It had been a few days since the incident in the training room.Deimos and I hadn’t really spoken. We had barely even seen eachother. I’d see him at breakfast unsure of where he spent the nightsleeping and then he’d lock himself away in Cainen’s officeworking with him. I stayed in our bedroom locked away reading. Iwasn’t sure I wanted to run into him since I didn’t know whereexactly we stood anymore. I needed an excuse to talk to him thatdidn’t involve me having to corner him. That’s when it came tome. A date night.
It was possibly the most unoriginal idea I couldhave come up with, but it would be just what we needed. It would giveus some personal time to talk things over and hopefully be able toreconnect. So, I got to work with the planning.
I wanted to do everything myself with minimal helpfrom staff. I wanted to be the one to set up a cute area in thegarden and I wanted to be the one to cook an amazing meal. I wouldneed a bit of help getting started though and that’s where Marigoldcame in. She’d be able to help me figure out Deimos’ favoritemeal and point me to where they stored their decorations. So, Istarted to make my way downstairs in search of her. I had only madeit down the first flight of stairs when I ran into Marigold on thelanding.
I grinned, “Just who I was looking for.”
“I was coming to get you for dinner.” Shesaid. Always straight to the point.
“We can walk and talk then,” I said.
I gave her a quick explanation of what I wanted todo asking her what she thought about it.
“It sounds like it would be a lovely idea.”Marigold said, forcing a smile on her face.
“So you’ll help me?” I asked.
She looked a little taken aback, “How would I beable to help?”
“All I need you to do is ask the chef aboutDeimos’ favorite meal and see if it’s alright if I cook ittomorrow. Oh and then I need to know where you store decorationstoo.”
“Um…I guess I can do that.” She said.
“Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!” Iexclaimed. Part of me wanted to hug her, but I assumed that wouldcross some sort of line for her.
Marigold seemed put off by my excitement, I didn’tcare though. I thanked her again before disappearing into the diningroom where Deimos was already seated. I gave him a small smile as Itook my seat which he returned. Other than that I didn’t sayanything to him in fear of giving anything away. I didn’t want tosay anything until I knew what the chef had said.
❦ The Next Day ❦
I had woken up a bit later than usual, so by thetime I’d gotten downstairs for breakfast Deimos was already gone. Ididn’t mind though. Marigold brought me my breakfast which shockedme a bit, but then I realized that she must have an answer for mefrom the chef.
“Chef said that you could use this kitchen aslong as you didn’t mind him supervising you as you cooked.” Shesaid.
“I wouldn’t expect anything less! Mostlybecause I’m not the best cook in the world.”
“Also, after breakfast, I can show you to ourstorage rooms and try to help you find anything that you might belooking for.”
“That would be wonderful! Thank you so muchagain Marigold, it really means a lot that you’re helping me withthis.”
Instead of responding, she curtsied anddisappeared back into the kitchen. I assumed it was to talk to thechef a bit more about me. I took my time eating breakfast, but when Iwas done I told the server to send Marigold to me. Within twentyminutes we were in an area of the palace that I had never set foot insearching through a large room filled with storage boxes.
“I found our jars of fairy lights and alreadyset those aside for you,” Marigold said.
I heard fairy lights and lit up, “Can I seethem?”
Marigold let a small smile dance across her lips,“You’ve never seen them before, have you?”
“No. But I’ve read a lot about them.” Iadmitted.
She led me over to a table in the back of the roomwhere jars of fairy lights in every color imaginable sat. Even lockedaway in glass jars they were beautiful.
“How did you guys get so many?” I askedpicking up a jar. “The art of fairy keeping is something I thoughteveryone lost a long time ago.”
Fairies were hard to befriend and care for. Theywere extremely picky about where they lived and who they chose toassociate with. Earning a fairies trust was difficult, but alwaysworth it in the end. They rewarded you with magical trinkets,protection, and some said they would bless you giving you eternalhappiness and luck. Fairy lights were one of those trinkets. Theywere soft, glowing orbs whose light never dimmed. Some said theywere made out of the fairies' love for you.
