The next morning, when Cinder and Gem came down for breakfast, they both looked sleep-deprived and exceptionally miserable.

"Whoa!" Olive greeted them, visibly wondering if she had made a mistake to put them both in a room after all. "Whatever happened to you both?"

"He did," Gem and Cinder said in unison, pointing accusingly at each other.

"He threw a pillow at me!" Gem added, glaring at Cinder. "In the middle of the night!"

"He woke me up with his snoring first!" Cinder shot back.

"Not my fault you're such a light sleeper," Gem answered, crossing his arms.

"Oh, really? Like you wouldn't wake up from the sound of someone sawing a forest in half!"

Gem stuck out his tongue. "Still no reason to throw a pillow at me like a spoiled kid."

"Says the guy sticking out his tongue at me!"

"Alright, stop," Olive interrupted them both. "So after Cinder woke you up with the pillow…what exactly happened?"

"I threw it back, of course," Gem answered, puffing up his chest. "I couldn't just leave it at that!"

"So I retaliated," Cinder admitted, feeling a lot less proud of himself than Gem did.

Olive raised her eyebrows. "Let me guess," she said. "And then it escalated just like the snowball fight did."

Gem and Cinder stared off in opposite directions. Neither of them wanted to own up to the extent of their childishness. They also didn't want to tell Olive the rest of the story: that eventually, exhausted from the chaos, they had fallen asleep right where they sat and woken up on the floor.

"I'm never sleeping in the same room as you again," Cinder muttered, taking a seat at the breakfast table. "Should've just let me sleep in the corridor. I'd have gotten more rest there."

"Hey, I was trying to be nice." Gem gave a huff and sat down. "You should thank me, you ungrateful prick."

Still sulking, they both scarfed down their breakfast without speaking a word to each other. Gem was done first and looked around for the innkeeper, who was nowhere to be found. "I'm getting seconds," he muttered and stood up.

Cinder glanced at Olive, who made no attempt to follow him. "Shouldn't you look after him?"

The knight, however, shook her head. "He'll be right back," she said. "And people here don't know who he is unless you tell them. They'll just think he's some noble on a trip."

Cinder frowned. He didn't feel like Gem was the best at going incognito; he was too honest and too proud and would blab out the truth sooner or later. Then again, Olive knew him better. He should trust her judgment.

"Why?" she asked, eyeing him closely. "Are you worried about him?"

"Just surprised," Cinder replied, his voice coming out sharp. "I always thought they were horribly paranoid about the crown prince's safety."

"Normally, yes. But I think it's better to lay low in places where they don't recognize him." She nodded into the direction where he had gone. "I had him dress like a regular nobleman, for example. He's more dressed up at home."

Cinder nodded slowly. "Princes don't stay at inns anyway, do they?"

"No…not unless they can help it. But look at him." Olive gave a laugh. "He enjoys being normal, don't you think?"

Cinder didn't answer. From the look on her face, the tone of her voice he could easily tell what she was getting at: that he, too, was part of the normality Gem enjoyed, and that being his friend would be good for her brother. He knew all that already. She had told him.

"He should enjoy it," he said, "while it lasts. Sooner or later he'll have to go back to normal. It's not his world."

Her face fell. "It doesn't have to be like that."

"He'll be king someday." Cinder turned away from the table, away from Olive's disappointed eyes. "Such a person can never fit into the world of us peasants."

"You're both people, aren't you?"

Cinder spun back around. "What kind of question is that?"

"You're both teenagers." Olive leaned closer, her dark brown eyes—almost the same shade as her brother's—fixing on Cinder. "You're both the same age. You both have things you like, things you dislike, things you hope and dream for and things you're scared of." Her long hands rested on the table. "How is that so different? People talk so much about all the difference, but in the end we're all human beings."

Put that way, it almost made sense.

But no. People didn't think like that. At least, most people didn't. The rank one was born into determined everything in life, from wealth to the respect one faced to all hopes of a future. Glossing over it, pretending it wasn't there, could never end well.

