I do as he suggests, and he ties it behind me.
"Now you get to try it," he says.
"What are we making?"
"Well, as I'm courting a princess known for her impatience, and I doubt she's any less impatient at twenty-five than she was at twenty-four..."
"I'm not that bad," I protest."And I'm working on it."
"I know you are," he assures me."But I also knew that it was going to be late, so I made all of the individual parts of a slagroomtaart and thought we'd assemble them together.That way, you can eat it as soon as we're done."
"I wouldn't have minded the wait," I respond."It would mean more time with you."
The way he smiles at me makes the whole world seem like a better place."I know.And I want to as well.But I'm sure you'll have other things to do tomorrow, and I don't want to keep you up too late."
Not for the first time, I find myself wondering what it would be like if I didn't have to say goodnight to him at all.If we could have all the time in the world for one another.
"All right, so birthday cake assembly."He gestures to the table in front of him, where everything is laid out, including cakes, whipped cream, what look like sugared almonds, and apricot purée.
I laugh."Most people would be upset about having to do the work on their own birthday cake."
"You're not most people."
"I'm not."I pull a ribbon out of my pocket and use it to tie up my hair before washing my hands.
"Something I'm very grateful for."He leans in and kisses my cheek."How was the rest of the masquerade?"
I grimace."I don't know why Mama thinks that any of the people she invited are good suitors for me, especially when she's never once asked what I want in someone."
He puts one of the cakes on a plate and pushes the bowl of whipped cream towards me."A layer of it."
I nod.
"Whatdoyou want in someone?"he asks.
I use a spatula to put a large dollop of cream on top of the cake and start smoothing it out."I've never really thought about it.Probably because my emotions were already engaged with someone."I pause, then realise that what I've said might be ambiguous."You, I mean."
Nate chuckles."I got that."
"It just seems an entirely inadequate way of getting to know anyone.But I suppose it doesn't matter.In a few days, the Gaullessian delegation will be leaving, which means I can start coming down to the kitchen at a normal time again.If you want me here, anyway."
"Any day when you come here is better for it," he promises."We need to layer on apricots now."
"We've been using a lot of them recently," I say as I pick one of the slices of preserved apricot off the plate and carefully lay it on top of the cream, following it with another.
"There was a good crop of them this year, so we have a lot of them preserved.Do you not like them?"
"I do.They've got a good amount of tartness to cut through the sweet."I finish the outer ring of apricots and move to the centre."And they look impressive.Several of our guests have commented on them.Though not Lady Elizabeth."
He chuckles."You're not going to forgive her for the comment, are you?"
"I don't know about forgiving her, it doesn't seem like it's my place to do that.But I do find it strange that Mama considered that she would be a good match for me when she doesn't like cake."
"Perhaps the Queen had no idea about Lady Elizabeth's preferences."
"Maybe."I let out a sigh even as I place the final apricot."It doesn't help that it's been a few weeks of intense events.I might have more patience for situations like that if I hadn't been banned from the kitchen."
"You weren't banned from the kitchen," he reminds me."You just weren't allowed to come down here as early as usual."
