A Dove's Tale

Chapter 24

The princes left me alone after that, and I finished the floors in relative peace and quiet. At least, it was quiet in the library. My head wasn't so peaceful. Between chewing myself out, puzzling through Prince Nokto's words, refusing to think about Prince Chevalier, and wondering what I was in for with Prince Yves, there was little room for me to think of anything else.

Lesson learned. Never let my guard down in the palace, and never, never relax around Prince Chevalier.

Moving on to a safer topic: Prince Nokto.

Funny that he was the safe topic.

He called Prince Yves 'Evie,' a cutesy pet name I would expect someone to give to a younger sibling, but Prince Yves was older than Prince Nokto. And Prince Nokto called himself the court jester. What did he mean by that? If anything, Prince Clavis was more of a jester than Prince Nokto.

And, oh, my goodness, Prince Nokto was good at what he did. I blushed all over again just thinking about how easily he affected me.

Everything would be fine with Prince Yves, though, right? He'd never made any weird advances toward me. We were just baking beignets for Mother. That was all.

When were we baking?

He said he'd clear his afternoon for this, but it didn't take four hours to make beignets. I also wasn't sure if I was supposed to wait in the library for him, or if I was supposed to go look for him in the kitchens. There were quite a few, though, and I didn't know which one he wanted to use.

I decided to just wait in the library and keep working until he came to get me. It seemed the safest decision at first, but as the minutes ticked by and two thirty got closer and closer, I got more and more nervous. I didn't know what to expect from Prince Chevalier after that near kiss earlier. Heat rushed to my face at the thought of it. He nearly kissed me. And there was a tiny little part of me that wished I hadn't stopped him. A very, very tiny part that had no rooting in reality and maybe spent too much time fantasizing about fairy tales and romance novels. The larger part of me said I would never be more than a good time for a prince, and that cooled my cheeks significantly.

Fortunately, Prince Yves arrived at two o'clock, and even though his haughty and irritable expression was in full play, I immediately felt a sense of relief that I wouldn't be in the library when Prince Chevalier arrived.

"If you want to leave on time, we'd better get started," Prince Yves said condescendingly.

"Of course, your highness. I'm really looking forward to this." I gave him a bright smile, knowing he was probably putting on a show. It suddenly clicked in my brain. At the festival, Prince Chevalier had said something about the funnel cake being not as good as the Showoff's. I hadn't paid attention or even thought about that offhand comment until now, but it made sense. Prince Yves liked to bake, and he was showy, from the top of his perfectly styled honey blonde head to the bottoms of his maroon boots.

"I should hope so. It's not every day a prince takes the time out of his busy schedule to help a maid with a recipe."

He kept up the act all the way to the kitchens, but I knew it was an act, so it didn't bother me. I was more concerned about how we were going to find the space to bake. The kitchens were always busy. But I didn't ask, and when I followed him into one of the smaller kitchens, it was completely empty.

"Prince Yves, where is everybody?" I asked, looking around in surprise.

"I never share my kitchen when I'm baking," he said scornfully.

"No, of course not. My apologies, your highness," I replied, trying not to smile. He didn't just clear his schedule; he also reserved an entire kitchen for this. That was very thoughtful of him.