“I am going to be gone tomorrow,” the young prince informed his one and only confidante, the palace cook. She had looked after him since he had been a wee lad, mothering him and patching him up when he scraped his knee and so forth. Eric loved her as he would his mother, whom he had never known, having died soon after giving birth to him. His father had been much to busy to bring up his little son. So his care and instruction had fallen to the servants. Of course he had had the best tutors money could hire, and in truth, they probably would have given the service without so much as a penny or a word of complaint. For young Eric was a brilliant child and a pleasure to instruct. And you can’t dismiss the honor of teaching the king’s son. But the elderly cook had been the most devoted.
“Where are you going?” she queried, slowly stirring a bubbling pot of something with a heavenly scent.
“I don’t know. Anywhere further than ten miles,” he replied with a snort of disgust.
“Do you have an objection to the surrounding ten miles?” she asked, slightly raising her eyebrows.
“Not particularly. I just don’t want to be here, that’s all.”
“You’re being evasive child,” she said “Come, tell me what’s on your mind.”
“The royal advisors have invited all of the ‘eligible’ young ladies here for me to get acquainted.” Eric ended with another snort and rolled his eyes heavenward. The eyebrows went up a notch. A small knowing smile slowly spread over her features.
“What I don’t understand, Elsie, is why I must choose a bride, or rather have one chosen for me. Do men really need a woman in the way? I have absolutely no interest in the female race, and never will!” he ended on a triumphant, superior note, as if all married men were unbelievably stupid.
Old Elsie’s eyebrows rose to unbelievable heights. She slowly nodded then burst out in a high cackle. “I understand boy, to think they force such things on children at your age.”
For indeed Eric was all of twelve years old. But, according the nobility, the girls and their families needed time in advance to prepare.
“You may go wherever you like as long as you take someone with you.”
“You won’t tell anyone?”
“Nay lad, I won’t tell a soul.”
This sounds like an opening to a longer story. It caught my attention and I think you should continue with it. The only thing I read was that it was kind of the same old story. Usually its the princess that doesn't want to marry but you twisted it just a bit. That was good, making him a prince instead. I think, however, you should twist it even more to make it unique.
Just a thought! 
However, I liked it and think you should continue it.
I really like how (at least to me), the ending implies that the cook knows the prince will change his mind and/or not actually go through with it. It was a very nice story overall, and all the nitpicky stuff has already been covered, so I won't bother.
Keep up the good work!
I liked the Scottish language in the story. Yes, please space, but other than that, keep writing! 
Hey. I see that this was posted a while ago, but I'm going to comment anyway. I thought that this was a pretty good start. I liked the quirkiness of it. There's a light tone in it that I enjoyed. I was actually interested. There's good character development in there.
The only thing I did not like was the information we were given in the beginning paragraph. Perhaps you should make it clear on who took care of the boy and brought him up gradually through the story. Putting it right there in the beginning dulled the shine a bit.
Write on.
Just to let you know, I don't read other peoples reviews or critiques. I only read the original and then critique. All of my input, comments, corrections, etc are in braces, so watch for them.
“I am going to be gone tomorrow,” the young prince informed his one and only confidante, the palace cook. She had looked after him since he had been a wee lad, mothering him and patching him up when he scraped his knee and so forth. Eric loved her as he would his mother, whom he had never known, having died soon after giving birth to him. His father had been much to busy to bring up his little son. So his care and instruction had fallen to the servants. Of course he had had the best tutors money could hire, and in truth, they probably would have given the service without so much as a penny or a word of complaint. For young Eric was a brilliant child and a pleasure to instruct. And you can’t dismiss the honor of teaching the king’s son. But the elderly cook had been the most devoted. {With the last three sentences, I have two possible explanations for what you did: 1.) you mistakenly started three sentences with conjunctions, making it look as if you don't really know how to fix run-on sentences, or 2.) you created three sentences with beginnings that speak of a writing style. I assume you did the latter, so I'm not going to critique. (It was awkward when I read it the first time though, so you might want to change it. It came across to me something like this: "For. . . . Aaaaaand. . . . Buuuuuut. . . .", sort of like a kid trying to stretch out some not so good news.}
“Where are you going?” she queried, slowly stirring a bubbling pot of something with a heavenly scent. {This would be better if it went something like: ". . . stirring a bubbling pot that wafted a heavenly scent."}
“I don’t know. Anywhere further than ten miles,” he replied with a snort of disgust. {OK, two paragraphs ago you were writing about how pleasant the boy was, but all the reader has seen of him is enough - well - to give "a snort of disgust." If you're going to introduce a character with an attitude or a problem into a story, you should explain why he is like that, instead of letting the reader guess his way along. You wrote about why he was pleasant; now, write about what is making him un-pleasant.}
“Do you have an objection to the surrounding ten miles?” she asked, slightly raising her eyebrows.
