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“This stuff will make a decent bed.”
She nodded. “Fine.”
“I have a thermal blanket. You’ll be warm.”
“What about you?”
He shrugged. “No worries.” He sat down cross-legged opposite her. “Supper time.”
“More energy bars?”
“MREs. Meals Ready to Eat. If you thought those energy bars were good, you’re gonna love the MREs.”
His lips twitched. Was he going to smile? Best not to get her hopes up. Instead, she poked at the knotted bandana.
“What’s in there?”
“Open it and take a look.”
She unknotted the ends of the cotton square, looked at the contents, and then looked at Declan. “Wineberries,” she said with delight.
“Uh huh. They’re pretty dried out—they’ve been around for a while—but they’ll still make a good-tasting tea.”
“And… Are those cattail corms?”
Dec raised one eyebrow. “Correct on all counts.”
Annie smiled. “My mother was into wild plants. Edible wild plants. My father used to tease her about it. ‘I’m the barbarian,’ he’d say. ‘You’re the debutante. You’re supposed to know all about fine wine and caviar, and I’m supposed to be the expert on foraging for food.’”
Declan looked at her. Then he picked up a long stick and poked at the fire.
“A barbarian who just happened to be the ruler of a wealthy kingdom.”
His tone was neutral. The look in his eyes wasn’t. Annie met his gaze, flushed and looked away. Why on earth had she mentioned her parents?
“And mom. The girl fro
m—what was it? Smith? Vassar? Barnard?’
“Smith,” Annie said in a small voice. “That was where she met my father. He’d come to endow a building You know. He’d provided the backing for…”
Dec laughed.
“No need to explain endowing to me, Princess. My old man endowed a building too. A chicken coop he turned into a studio. Only problem was, we really needed that coop. Without it, the hens laid their eggs every which place and if the foxes didn’t find ’em, the snakes did.”
Annie raised her head. “Declan. I know you’re angry—”
“Angry? Me? Fuck, no. What’ve I got to be angry about?”
“Hurt, then. And—”
“Is that what you think? That you hurt me?”
Dec set aside the stick, grabbed his pack and began taking things out of it. A small metal pot. A plastic cup. Two packages that were the MREs.
A map.
“I know I hurt you,” she said. “But you have to understand that I—”
