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Once she stepped closer to the door, the scent of chocolate wafted into her nostrils. Kaida looked down the road at the carriage and smiled, realizing why he chose this store. When she opened the door, so many smells of various chocolates had her hurrying through the door to check them all out. There were shelves upon shelves all along the walls with bags full of chocolates and even baskets of individually wrapped candies all over the shop. There was a small counter in the back with a short, plump, older woman behind it. Kaida smiled at the woman and then looked into every chocolate to see what was all available. The woman made her way over to Kaida and noticed that she had the palest blue eyes Kaida had ever seen, and her hair was naturally silver with spots of brown still noticeable in some places.
“You are a very new face to me. I am Gianna, the chocolatier of this establishment.”
Gianna held her hand out to Kaida, and Kaida placed hers over Gianna’s wrist. When Gianna returned the greeting, they bowed their heads at one another.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I am Kaida Hilmir from the Fibrin Territory. It’s my first time here.”
Gianna’s eyes lit up as she began herdingherding Kaida toward the baskets of individually wrapped pieces. She grabbed the blue--wrapped one and held it out to Kaida. “This here is a vanilla and caramel truffle. It is one of the best sellers. Try it.”
Kaida was confused at first but did what Gianna told her to do. She twisted the foil, and the deep brown chocolate was in the form of a small sphere. She popped it into her mouth and bit into it. The flavors of the rich chocolate mixed with the sweetness of the vanilla coated her tongue first, but then the velvety texture of the caramel pushed through and sent her taste buds on an adventure. Kaida practically groaned through the experience and eventually made a face of pure need at Gianna. The woman chuckled and then handed her another one. This time it was a green one.
“This is my pistachio crème. This one here sometimes competes for the number one spot.”
Kaida did the same as she did last time. Just like before, the moment that the chocolate was in her mouth she bit into it, and it was another adventure. This time the chocolate was paired wonderfully with the saltiness of the pistachio.
“How are you this good at making chocolate! I’ve had some like this before, but yours are monumentally better!”
Gianna laughed with her belly at Kaida’s comments. “Oh child, I have spent a couple hundred years perfecting these recipes. I’m the best because I have put all of my love and devotion into my craft.”
Kaida could certainly attest to that. The two chocolates alone were proof of that. Even though she had similar ones from a shop in her territory, it was nowhere near as good as this. Kaida grabbed a few of each individual chocolate she could. Gianna had created a couple dozen of these, and she wanted to be sure to try them all. When Kaida mentioned sending the bill to her parents, Gianna hesitated for a moment.
“Hilmir… are you Dracul’s daughter?”
Kaida wasn’t surprised that Gianna knew her father. The whole kingdom should since he was the second chair within the council. “Yes.”
“Ah. Then I know I will be paid. You’d be surprised at how many people of your age say that, and the family doesn’t pay.”
Kaida rolled her eyes, “I apologize on their behalf. That is beyond rude. I will mention that to my father and see what I can have done about it.”
Gianna gave Kaida a once over. “Kaida…you are Prince Enzo’s betrothed! How silly of me to think that you would not pay.” Gianna began bowing in apology as her cheeks became red with embarrassment.
Kaida quickly grabbed Gianna’s hands and got Gianna to look at her. “No, please don’t do that. Please, stop. You did nothing wrong.”
“I should not have accused our future queen of such things!”
“Like she will actually be the next queen.”
Kaida froze as her body became completely rigid at the sound of Malinda’s voice. She heard the sniggering of the other three goons as well, and she had to roll her eyes once again. These four had to be the people her age that don’t actually pay for their things that Gianna talked about. Kaida turned slowly toward the girls who were all standing at the door.
“Considering I am Enzo’s Fated Mate, I am quite sure that I will be queen. Or is there a new loophole your family created that I don’t know about?”
Malinda scoffed at her while taking a few steps into the shop. “Like my family has to create loopholes. I know for a fact that Enzo isn’t going to bond himself with someone who doesn’t have a dragon.”
Kaida did her best preppy girl voice she could muster and retorted, “Malinda, I didn’t know you were a writer! The shit you come up with, I’m sure you will be a bestseller within the kingdom someday! Because that is a fantasy story if I ever heard one.”
“Please. That’s why you took a carriage here. That’s why you haven’t flown around like the rest of us since you got here!” Malinda knocked over one of the baskets and sent the brown foiled candy flying all over the floor.
Gianna growled and screamed for them to pick it all up, but none of them moved to do so.
“Pick up your mess, Malinda!”
“No! Answer why you haven’t shifted into your dragon since you got here!”
“I don’t answer to you, but this time I will give an explanation so you can shut your ass up about it. How about the fact that my dragon doesn’t play well with others? Like Enzo would want a war with your families when my dragon would devour yours for lunch.”
By this time, the other girls were completely in the shop behind Malinda. None of them made any kind of movement to pick up the candy on the floor. It was not that big of a place, so there was very little room to move around. Gianna was at Kaida’s back to show the girls that she had some support, but Kaida doubted she would want her shop being destroyed right now.
Before Malinda could open her mouth to continue her argument, Enzo’s voice boomed through the shop. “What the hell is going on here?”
