Page 17 of Markets & Mooncakes

"I know, I'm just being impatient. We put all of that work in and we have to wait for the results."

He laughs. "We do, but there are biscuits left, and there's a small amount of marshmallow in the bowl. We can eat that. Technically, if you put some of the marshmallow and leftover chocolate on a biscuit, you've made a lazy chocolate marshmallow dome."

"It's not a dome then," I point out. "But it is acceptable." I grab one of the biscuits and take a bite.

"What do you think?"

"Very boring on its own," I say. "But I'm sure it's going to be good with everything else." I set it down.

"Probably." He brings over the bowl of chocolate and spreads some of the leftovers across the top of two of the biscuits.

I turn my attention to the bowl with marshmallow still clinging to the sides. I swipe my finger across the side of it and bring it away covered in the fluffy but sticky marshmallow. I lift it to my mouth and lick it off, enjoying the sweet taste and the way it melts in my mouth. "Have you tried some?" I ask Nate when I notice him watching me.

"No."

"Then you should." Without thinking about it, I swipe my finger around the side of the bowl again and hold it up to his lips.

He hesitates for a moment but then lets me feed it to him. A strange feeling travels through me as his lips and tongue touch my finger, one that I don't think I've felt before and don't really understand, but that makes me want things I don't usually think about.

"It's good, right?" I ask, a little more breathless than I intend to sound.

"Yes." His voice is different too, gravelly and low in a way that it isn't usually.

I'm not sure precisely what the feeling is, but it feels like something I should talk to him about. "Nate, I..."

He stiffens, looking past me towards the door before bowing.

I turn around, shocked to find Mama in the doorway to the kitchen, which is somewhere I don't think I've ever seen her before. It takes a moment for me to remember that I'm supposed to curtsy when there are other people around, mostly because Nate isn't other people to me. "Your Majesty."

"I don't think that will be necessary, Evelyn," she says. "I was hoping I would find you here."

Ember looks up from her spot on top of the wood-fired oven, but thankfully decides that nothing of interest is happening and puts her head back down.

"How can we help, Your Majesty?" Nate asks. "I made some ginger biscuits earlier, if you would like me to prepare a tray for you."

"No, thank you, Chef Matthews," she says as she surveys the table with the remnants of our baking on it. "I'm here on a more personal matter."

I swallow hard, hoping that she isn't about to say that she's changed her mind and that she'll no longer be supporting my relationship with Nate. I'm not really sure what I'll do if she is, because there's no way I can go back to simply being friends with him. And if she sends him away from the castle again, it will break my heart.

"Perhaps there's somewhere we might sit?" she suggests.

"There's the servants' dining room, Your Majesty. No one will be using it at this time," Nate suggests.

"Very well."

Nate gestures for her to follow. I pause to look at Ember, wondering if I should bring her with me, or if it's better to leave her here. She does love the warmth of the oven, and she often spends time alone in my rooms. Maybe it's best if she stays rather than causing a commotion in front of Mama.

I make my way through to the servants' dining room, which is remarkably unchanged from the times I came in here when I was a child, save for the gas lamp which Nate is currently lighting.

"Can I get you anything, Your Majesty?" Nate asks. "Tea? Something to eat?"

"No, thank you. Please, sit." She gestures to the wooden chairs around the table, easily taking command of the room.

I exchange a look with Nate, not really knowing what's going on, and a little scared because of it.

"As I'm sure Evelyn has told you, I am not standing in the way of your relationship with my daughter, nor is she having suitors recommended to her. Any requests for her hand in marriage will be turned down."

I squeak. "People are asking to marry me?"