Black Ice ✓ | Deathsworn #1

Chapter 33 ∞ Birthday

My birthday was the event of the year in the House—they celebrated it harder than any other holiday. My mistresses never skimped out on any of the details and went all out, from the lavish feast to live music to dozens of presents. For tomorrow's celebration, I was sure they were already very amply prepared. However, the addition of another celebrant spurred them to panic. I heard some of my mistresses discussing what they should get for the boy as present with someone leaving the House every now and then, probably to pick up something to wrap and gift.

When morning arrived the next day, I heard an excited flurry of knocks raining down on my door. My wavy hair was in knots and tangles as I crawled out of bed, dragging the pillow behind me as I pulled the door open to answer. I locked it last night because I knew of the tendencies of two certain ducks to invade my privacy.

I forced my lids, which were still pretty much glued together, open. "What are you doing? You're not paying for this door if it breaks down!" I exclaimed.

I caught both Erenol and Maun looking at me in excitement.

"It's your birthday! It's Maun's birthday!" Erenol cried. "Can I adjust my birthday and make it today too?"

"Hell no," I said. "Now leave me and don't disturb me until I come out!"

I shut the door close on their faces and jumped back to bed, squealing in frustration. I tried dozing back to sleep but realized it had left me completely. I threw the pillow I had dragged with me back on the bed and stomped my way to the bathroom.

I had the water running in no time. It didn't take me long to get under it either. After spending minutes in the water, waiting for myself to turn into a raisin, I went to my closet to put on some clothes and finally left the room to get some breakfast. I could smell the food all the way to my room, which made my stomach rumble.

Upon reaching the dining room, I saw that everyone had busied themselves with eating. I was greeted a chorus of good mornings and happy birthdays after which I took my seat and got to eating as well.

Soon, preparations for the celebration began.

Maun had trouble picking what flavor his cake would be, so we had him snack on some of the sweets we had at home. In the end, he picked out white chocolate as the base flavor. I wasn't very bad at baking in my past life, but I was no pastry chef either. My mother helped us with the whole preparation and guided us along the way. We were just responsible for mixing and putting the thing in the oven.

My cake was a simple marbled chocolate and vanilla—both flavors considered quite a luxury in our side of the world, especially in the recent years. Most of the cocoa beans were grown in the other continent, Vertvalden. Recent difficulties in the place had led little to no production, which made export scarce and supply short.

The whole lobby was repurposed. A large table was put in the center. The House became a buzzing, lively flurry of activity until, finally, we had everything set up and done by dinner time. It was originally supposed to be a service night, but the mistresses decided it would be alright to close the House just this once and celebrate the occasion instead.

Considering it was my birthday, I was supposed to dress up nice. The dress I was given was Mistress Neilly's present. She had used lustrous and shimmering pink-purple-gold fabric before layering it with thicker and more structured fabric underneath. She lined the length with folded ridges and sewed in painstaking beadwork, making it shimmer even more under the light.

Once again, these long and puffy sleeves would be so inconvenient to wear at the dinner table. They went everywhere. Girls had it tough. They had to know to gracefully pull back their sleeves while reaching for the food. Not wearing sleeves in formal events was a social faux pas it seemed.