A Dove's Tale

Chapter 55

After lunch, I went to Prince Chevalier's office, hoping to find all the princes in his faction in one place so I could get them to sign the cards for the foreign princes. Theresa tagged along, of course, as keen on avoiding Marge as I was.

"Could you check Prince Leon's office to see if anybody's there?" I asked, raising my fist to knock on Prince Chevalier's door.

"If Prince Jin was wandering around earlier, I doubt it, but I'll check," she said, continuing down the hall to the next door.

That was disheartening. I didn't want to waste too much time hunting princes down. The clock was ticking, and I really wanted to put as much effort as I could into these gift baskets. I took a deep breath, pasted a smile on my face, and knocked on the door. Prince Clavis answered it.

"What brings you here, Ivetta?" he asked, his own smile in place and his golden eyes searching as he let me in. As I hoped, the entire faction was there, and they all seemed to be in a good mood if their smiles were anything to go by. That lifted my spirits immediately.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I'm glad to find you all together. I'd like it if you could all sign these cards for the foreign princes." I crossed the room to hand Prince Chevalier the three envelopes I was carrying. "And I thought I should run my ideas for the gift baskets past you, Prince Chevalier, just in case I missed anything."

"Gift baskets?" Prince Nokto asked, chuckling as he followed me to the desk. "We don't want them to be so comfortable that they stay, Ivetta."

"Did you make these cards?" Prince Clavis asked, taking one and looking it over.

"With Sariel's help, your highness," I said, pleased by Prince Clavis' apparent approval of my efforts.

"What were your ideas?" Prince Chevalier asked coolly as he signed the cards.

"For Prince Silvio, I was thinking of a selection of local wares, like pastries, candies, and jewelry, all in shades of blue for Benitoite," I started. "Does he like to read, your highness?"

"I couldn't say." Prince Chevalier set his quill down, sat back in his chair, and looked up at me as I continued.

"I was thinking of including a book for each prince, too, and some sort of floral arrangement."

Which reminded me, I needed to stop by the gardens, too. Just talking through it was giving me more ideas and making me more excited.

"Jade is agricultural, so a sampling of local produce for Prince Keith. Prince Gilbert will be tricky, but maybe a writing set - the pen is mightier than the sword, and all that," I continued, envisioning everything. "The books could be...something about the sea for Prince Silvio, horse breeding for Prince Keith, and...swordsmanship for Prince Gilbert. That should appeal to him, but still be safe enough. And I know red roses are typical for Rhodolite, but white roses would work better as a background for the floral arrangements so I can personalize them better for each prince."

"You're even cuter when you're like this," Luke said, patting me on top of the head and pulling me back to reality, where four princes were staring at me.

"Sorry, I got a little carried away," I said sheepishly, blushing. "Does that all sound okay?"

"Yes," Prince Chevalier said simply. "Although I may suggest adding poison to Gilbert's."

"Prince Chevalier!" I exclaimed.

Prince Clavis shrugged. "Too bad you can't do that. What about a carefully worded note designed to lead him into a death trap?"

I frowned at them. "I think you're missing the point of a goodwill gala."

"You have the goodwill part covered for us," Prince Nokto interjected. "I suddenly wish I were a foreign prince."