realized after taking a bite was a piece of gingerbread—he couldn't get that girl out of his mind.

If she really was a noble he might be able to see her again at one of the balls held this season. The thought warmed him. Too devoid of experience with love to realize it, the ocean girl imprinted herself on his heart.