A Dove's Tale

Chapter 113

Chevalier wouldn't let me resume baking until I finished my meal, but I still had the vanilla cake batter almost finished when the princes arrived, starting with Leon. His booming voice startled me into dropping my wooden spoon.

"What's going on here?" he asked. "Dinner for two?"

"Yes," I replied, smiling over my shoulder at him. "There's leftover meatloaf, if you want to try it."

"Meatloaf?" Yves asked, haughtiness laced through his voice. "That sounds-"

"Amazing!" Leon interrupted him. "Where is it?"

"The bread pan over there," I said, retrieving my spoon from the mixing bowl and using it to point. "Yves, I have a three-layer chocolate cake in the oven already, and I was thinking-"

"Eating already?" Jin asked.

"Why haven't I had this at festivals before?" Leon asked, his amber eyes wide as he spoke around a mouthful of meatloaf.

"It's not festival food," I laughed. "It's everyday food for commoners. Why would they want to eat that at a festival?"

"Do I smell meatloaf?" Luke asked excitedly. "I haven't had meatloaf since I came here! Let me have some!"

"Why aren't we eating this every day?" Leon asked. "Yves, you gotta try this."

"I can get my own," he said, snatching the fork Leon held in front of his face and stabbing at the meatloaf harder than necessary. He scowled at it disdainfully, but he took a bite, and his sky-blue eyes widened in surprise. "This is good."

"A feeding frenzy already?" Clavis asked.

"Ivetta, you gotta give this recipe to the cooks," Leon said.

"I'm sure they already have their own recipes for meatloaf," I replied. "Every family does. Mrs. Stotts' is better than mine, but I can never get it to turn out right when I try her recipe."

"You've had enough," Jin said, snatching the pan from Leon. "Let somebody else try."

"Maybe I should make more," I said, watching Licht and Nokto join the swarm around Jin and the pan.

"No," Chevalier said firmly. I looked back at him and realized his icy blue eyes weren't on me or his brothers, but on something over my shoulder. Someone. It had to be Gilbert.

"What is that?" Keith asked. He and Silvio were standing with Gilbert, a safe distance from the seven princes who had decimated the meatloaf. I met Gilbert's blood-red eye briefly and didn't feel a twinge of fear. Just a cool indifference.

"Meatloaf," Leon said. "The best invention ever."

"There is more to life than meat," Yves chided him.

"Yeah, there's also alcohol," Leon replied.

"And women," Jin added. "Speaking of which, where's Theresa?"

I needed to figure out how to get those two together.

"She has a date," I replied, returning my focus to the batter and the three circular cake pans lined up on the counter.

"Your maid is out on a date and you're stuck in the kitchen?" Silvio asked condescendingly.

"She's doing what she wants to do," I said, wiping the rim of the bowl and licking the batter from my finger, "and I'm doing what I want to do. Yves, I was thinking you could do the frosting and decorating, since you're better at that than I am, and I'll keep making the cakes. The chocolate cake should be done now."

"How long have you been here, exactly?" Nokto asked.

"Um...a little over an hour?" I guessed, looking over at Chevalier, who nodded.