The Pirate and The Piper

The Party

The Party

There was nothing like a night party in the Pirate Palace. After Kade had recovered from the attempted assassination, the king decided to throw a party to celebrate. He had ordered thousands of florists and gardeners to replace all the flowers that had been damaged in the hurricane, and he had commissioned fountains full of pinpoint nebulas to light up the gardens at night.

The palace itself was lit with thousands of candles. The same musicians who had been hired after the duel were back, playing their ukuleles. It was a beautiful night, but what I was most excited about was that I was allowed to help the chefs prepare the food.

The chefs were very kind to me, and they helped me read the recipes that were in Islander. Cooking was a great way to relieve the stress of the previous week. If I had been able to go out and steal, I might have done that, but cooking worked just as well.

I wasn't sure how every time there was a part, no matter how last minute it was, there were somehow hundreds of guests. The grounds were crowded with people who'd come for the free food and the chance to get inside the glamour of the court.

And free food there was plenty of. The chefs and I had been working for hours to create a banquet, and I was really looking forward to it. I was sitting next to Kade at the head table, watching all the people. They were all talking about the failed assassination attempt, and none of them even acknowledged that someone had tried to kill Iekika, too.

Speaking of Iekika, she was nowhere to be found.

"Where is she?" I asked Kade.

"She doesn't make an appearance at parties unless she sees a reason to. They're really uncomfortable for her, since she sees so many futures at once while she's around this many people."

"That makes sense. Should we have some of this food sent to her room? It would be a shame for her to miss out on it."

Kade smiled. "I already took care of it. It's all very delicious. You certainly did a good job making it."

I grinned. "I only helped a little bit."

"That's more than I did," Kade pointed out.

"You survived someone trying to murder you. That's plenty."

The people were moving on to different topics of conversation now. Some of them were wondering who I was, despite the fact that I'd been here for a month and a half.

All too soon, the banquet was over and we headed out to the gardens again. The fountains were going in full force, and I could hear people wondering over them.

People kept coming up to Kade to congratulate him on surviving. He handled it much better than I would have, since he actually thanked them and didn't just tell them to piss off.

The party lasted until dawn, when everyone started to trickle away. They'd left a mess behind, and I was glad that I didn't have to help clean it up. A weary-looking servant was cleaning up some broken glass, and I realized that I should still help even though I just wanted to go to sleep.

I knelt down beside the girl who was trying to get the glass out of one of the king's precious flower beds and started to help her. She jumped, startled when Kade started cleaning, too.

She said something to him in Islander. I got the general idea of it—she was telling him he didn't have to help her. Kade answered her, saying that he would help anyway. She thanked him, but didn't make eye contact.

Soon, the glass was all cleaned up. Kade and I headed back up to the castle. It was light outside now, and I was exhaustedsince I hadn't slept all night. Theparty had been fun, but it had gone on much too long.3