“Perfect. I’ll put my money in your till. I assume I can’t talk you into joining us?”
“For the gambling tourney?” I laugh and he joins in, his gold eyes twinkling.
“Yes, I don’t know why I even asked.” His fingers cup my elbow and he squeezes gently. “I’ll see you later, sweetness.”
I smile and try not to wince at the nickname. He’s called me that forever. It started when he was here fixing my sink pump. I tripped and spilled an entire bag of sugar across the kitchen and we spent two hours collecting the expensive ingredient as best we could.
“Have a good day, Cyrus.”
He pets Sio once, then whistles merrily and lopes into the front of the bakery. I watch him pull the large skeleton key I gave him from his pocket. He’s going to lock the door behind him. Good. I can’t have customers wandering in this early. Even though Tully’s duplication spell helps me produce double what I do with my own human hands, I am still painfully understaffed. My one employee, Rosalind, a pixie who usually works part-time, is visiting her sister, whose twins are due to be born today.
But before Cyrus can even finish unlocking the door to leave, there’s a female fairy knocking. She peers through the leaded glass window, pink hair bouncing in time with her continued knocking.
“Hello! Helllooo? Aren’t you open yet?” she asks through the door.
“Want me to get rid of them?” Cyrus twists and stage-whispers to me across the bakery’s eating area.
“No, it’s fine.”
I dust my hands on my apron and hurry out, wiggling past Cyrus to unlock the door with my own key. I swallow as I brush past Cyrus. He is so warm and tall—I guess it’s a dragon thing.
As soon as I swing the door open, a noble, middle-aged fairy dressed in a deep scarlet dress pushes inside. Her wings shimmer with pink light that matches her hair. I know she’s ofthe nobility because she wears a family crest—a large pin holding her cloak at her throat. She looks to be about forty, but it’s hard to know with folks who were born in the Veiled Kingdoms.
“Can I help you?” I force a smile even though I wish she had read the business hours sign next to the door and realized I wasn’t due to open for another hour.
“I’ve been told you are the pastry queen,” the noble fairy says.
“That’s the truth,” Cyrus says from behind me.
I glance at him and smile, then I focus on my customer. I can’t afford to ignore wealthy folks like her.
“I do enjoy making sweets. What are you looking for? Chocolate croissant? Scones? Tarts, perhaps? The strawberries are in from our greenhouse, and they’re wonderful. With spring officially here, I should have more fruit options any day now.”
She waves off my suggestions. “I need enough scones to feed one hundred at the queen’s tea in two days. I’ll need at least three different flavors. Lavender and lemon, perhaps? Maybe orange? Strawberry would be good. Do you put the flavors into the scones or only into the frosting? They will have frosting, of course. Neatly piped. Oh, and about thirty chocolate croissants would do nicely.”
My mouth is hanging open and I can’t seem to talk. One hundred? The money this order would provide… I could get a new oven. I could hire a full-time employee in addition to paying Rosalind for her part-time work.
The heat of Cyrus’s hand finds my back. “Kaya, do you need a moment to figure out the cost and details? I can grab a quill, ink, and paper.”
I shake myself. “I would be happy to fill your order,” I say to the fairy.
“Oh, wonderful. I will pay you one hundred sovereigns. I’ll need them in two days.”
Swallowing panic, I nod. “No problem.”
“Can you make me a sample or two to take with me? The queen demands to taste everything before serving it to her guests.”
“Sample, yes. Of course.”
My mind is spinning. Do I have enough ingredients?
Cyrus walks past me and starts doing what he does best—charming people.
“Where did your tailor find that lovely fabric?” he asks, using his deepest, most alluring voice. “I have searched for that shade of red for ages. Looks good with my hair.”
He winks and she blushes.
“From the traveling market last autumn. There’s an orc who sails beyond our kingdoms to secure the finest and more rare dyes for his wools and silks.”