“Not particularly. I just don’t want to be here, that’s all.”
“You’re being evasive child,” she said{,} “Come, tell me what’s on your mind.”
“The royal advisors have invited all of the ‘eligible’ young ladies here for me to get acquainted{,}” Eric ended with another snort and rolled his eyes heavenward.
{¶}
The {cook's} eyebrows went up a notch. {I knew these were the cook's eyebrows only after reading the next sentence. Be clear as to what or who is doing this or that.} A small knowing smile slowly spread over her features.
“What I don’t understand, Elsie, is why I must choose a bride, or rather have one chosen for me. Do men really need a woman in the way? {You shouldn't have a plural of "man" without a plural of "woman." Do men get "a woman"? Or does man get "women"?} I have absolutely no interest in the female race, and never will!” he ended on a triumphant, superior note, as if all married men were unbelievably stupid.
Old Elsie’s eyebrows rose to unbelievable heights.
{¶}
She slowly nodded then burst out in a high cackle{,} “I understand boy, to think they force such things on children at your age.”
For indeed Eric was all of twelve years old. But, according the nobility, the girls and their families needed time in advance to prepare.
“You may go wherever you like as long as you take someone with you.”
“You won’t tell anyone?”
“Nay{,} lad, I won’t tell a soul.”
It was enjoyable. Keep it up!
Hi there and welcome to the YWS!
Nitpicks first.
Meh. Get rid of the "and so forth" instead I'd use another example... maybe something like, "She had looked after him since he had been a wee lad, mothering him and patching him up when he scraped his knees and skinned his elbows."She had looked after him since he had been a wee lad, mothering him and patching him up when he scraped his knee and so forth.
This seems a little out of place in the context. Maybe try, "But of all the servants, the elderly cook had been the most devoted."But the elderly cook had been the most devoted.
Elaborate here! Talk about the scent more in the air--that would be good for description too. Is the scent blown by a gently wind that blows the window shades or confined in a small space? (I'll talk more about this after the overall section...)she queried, slowly stirring a bubbling pot of something with a heavenly scent.
Shouldn't it be "for me to get acquainted TO/WITH?" Also, "advisors" should be "advisers" ^_~“The royal advisors have invited all of the ‘eligible’ young ladies here for me to get acquainted.”
The "h" in "he" should be capitalized.I have absolutely no interest in the female race, and never will!” he ended on a triumphant, superior note, as if all married men were unbelievably stupid.
Hello there! Haven't seen you around before. My name is Saint, welcome to YWS, and I shall be your critiquer today!
“I am going to be gone tomorrow” the young prince informed his one and only confidante,
She had looked after him since he had been a wee lad, mothering him and patching him up when he scraped his knee and so forth. Eric loved her as he would his mother, whom he had never known, having died soon after giving birth to him. His father had been much to busy to bring up his little son. So his care and instruction had fallen to the servants. Of course he had had the best tutors money could hire, and in truth, they probably would have given the service without so much as a penny or a word of complaint. For young Eric was a brilliant child and a pleasure to instruct. And you can’t dismiss the honor of teaching the king’s son. But the elderly cook had been the most devoted.
Anywhere further than ten miles.” he replied with a snort of disgust.
“Do you have an objection to the surrounding ten miles?” she asked, slightly raising her eyebrows.
“You’re being evasive child.” she said “Come, tell me what’s on your mind.”
Presumably this is set in Scotland judging by the dialect.
This looks like the opening of a story and it's a great one for a first-timer. Although I love the character development, I would now like to see more action to hook the reader and engage their interest. Watch your punctuation in places, and whenever you have a new speaker, remember to start a new paragraph. E.g.:
"Where are you going?" she asked.
"To the shops."
Excellent start otherwise. Well done. 8/10
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