Page 27 of Markets & Mooncakes

"I would like to ride with you," he says softly. "I would do anything for you."

"Even learn things."

He laughs. "I don't mind learning things," he assures me. "Though I will admit that there's a lot more to learn than I ever imagined, even from what you've told me of your lessons in how to be a princess."

"I'm sorry, maybe I should have prepared you better."

"You don't have anything to be sorry for, Evie." He squeezes my hand.

Hooves sound against the floor of the stables, and I look over to find my sister approaching on her horse. "Ah, there you are. I wondered what had distracted you." Her lips curve up into a strange smile. "Chef Matthews."

"Your Highness." He dips his head to her, but doesn't step away from me to bow properly.

"I shall keep our guest busy for a moment," Veronica says.

"You're not to dally with her," I remind her.

She snorts. "I might be good with the ladies, but even I'm not good enough that I can have a dalliance with her atop a horse and in the middle of the stables while you're close by. But just to reassure you, I shall keep the conversation strictly to matters of the castle grounds." She tugs on her reins and turns her horse around so that she heads back to where Lady Sun Jinglan is waiting.

"She's not to dally with her?" Nate asks.

"Mama has told Veronica that she is not to have a dalliance with the ambassador's daughter," I say.

Nate chuckles, the sound vibrating through his chest, and through me in response. "That seems like it might have put ideas in her head."

"I don't know how it would have done that. Veronica has her own thoughts, not Mama's."

"It just means that now Princess Veronica is likely going to be thinking more about it because the Queen told her not to do it," he says.

"Oh. That makes sense. Like sometimes I'll start thinking about cake, but then I'll want to make it, not do whatever it is that I'm supposed to be doing."

"Precisely," he responds. "Speaking of cake, I need to return to the kitchens. Camille will be doing fine without me, but it's unfair of me to leave her for too long."

I nod, not liking that I have to say goodbye, but knowing that he's right and that I can't keep him from his job.

He lifts my hand to his lips and kisses it through my glove. I wish that I weren't wearing it, but I know there'll be plenty of time for that later. Especially when one of the reasons that he's in the stables in the first place is because of everything he's doing to make a future for us possible.

Warmth fills me. I never really thought about what my future spouse would be like, maybe because I couldn't imagine a person I didn't know.

Or maybe it's because he's been right in front of me for almost as long as I can remember.

Chapter 12

The kitchens are surprisingly quiet by the time I get down to them, and I know that it's because dinner went on for longer than anticipated and I still had to go and change my dress and collect Ember before coming down to the kitchen. I make my way through the main kitchen and into the smaller one where Nate is normally waiting for me, only to find it empty.

"I guess we're fending for ourselves until he appears," I say to Ember, who stretches her wings and leaps off my shoulder to go investigate the top of the oven. "Maybe we can do some training until Nate gets here?"

She cocks her head to the side, but doesn't seem to understand what I'm saying.

I ignore her and head out to the ice house to collect some of the meat scraps she likes in a metal dish. I don't love the way they feel against my fingers, but I know that it's necessary if I want to keep good care of Ember. And I do. I wasn't sure what to make of having to look after a dragon at first, but now I like it. I enjoy having someone to talk to when I'm alone, even if she doesn't answer back.

I return to the kitchen and set down the bowl, getting a curious look from Ember in response. Not really knowing what else to do, I use one of the toasting forks to put a piece of meat on the end and hold it up over the table.

"Come, Ember," I say in my most commanding voice.

Unsurprisingly, the small green dragon ignores me. Maybe I should have started with proper training earlier, but I didn't think it was necessary. Or more accurately, I was struggling so much with everything else and getting through my days that I didn't have as much energy to devote to Ember's training as I should. But things are different now. Especially with the person who grounds me and helps me make sense of the world back in the castle.

Soon, I'll even be able to spend more time with Nate. I feel like it's something that should scare me, but it doesn't. It's change, and I don't always love that, but it's good change. One that will make things better, I'm sure of it.