Chapter 4 #4
A kitchen maid was scooping vanilla ice cream onto the desserts as people requested it, and I couldn’t decide what to choose.
“What are you going to pick?” Carissa asked us.
“I’m having the chocolate cake.” Yori’s eyes were huge as she stared.
“I’ll have the crème br?lée, please,” Serra told one of the maids.
“The cheesecake looks incredible,” Tanell decided. “Can I have extra raspberry sauce, please?”
“Of course, Your Majesty,” the maid said in a sweet voice.
“What are you going to pick, Ken?” Serra asked.
“Um…” I sighed deeply. “It’s so hard to choose, but… I think I’ll have the berry pie.”
“Excellent choice, sire,” the maid said. “Would you like a scoop of chilled cream?”
“Yes, please.” I smiled at her.
She smiled back at me, added a hefty scoop of ice cream onto my slice of pie, and passed the plate across the table to me.
“Thank you,” I said.
My queens headed back to our table, and Carissa hesitated like she didn’t know if she should join us or return to whatever table she’d been at before.
“Come sit with us,” I said. “We have an extra chair.”
“Are you sure?” Carissa asked in a soft voice. “I don’t want to impose. I already feel like I’ve overstayed my welcome here.”
“Absolutely.” I frowned at her. “You are welcome to stay here as long as you like. You’re not imposing, and I really enjoy having you here. The queens have really come to enjoy your company, and I think they’d be heartbroken if you tried to leave.”
“That’s a relief,” Carissa said. “It’s not like I have anywhere else to go.”
Her black eyebrows knitted together in concern, and I suspected she was thinking about her brother, Colin. He’d moved to the Haktorian Empire years ago, but she’d lost contact with him at some point.
I’d had my Master of Spies try to track him down, but the conflict in the foreign nation was making it nearly impossible for any of Vannesh’s spies to make it safely across the border.
We still had no idea if he was even alive, but I wasn’t about to give up hope until we knew for sure either way.
Carissa must have read the thoughts on my face just like I’d read them on hers because she looked up into my eyes with a yearning kind of hope.
“Have they found anything?” she whispered.
I thought about lying to her to save her feelings, but that never did anything good in the long run.
“No.” I shook my head once. “But we’re not giving up. We’re going to keep looking until we know where he is… or what happened.”
“Thank you, Ken,” Carissa mumbled.
Her green eyes became even shinier with unshed tears, and she tilted her head back and blinked rapidly as she took a deep breath.
“Come on,” I urged her softly. “Let’s go eat these desserts.”
“Yes, good idea.” She nodded with determination, and when she looked at me again, her eyes were clear once more.
The dessert was as incredible as all the food that came out of the royal kitchens, and the wine kept flowing. The celebration carried on for another three hours, filled with good drink, company, and dancing.
Each of our guests made a point to come up and congratulate my new queens before they left, and many of them even made unofficial pledges of loyalty to them with their sentiments.
Eventually, Phil and Gideon were the only ones left in the grand hall with my queens, Carissa, and me. Someone had produced a deck of cards, and Phil was trying to teach Tanell and Carissa Nalatria’s version of poker.
Yori and Serra were sitting on the other side of the table and whispering to each other about something. They’d occasionally giggle and glance in my direction, so I was pretty certain they were talking about me, but I couldn’t figure out what they were saying.
“Ha!” Phil bellowed as he slapped his cards down on the table. “Four diamonds, and two leaves. I win!”
“Not so fast, my friend,” Gideon said in a much calmer tone, and his normally stoic face had a smug look on it. “Six swords and a crown.”
“Shit,” Phillip sighed.
Tanell and Carissa burst into tipsy laughter and insisted on another round.
“So long as his majesty joins us?” Phillip turned his eyes on me. “Will you grace us, sire?”
Before I could answer, Yori caught my attention with a wide-eyed look that told me I was needed elsewhere.
“Actually,” I said with an apologetic smile. “I’m pretty tired, and we have a long journey tomorrow. I think I’m going to retire.”
“Boo,” Phil teased. “But I suppose I should turn in at some point.”
“One more game,” Gideon said, and it sounded like a challenge.
Phil narrowed his eyes at his colleague and then chortled and nodded.
Yori and Serra stood up together and walked around the table to stand right behind me.
“Would you mind if I stay a while longer?” Tanell asked. “I’d quite like to see how this plays out.”
“Of course,” I leaned in and kissed her before I stood up to join my new queens.
With each passing second, I became more certain what their plotting had been about.
“Enjoy yourselves,” I said.
“You, too.” Tanell smirked up at me.
Yori and Serra giggled as they took my arms and led me out of the grand hall toward our private apartments.