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I knew all the princes were coming.
The library was loud. It was never loud, except for the day when Prince Chevalier and Prince Leon had their argument. But that was quiet compared to this. The noise hit me as soon as I opened the door, carefully balancing the full tray on one hand until I could release the doorknob and let my hip push the door the rest of the way open. Laughter and talking filled the room, and then a generalized cheer rose to greet me. Prince Luke leaped up from his seat on the floor and came to meet me before I reached the princes lounging around a coffee table. The rest of Prince Leon’s faction had joined the party, even Prince Licht, but Prince Luke was still the only representative from Prince Chevalier’s faction.
“I got it,” Prince Luke said, taking the tray from me before I could protest. “How were ya carrying this? It weighs more than ya!”
“It does not, Prince Luke. Would anybody like some tea?”
Prince Leon laughed. “Just sit down, Ivetta. It’s bad enough they sent you to get this stuff for your own party.”
“My what?” I asked, startled.
“There’s room over here, dollface,” Prince Jin called, patting his lap with his free hand. He already had a glass of some sort of alcohol in his other hand.
“Back off, you old pervert,” Prince Yves warned him, waving a chocolate-covered knife in Prince Jin’s face. He expertly flipped it around and turned back to cutting the cake. “And we didn’t send her to get it. She just volunteered too quickly to stop her.”
“I can believe that,” Prince Leon said, his amber eyes warm as he smiled at me.
He and Prince Licht occupied the two lounge chairs across the coffee table from the sofa. Prince Licht’s dark crimson eyes met mine briefly and darted quickly away to the tea set. He scooted forward to pour a cup of tea, and I reluctantly perched on the edge of the sofa between Prince Jin and Prince Yves, the only empty seat other than the floor, which was occupied by Prince Luke again.
“Maybe I should do that, your highness,” I said to Prince Yves, watching with trepidation as the knife danced dangerously close to his fingers.
“Believe it or not, I’m safe with sharp implements,” he said, flashing me a bright smile. “You get the first slice.”
He placed a generous helping of the multi-layer, heavily frosted chocolate cake on a plate and handed it to me. I took it hesitantly, glancing around at the five pairs of smiling eyes watching me. Well, four pairs, anyway. Prince Licht was pouring a second cup of tea, and he wasn’t smiling.
“Thank you, your highness, but may I ask what this is about?”
“This is a thank you,” Prince Yves explained. “Chevalier and I had a little talk last night, and I understand you’re to blame for that. Of course, I didn’t invite them,” he added, using the knife to gesture at his brothers.
My deal with Prince Chevalier had completely slipped my mind. He was supposed to tell Prince Yves that he trusted him, and I…I let him feed me that beignet. The memory brought heat to my cheeks, and I focused on cutting off a piece of chocolate cake with my fork rather than daring to look at any of the princes.
Prince Jin chuckled beside me. “Aw, you’re so cute when you’re embarrassed.”
Yes. All this attention was embarrassing me, and nothing else. We could go with that.
“How do you like your tea?”
I looked up in surprise at Prince Licht’s question. He was actually looking at me, his face as impassive as always.
“Um, a little sugar and cream, thank you, your highness.”
“Well?” Prince Yves prompted me, pausing from passing slices of cake around to fix his deep blue eyes on me.
I took a bite and nodded, smiling as the chocolate melted on my tongue. The frosting was still warm and gooey.
“It’s perfect, Prince Yves,” I told him.
“Wait, try it with some honey,” Prince Luke said, tossing me the jar he’d brought from his room. For one terrifying second, I was afraid the jar was still open, and visions of spending the rest of my afternoon cleaning up a sticky honey explosion in the library flashed through my mind. But the cap was on tight, and that vision faded with the sigh of relief that escaped my lips when I caught it.
Prince Leon laughed. “You nearly gave her a heart attack, Luke!”
“Please keep in mind that whatever mess you all make is something I have to clean up,” I reminded them, unscrewing the jar.
“Meaning eat with your mouth closed,” Prince Jin said, looking pointedly at Prince Luke and the chocolate crumbs spraying from his mouth. Prince Luke snapped his mouth shut.
“It doesn’t need honey,” Prince Yves said petulantly. “She just said it’s perfect.”
Prince Luke swallowed and blurted out, “But it could be more perfect.”
“I’ll try it, your highness,” I reassured him, reaching for a spoon.
“Just dip your finger in it,” he said. “That’s what I’ve been doing.”
“Ew, gross,” Prince Yves said, the look of disgust he shot at Prince Luke making his thoughts very clear on that subject.
“Undisciplined brats, all of you,” Prince Jin muttered. “Where’s the rest of your bunch, anyway?”
“I dunno,” Prince Luke replied, his words now garbled by a mouthful of chocolate cake. Prince Yves shot him a glare, and Prince Luke rolled his leaf green eyes and swallowed before speaking again. “Clavis had some important meeting to deal with, Nokto never showed up, and nobody’s seen Chevie since he told Ivetta he wouldn’t be in the office today.”
“Nokto had a date last night,” Prince Jin said, washing his cake down with a swig of his drink. “Leon, you tried this new brandy?”
“Not yet. Pour me a glass,” Prince Leon replied. “Does Chevalier often tell you where he’ll be, Ivetta?”
I shook my head, drizzling honey over my next bite of cake. “I had to pick up his new cloak from the seamstresses, and I guess he told me so I wouldn’t be looking for him. Is this the blackberry honey, Prince Luke?”
His mouth was full, so he simply nodded enthusiastically.
“Blackberries would go well on this cake,” Prince Yves admitted reluctantly.
“Or in tea, your highness,” I replied, dunking the spoon into my tea.
“Honey in tea? How boring.”
