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“I can imagine the high was… incredible,” Anton chuckled, slapping Slavian on the shoulder. The other High Lord rolled his eyes.
“That was the worst joke you’ve ever come up with, Anton,” he sighed.
Before Anton could retort, a rumbling caught all our attention. Cedomir, Ruslan’s longtime chef, pushed a cart around the far corner of the stable with great care. He slowed to avoid an uneven bit of stone, then continued on. The smell ofvanilla and cinnamon was divine as he neared, and my mouth watered automatically.
He came to a halt right in front of us, shooting me a conspiratorial wink before stepping forward and lifting the lid on the cart with a dramatic flourish.
Ruslan hadn’t been kidding. The cinnamon roll – or cake – was nearly the size ofme. Before I’d even had a chance to take in the enormous desert, Ruslan flicked his wrist, igniting twenty-two candles with his black fire.
“Stand up and make a wish before you blow them out,” Ruslan said, his smirk stretching from ear to ear.
Rising, I braced my hands on the edge of the table and stood on my tiptoes to get closer to the decadent delight. The smell was even more intoxicating this close. I closed my eyes, preparing to make this wish.
It wasn’t hard to come up with what I wanted.
Revenge.
And with that, I blew on the candles, sending them flickering before they winked out completely. Everyone cheered, and then drinks were served, wine flowing easily into my belly as Cedomir sliced the cake and placed a heaping serving in front of me, including extra melted frosting to coat the sides.
“Thank you,” I beamed up at him.
“Anything for you, Future Empress,” he replied, then moved along, offering pieces to everyone else.
We tucked into our food, and I fell into conversation with Liliana and Zuriel. She had the latest gossip from the citadel, something about three of the servants getting caught in a broom closet in a compromising position.
“Apparently, the first female that walked in just asked if she could join, which only led to more noise, until the head of cleaning found them all and yanked them out of there,” Liliana said around a mouthful of eggs.
I stuck my fork into the cinnamon roll cake and moaned as it slid across my tongue. Nothing should be allowed to taste this good. The frosting was the perfect sweetness, the cinnamon and vanilla in perfect harmony, and the core perfectly soft and warm.
My eyes popped open when I heard Zuriel and Liliana laughing. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were about to orgasm from Liliana’s story,” Zuriel teased, a wry grin twisting his lips. “But knowing your fondness for cinnamon rolls, it's entirely plausible that you’d react that way to this cake.”
As if to prove his point, he took a large bite of his slice, mimicking me while I tried not to choke on my laughter. Liliana had no such luck and spluttered some half-chewed food onto her plate before shoving the rest down with a long sip of her bubbly wine.
“That’s not even the first time that’s happened, either,” Zuriel continued while Liliana and I tried to calm ourselves. “It seems to be a recurring problem with that portion of the staff. There must be something in their cleaning supplies.”
“Zuriel, I didn’t know you were such a gossip,” I teased, going for a particularly frosting-coated bit of the cake.
Gozzak barked a laugh from down the table. “When Zuriel speaks, I always listen. He somehow knew everyone’s business when more Telivér lived beneath Ryza. Maybe that’s why he’s so quiet. He’s gathering information that we don’t even realize we’re giving.”
“But I only shared the juiciest tidbits with you two and Ithuriel,” Zuriel replied, not looking at all ashamed.
“Oh, then you have to tell us the most shocking thing you learned. No matter how far back. You do have thousands of years of memory,” I teased.
Zuriel’s icy blue eyes glittered with amusement. “You two are going to love this one.”
“Oh?” Liliana and I said simultaneously.
“Before either of you were born, one of the High Lords had married a Centaur Shifter Félvér, who happened to have a twin brother,” Zuriel began, before Xorrek and Gozzak howled with laughter. Zuriel shot them a bemused grin, and my curiosity was piqued. Clearly the two Demons knew of this story.
“As you both know, free use of herbs has been common in the Iron Realm for some time. One night while his wife was out with the other High Ladies, the High Lord partook a little too much. His wife’s brother happened to be staying with them at the time, and, according to the rumor, he was the one who encouraged the male to have too much.”
Liliana made an oohing sound, rubbing her hands together. “This is going to be good.”
I leaned forward, not wanting to miss a word.
“One thing led to another, and the brother shifted into his Centaur form. From which the two hadrelations,” Zuriel emphasized.
“Zuriel, you can’t leave it that vague, I need details!” Liliana exclaimed, reaching for her drink and knocking the rest of it back.