“King Cainen’s wife Queen Valda, may she restin peace, adored fairies. The stories go that King Cainen would dowhatever it took to make her happy, so he negotiated with a fewfairies to make the best garden he could for them. He made the gardento their exact specifications and the fairies flooded in. Queen Valdawas a kind, gentle woman so it didn’t shock anyone that she easilygained their love and trust. So, we’ve always had stockpiles offairy lights. Queen Valda loved to use them any chance she got. Iremember one of her birthday balls, the entire ballroom was lit usingonly fairy lights.”
“Are all the fairies still here?”
Marigold’s smile grew, “They are. When QueenValda passed, King Cainen took over their care.”
I laughed a little at the thought. The scariestKing around spending his afternoons in the garden helping fairieswith whatever they asked for.
“I have one more question, and this one youdon’t have to answer if you don’t want to,” I said.
“O-okay.”
“How did Queen Valda pass?”
I didn’t know much about her since I was youngerwhen she was alive. I do remember father being shocked when he heardthat she had passed and he spoke a bit about how much of an amazingwoman she was. Apparently, she and mother had gotten along even thoughthey had only met a few times at council meetings or something.
“No one really knows,” Marigold said. “One day she was alive and the next day she just wasn’t. No officialreasoning was given so most assumed natural causes. Though of coursethere are horrific rumors that float around and I don’t know howanyone could believe them.”
“I assume most are graphic horror stories.”
She nodded, “People like to say that King Cainenkilled her, or that someone from another Kingdom did. It’s simplyawful the stories people will make up purely for their ownentertainment.”
The conversation ended after that and we got towork searching the storage room. I found a nice tablecloth to usealong with some matching cloth napkins. Marigold set it all aside forwhen I was ready to use it.
Next stop was the shopping district so I could geta new dress. I hadn’t gotten a chance to pick up a few Xavarianpieces for my closet and this was a great excuse. I hadn’t been outmuch since the announcement dinner due to training, so I wasimmediately met with a lot of people stopping to say hello. I tookthe time to talk to them for a moment before continuing on my waysearching for the boutique I was looking for. It took me about doublethe time it probably otherwise would have, but I didn’t mind.
It was the boutique I’d seen the day Deimos wasshowing me around with the beautiful flowing dresses. I made my waythrough the store looking at the various styles and colors that wereavailable. Ultimately I decided on one with a plunging neckline and aslit up the leg in a gorgeous crimson color. I found my size and tookit up to the counter. I looked at the girl who was at the registerand she looked familiar.
“Have we met?” I asked.
She smiled a little, “Aster. We spoke at theannouncement dinner.”
“Right!” I exclaimed. “You wanted to speakwith me but Deimos scared you off. I tried searching for you as wewere making our rounds, but I didn’t see you.”
She cleared her throat shifting her weight betweenher feet, “I had to leave early.”
“Do you happen to remember what you wanted totalk about?” I asked.
“Nope.” She answered, a bit too quickly.“Knowing me it was something stupid like me obsessing over yourdress.”
We both laughed a little. She finished up thetransaction and I said a quick goodbye as I picked up my bag. Part ofme wanted to spend more time talking to her, but I had to focus onthe task at hand.
❦❦❦❦❦❦❦❦❦❦❦❦❦❦❦❦❦
At about 3 PM I made my way down to the kitchen. Iwasn’t sure how long it would take me to cook this dish, but Iwanted to give myself plenty of time. When I walked into the kitchenI was met with big smiles and warm welcomes.
“I really appreciate you letting me invade yourkitchen like this,” I said.
“Ah, it’s no problem at all.” The chef said.“Tonight you’ll be preparing lemon garlic butter salmon withgrilled asparagus.”