A collective groan rose from the princes as Prince Clavis joined the party. I almost joined the chorus, but I stuck the honey-drizzled cake in my mouth instead. It was quite good.
“Didn’t you like my tea yesterday, Ivetta?” Prince Clavis asked, speaking directly into my ear. I stood up and spun to face him, his elbows resting casually on the back of the sofa as he grinned up at me.
“No, I didn’t, Prince Clavis,” I replied coolly.
“What did you do to it?” Prince Yves asked Prince Clavis irritably.
Prince Clavis straightened up and shrugged. "Nothing to warrant such a negative response,” he said innocently, his golden eyes glittering.
“He put me to sleep for almost two hours,” I said, retreating around the coffee table to stand between Prince Leon and Prince Licht.
“Clavis,” Prince Jin sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “You really missed an opportunity there.”
“I agree,” Prince Nokto said, his silken voice gliding through the air as he entered the library. “An aphrodisiac would have been much more fun than a sleeping potion.”
I looked quickly away from his dangerous crimson eyes to my teacup on the coffee table, still out of Prince Clavis’ reach, thankfully. The quicker I finished my cake and my tea, the quicker I could come up with some excuse to get out of here.
“Alright, that’s enough,” Prince Leon intervened on my behalf, standing up. “Ivetta, you can take my chair. Clavis, Nokto, want some cake?”
I sat down, grateful for Prince Leon hovering behind the chair like my bodyguard. Prince Nokto shrugged and sat on the sofa between Prince Jin and Prince Yves.
“Sure,” Prince Nokto said, sounding bored.
“I didn’t say you could sit here,” Prince Yves grumbled.
That brought a sparkle of mischief back to Prince Nokto’s crimson eyes. He grinned and leaned back, tilting his head to the side as he looked at Prince Yves. “You’d rather Ivetta sit here instead?”
Prince Clavis laughed. “Of course he would. Pass me a slice of that boring cake.”
“You can’t insult my cake and then expect me to just give it to you like that,” Prince Yves muttered, dishing up two more slices anyway.
“I’ll have to make a cake for you sometime, Ivetta,” Prince Clavis said.
“Don’t you dare,” Prince Yves warned him. “Ivetta, just assume anything he makes is poisonous and run away as fast as you can,” he said to me, his deep blue eyes completely serious. “Even if it’s not poisonous, it’s not edible.”
“That hurts,” Prince Clavis said, feigning a crestfallen expression.
“Thank you for the warning, Prince Yves, but I’ve already learned my lesson about him,” I said, setting my empty plate on the table and picking up my teacup. The addition of the blackberry honey to the black tea made for a very pleasant flavor combination.
“Mm, Prince Luke, this honey goes wonderfully with the tea. And thank you for making that for me, Prince Licht.”
“Licht made your tea?” Prince Nokto asked, his sly grin unphased as he raised an eyebrow at his twin. “My, this is an interesting turn of events.”
“Unlike you, Licht is a decent human being,” Prince Yves said bitingly.
Prince Licht stood up, and I chanced a glance at him. He looked irritated.
“Leon, you can have my seat,” he said flatly, heading for the door.
Prince Leon dropped into the chair without further encouragement, but his amber eyes followed Prince Licht with concern. “Rest is an important part of training, too,” he called after him.
“Nice try,” Prince Jin commented, taking another sip of his drink.
“Well, thank you again for all of this, but I need to get back to work,” I said, setting my empty teacup down and standing up.
“Ya work too hard,” Prince Luke complained.
“How would you know? You never work at all,” Prince Jin countered. “Just relax, Ivetta. We’ll deal with Chevalier when he gets here.”
“Glad you volunteered,” Prince Clavis said brightly. “Hey, Chev. Where have you been hiding?”
Prince Chevalier was just walking into the library, his icy blue eyes touching briefly on mine as he scanned the scene. He didn’t check his stride, and he didn’t alter his direct course to the back room. His new cloak billowed out behind him, just as it always did.
“Would you like some cake, Prince Chevalier?” I asked, pouring him a cup of tea.
“Yes.”
Prince Jin chuckled. “Or I’ll just let Ivetta deal with him.”
“Prince Clavis, you didn’t tamper with this tea, did you?” I asked, taking the slice of cake Prince Yves offered to me.
Prince Clavis smirked and shrugged. “Maybe I did, and maybe I didn’t.”
I fixed him with a frown and a stern glare.
“He didn’t,” Prince Nokto volunteered, smirking sidelong at Prince Clavis. “He knows it would be a waste to try.”
Prince Clavis sighed heavily. “Really, Nokto. You make it sound impossible to poison Chev.”
“It is impossible to poison him,” Prince Nokto replied. “You know that better than anybody.”
“Excuse me, I don’t want to hear this,” I said firmly, following Prince Chevalier into his private library. He’d left the door open.
“Ask Chevalier if we can stay,” Prince Jin called after me.
I shook my head and shut the door behind me. Prince Chevalier was already sitting in his chair with a book in hand. I set the tea and cake on the end table next to him and stepped back.
“Prince Chevalier, your brothers would like to know if they can stay,” I said.
“As long as they don’t disturb me,” he replied coolly, his eyes on the pages of his book.
“Of course, your highness.” I hesitated, and then I asked, “Prince Chevalier, would it be alright if I borrowed one of your books? I finished Midnight Cinderella.”
He looked up at me, his pale blue eyes boring a hole right through me.
“On one condition.“
“Which is, your highness?“ I asked nervously.
He smirked. “I’ll tell you later. You’re dismissed.“
“Yes, your highness,” I said formally, more intrigued than concerned. Six pairs of eyes were on me the moment I walked through the door.
“You can stay,” I told them. “Just keep it quiet.”
“So, that’s how to ask Chevalier for a favor,” Prince Jin mused, lifting his glass to his lips again.
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