Cinder would stay in his lane. Gem would stay in his. Everything else was just asking for trouble.

Speaking of…

"He's been gone a little long," Cinder said, glancing in the direction where Gem had gone. "I wonder what he got up to."

~ ~ ~

Gem was about halfway to the kitchen when a clamor of movement and noise outside the door caught his attention.

For a moment he considered ignoring it, then his curiosity got the better of him. Whatever was going on there, it didn't sound like the usual village traffic. Which could mean…

Without calling Olive, without letting anyone stop him, he barged out of the door.

"There he is!"

Gem flinched to attention. His hand fell to the hilt of his sword, only to discover that it wasn't yet there. Quickly he tried to remember his hand-to-hand combat lessons. If anyone tried to attack him…

Then he took in the party in front of him and realized he had no reason to fight.

The people before the door weren't kidnappers. At least, not the kind his father feared. They were knights of the kingdom, accompanied by a score of soldiers, and led by a man he recognized at once.

"Sir Hector," he burst out.

"Your Highness," the knight replied, swinging himself off his horse. His father's right-hand man was aged and haggard, his features grim, his hands worn and gnarled from years of holding weapons. For many years he had been Gem's educator and supervisor in many matters, and Gem had never feared a human being in his life except for him.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, his body instinctively tensing.

Sir Hector stepped closer. He didn't try to draw his sword, but from a man like him that meant absolutely nothing. "Your Highness," he said again, narrowing his eyes in that way that never meant any good. "How good it is to see you here again."

His voice was quiet, it always was. Sir Hector never raised his voice no matter how angry he was. He had other ways of making people fear him.

"Do you know," he asked, "why I'm here?"

A trick question. Gem knew a trap when he saw one. If he could, he'd answer that he didn't; but such a response would only make things even worse. He swallowed. "For me?" he said.

"Correct," said Sir Hector. "And do you know why I came here for you?"

Gem clenched his hands to keep them from shaking. "Father wants me back at the palace," he guessed.

"Correct."

Sir Hector walked even closer. His movements were dangerously slow; deliberately restrained, Gem knew. He couldn't show his anger in front of all these witnesses.

"His Majesty," said the knight, "does not approve at all of your…quest…to find your beloved." He walked around, circling him, leaving Gem spinning on the spot to continue to face him. "His orders were clear: that you should find a suitable spouse at the ball, not one you love."

Gem tensed up. "I won't marry for anything but love," he said.

"Your attitude is…admirable," Sir Hector said slowly. "Unfortunately, you are in no position to maintain it. You know that."

Gem swallowed. His hands were clammy. The cold was getting to him as he stood there, without a coat. He decided to attribute his shivering limbs to that.

"I refuse," he said.

"Stubborn as ever, I see." Sir Hector lifted a hand, and Gem flinched. But the knight only motioned past him towards the small village inn. "Still, it could all be acceptable if you knew how to behave on your fairytale quest."

Gem didn't answer.

"Staying at inns," Sir Hector went on, "walking on foot, then riding horses bought from commoners. What's more, employing the help of a young gentleman who, for his behavior towards Your Highness, should have been executed."

Gem gave a gasp. "Cinder!"

"You know his name, I see." Sir Hector began to circle him again. "Then perhaps you would also like to hand him over so he can face punishment."

"No!"

Gem clenched his fists. His chest felt tight. Anger welled up inside him, anger and spite. "Like hell I'll do that!" he burst out despite his fear. "You'll have him killed!"

"And would that not be justified? The guards have told me stories, you see." Sir Hector clasped his hands behind his back. "They say he speaks to you as if you were an equal. He led you into a field where you were chased and bitten by geese. What's more, they even claim he threw snowballs at you until you caught a cold." He stopped walking, staring straight into Gem's eyes. "Surely you agree that any of these alone would be grounds to have him beheaded?"

He was trying to intimidate him, Gem realized. He was trying to pressure him into agreeing. But he wouldn't agree. He was terrified, but he wouldn't agree. Not to something like this.

"He's allowed to do that," he said without knowing what he was doing.