“Sounds easy enough,” I said trying my best tohide my anxiety.
“Don’t worry too much Princess, I’ve writteneverything out for you so all you have to do is follow it. But if yourun into any issues we’ll all be right here to help.”
The kitchen staff took a seat at a table in theback of the kitchen giving me all the space in the world to work. Ifound everything I needed, which took a bit of time since I didn’tknow the layout of the kitchen. It only took about an hour to geteverything made and plated. A server brought it out to the area inthe garden I had already set up while I went upstairs to change. Islipped on the dress, stepped into a pair of black heels, and swipedon a bit of lip gloss and mascara.
“Can you find Marigold and tell her to bringDeimos to me?” I asked the first staff member I could find.
“Yes, Princess.”
I quickly made my way out into the garden and satdown. It was hard to sit still as I waited impatiently for Deimos toarrive.
“Nesryn?” Deimos said as he approached thetable. “What is this?”
I plastered a giant smile on my face as I admiredhim. He was dressed in one of his classic black-on-black suits withhis hair slicked back so his horns were on full display. I wasworried that he wouldn’t want to dress up as I requested, but Iwas over the moon that he had.
“We’ve both been a bit on edge since thattraining session, so I decided that we needed a bit of personal timeto...reconnect in a way,” I said.
He made his way over and kissed the top of myhead, “You really are something else.”
“It’s the least I could do.”
He sat down across from me and took the liberty ofremoving the domes from the food trays. I watched in glee as his eyeslit up as he saw the salmon.
“You made this?” He asked.
I nodded, “The chef wrote out the instructionsfor me so I could make it perfectly.”
He plunged his fork into the fish taking his firstbite. His eyes glazed over for half a second as he let out asatisfied moan.
“It’s perfect.”
“Really?”
“Might even be better than the chefs.” Hesmiled.
I felt my face grow warm as I took my own bite ofthe salmon. He was right, it was absolutely delicious. Though Iwasn’t sure that it was as delicious as he said. We enjoyed ourmeal, having light conversation as we ate. I listened to him talkabout how much he’d learned about the Kingdom and how hesurprisingly enjoyed doing the boring, repetitive paperwork. While itwas a bit boring to hear about, it was nice to have him finallyspeaking to me again.
Once we finished dinner, dessert was served. Itwas Deimos’ favorite: chocolate lava cake.
“Did you make this too?” Deimos asked.
I shook my head laughing a little, “Cooking I’malright at, baking however quickly turns into a disaster. AnytimeI’ve tried something always goes wrong.”
“Well, you’re already better than I am. I’mnot good at either. Dad insisted I focused on my training and studiesover anything else.”
“My mother liked cooking and baking, so Tinleyand I used to spend time with her in the kitchen and help where wecould.”
That was enough to make him smile as he ate hiscake. We both finished in record time leaving us full but happy.
“Let’s go on a walk through the garden.”Deimos said.
We stood up at the same time and I looked my armthrough his letting him lead me down a path. He knew the gardenbetter than I did so it was for the best.
“You look stunning in that dress,” Deimos saidglancing down at me.
“And you look handsome in that suit.”
He stopped walking which forced me to stop. Iwatched as he pulled his bottom lip between his teeth and his eyesslowly moved down my body.
“You really do look beautiful.” His voicesounded a bit huskier.
I looked up at him and without warning, he pressedhis lips to mine. It took me a second to respond, but when I did, itdidn’t take long for things to get heated.
Deimos pulled me as close to his body as he couldgripping me tightly. He was moving quickly leaving me with no otherchoice but to keep up. After some heavy kissing, he pulled away. Wewere both left panting and looking at each other with lust-filledeyes. I was shocked that I wanted this as much as he did, but it wastrue. I wanted this.
“Are you sure?” Deimos asked.
“Definitely.”
That was enough for him to pick me up continuingour kiss from earlier while we got up to our bedroom as quickly aspossible.
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