"That's more or less the same thing.And it happened right after I wanted to spend even more time with you."
He reaches out and puts his hand over mine, giving it a squeeze."The delegation is leaving, and your birthday ball is over, you'll have plenty of chances to come down here now."
"I hope."
"Want to put the next cake on?"he asks, and I have to wonder if he's distracting me with it.
I nod and pick it up, carefully lining it up with the one I've covered in cream."It's probably not going to be a long respite.I don't know if Mama is going to reinstate the rules when the new Shengdanese ambassador arrives, which I think is supposed to be in the next fortnight" I let out a frustrated sigh."I'm not sure how much longer I'm going to be able to deal with the stricter rules."
"You're going to be fine," he assures me."You've been dealing with royal duties for twenty-five years.You'll find a balance."
"I haven't been dealing with them for twenty-five years," I respond."I can't have had royal duties when I was a baby."
He laughs."You know what I mean."He pushes a jar of apricot purée towards me."This is for on top of this cake.
"It might be different if I tell Mama about us," I say as I spread the purée over the cake.
"Do you want to?"He lifts the final layer of cake and lines it up a lot faster than I did.Probably because he's had a lot more practice than I have at this kind of thing.
"Yes."I bite my bottom lip."But I know that it's going to have consequences."I pick up the spatula and start covering the top and sides of the cake with whipped cream, having seen enough slagroomtaarts served to know what they look like.
"I'm ready for them if you are," he promises.
"Are you sure about that?"I stop smoothing out cream and look at him."What if it's bad?"
"Then we'll deal with it," he promises."We have no idea what's going to happen if you tell the Queen.It might go a lot better than you think it will.I'm sure it's going to mean changes, but it's not like we've not dealt with those before.And it's not like I believe you'll forget me if I move out of the castle.I was gone for five and a half years, and when I came back, you told me you loved me."
"That is true."I pick my spatula back up and start smoothing over the sides of the cake until I'm happy with it.
Nate uses a piping bag to create some swirls on the top and starts adding fruit to it."We're going to be fine, Evie.The Queen isn't going to banish me for loving you.I don't even know if she has the power to do that.Maybe the King does, but I can just send him his favourite pastry tomorrow morning and sweeten him up."
I laugh."Is your plan to bake your way into the good graces of my family?"
He grins."It's worked so far.All right, just the almonds now, and then we can eat it," he says
"What do we do with them?"
"Stick them on the side."He picks up a handful and presses them into the cream on the side of the cake."The almonds are good, by the way, you should try one."
I eat a tiny piece, enjoying the sweet and nutty flavour."Oh, that is good.How did you make them?"
"I flaked them, then added sugar and egg whites before toasting them in the oven."
"So simple," I muse.
"All right, there we go, one birthday cake."He turns it around so that we can look at it.
"Now what?"I ask.
"We eat it."He pulls out a knife and slices it.
"What?There's no set time?"
He shakes his head."I told you, I made it all earlier so that you didn't have to wait."He slides the knife through the cake with ease and puts the first slide on a plate before sliding it over to me and cutting one for himself.
I grab two forks from the drawer and hold one out to him.
"Happy birthday, Evie," he says.