"Your Highness is too lenient with him," Sir Hector replied. "Pray tell, what is even one reason he is allowed to disrespect you?"

"Because…"

Gem's eyes flitted uneasily from side to side. What should he say? He himself didn't know why he let Cinder get away with all this. Sir Hector had a point, he wouldn't earn any respect that way. So…why?

"…because…"

Sir Hector raised an eyebrow. Gem swallowed, looking away. Why was he letting Cinder do all this? At the beginning he had thought it was just calculation, that he needed his expertise more than he needed to enforce his respect. But…

But that wasn't the reason now. He just liked it, being treated like a normal person instead of put on a pedestal like people usually did. He just liked having someone his age on the same eye level, to mess around and have fun and bicker with.

The reason was that…that when he was with Cinder, just for a little while, he could forget that he was the prince.

"Because…he's my friend!"

The word left his lips unbidden, unexpected, so naturally he almost didn't question it. It just felt right. He didn't know how, but it felt intuitively right.

"He's my friend," he said again, as if reaffirming it to himself. "And that's why he's allowed to do anything he wants."

Sir Hector's thin eyebrows rose up towards the skies, making Gem shiver again.

"I don't recall teaching you to make friends with peasants," he said. "They are below your station. No one will respect you if you put yourself on their level."

Gem backed away. He didn't know what else to say anymore. Sir Hector wasn't convinced. And wouldn't be convinced. There was nothing he could do. At this rate, Cinder would be—

"My lords," said a voice behind him, "may I request permission to speak?"

Gem spun around.

Cinder.

How? Why? How long had he been there? Long enough to witness more of the conversation? If so, how much?

Had he heard…?

"Permission granted," Sir Hector said coolly, eyeing him up and down. Judging.

Cinder took a low bow, suddenly perfectly well-mannered. "Thank you, Your Lordship," he said. "My name is Cinder. As a shoemaker, I assist His Royal Highness on this mission."

"I know," Sir Hector answered.

"I happen to have heard about your concerns," Cinder went on. "And I'd like to remind you that while His Highness is young, he is now an adult. You should trust his judgment when making friends."

"Interesting," Sir Hector said. "And how do I know the friends in question aren't taking advantage of him?"

"You have no way of knowing."

Cinder straightened up, looking him in the eye without fear, ignoring the cold aura of hatred. With a few resolute steps he strode up to stand in front of Gem, and suddenly Gem's own fear faded. Cinder wasn't scared. And he was behind Cinder, feeling protected as if a wall had risen between him and the knight.

"You never have a way of knowing," Cinder continued, not backing down. "Not with a commoner, and not with nobility. With a person like His Highness, everyone can have hidden motives. But…" He lifted his head, upright and proud, suddenly seeming taller than he actually was. "I never once tried to befriend him. His Highness chose to ask for my help, and I never once tried to convince him to do so. If anything…I was unwilling at first."

Sir Hector raised both eyebrows. "Unwilling to help His Highness the prince himself?"

Still Cinder didn't recognize the danger, or else ignored it. "I have a family to provide for."

"You would choose your family over the honor of being asked to help His Royal Highness?"

Gem clenched his jaw, resisting the urge to hide behind Cinder's back. And yet, at the same time, he wanted to let Cinder hide. There was no way this would end well. They would take him. And then…

"Sir Hector, what is the meaning of this?"

Gem relaxed. Olive. They were saved.

"Gem, get back inside," she said in passing. "Cinder, too. Sir Hector, I'd like to speak with you alone."

The glance she gave them both spoke one single reassuring sentence. I'll handle this.

Glad for the excuse, Gem turned around and fled back into the inn.

Back inside, he closed the door behind Cinder, not looking at his face. Neither of them seemed willing to address the elephant in the room.

Friend…

"Hurry up and go back to the table," Cinder said. "The innkeeper brought you seconds. Your food's getting cold."

Gem took a deep breath, then hesitated. For a brief moment he wanted to ask Cinder about everything.

Then he nodded and made his way back to breakfast.