The King's Sweet Tooth

Chapter 8

Draven was grooming Frost out in the stable when Lynetta found him a few days later.

"Hi," she greeted, giving a sweet smile. "Hi, Frost."

She stepped closer and Draven wrapped his arms around her, pressing his lips to his forehead.

"It's good to see you," Draven said, kissing her lips. "You smell like cinnamon. I take that as a good sign."

Lynetta laughed, laying her head against his chest as she wrapped her arms around him.

"We doubled the amount of cinnamon rolls this time. I will happily never make them again."

Draven gasped dramatically, teasing, "Treason."

"In all seriousness, I do enjoy it," she admitted, looking up at him. "Baking for the shop is one thing, but knowing you are baking something that everyone will fight over is a completely different feeling."

"I would gladly fight over any of your sweets," he said, giving her another kiss. "Let's get away after this."

"Get away?" she whispered.

"I enjoy your company, but we never get to spend any consistent time together. Let's plan a weekend, even if it's just at your place."

"You think you could leave your job?" she asked.

"Orion keeps me organized enough that I think it would be possible."

He could tell she was very excited by the idea, and he was too. It would be good to get away, to clear his head.

Her excitement seemed to dull, and he noticed the shift.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Can I ask you something?" Lynetta whispered. She struggled to look at him, and he tilted her chin until he saw her lovely eyes. He gave her a gentle peck.

"Anything, my love."

She blushed. "I may need to borrow some money. I hate to ask, Draven, but I had a really bad leak, and they need the money up front to fix it. My paychecks don't line up right for me, and I swear I will pay you back."

It seemed genuine to Draven. There had been heavy snow that was starting to melt, and he would never want Lynetta to be in unsafe living conditions.

"Whatever you need, Lynetta. I can have the maintenance team for the palace come check it out right away. I'm sure he would be able to fix the problem on the spot."

Lynetta stumbled over her words. "I didn't know you had such a person, I already told someone they could do it. I'm sorry."

Draven furrowed his brows. This, or something, seemed to be causing her a great deal of stress. "Okay. Just let me know how much you need, and I will write you a check."

Lynetta smiled, one that seemed more hesitant than the pretty ones he normally saw. She gave him a kiss.

The whole encounter struck Draven odd, and he couldn't get it out of his mind. She had asked for nearly three thousand dollars. No patch job would cost anywhere near that.

He tried to push it out of his head, but he was so fucking confused. There had to be a logical explanation. Maybe the whole roof had to be replaced. Besides, Lynetta had said it was just a loan, so it didn't really matter.

"We are two days from the brunch, sir," Orion said, dropping a stack of papers onto his desk. "There are lots of decisions that need to be made. We are expecting nearly double the crowd."

"I would like to set up a to-go system for the food. If that's the case, there is not going to be nearly enough room for people to eat."

Orion huffed, looking very frazzled. "I'm not sure that can be done so last minute. Why don't we just open another room up?"

"Orion," Draven growled. "Any other room would be closer to my quarters. I don't need anyone in my only private space."

Orion nodded. "The ballroom and the main room, plus the great room for the children is not enough. There is room right off the ballroom being used for storage that could hold at least ten tables."

Draven was surprised, and pleased. "I appreciate you actually having an argument. I have no fucking idea what's in that room. I just don't want any of my mother's things to be screwed with. You can be in charge of what to do with the boxes from there."

"Thank you, My King."

The whole place was bustling. Tables and chairs, and music being rehearsed. It was a lot of noise for Draven to have to deal with.

He found the kind lady who was helping with the children activity. He actually had someone plan a craft this time instead of just free drawing. They were making colorful paper dragons to replace the drawings that were in the main part of the market.

Draven ventured into the busy kitchen to sample whatever smelled so amazing.

He was sad to learn that both George and Lynetta were gone for the day. He had wanted to speak to Lynetta about their earlier conversation. He wanted to ease whatever this feeling was.

Orion came rushing through. "A few council members are here. They wanted to talk to you about a speech."

Draven cursed. He hated when people showed up unannounced.

"I will not be doing a speech," he told the group of two Royal Council Members.

"We were thinking maybe we could," one said.

"And take all of the fucking credit when it was you who wanted to reduce the budget. Absolutely not."

"Yes, but there will be so many people. It would be good to come off as appealing, especially when so many people lack trust," the other argued.

"I wonder why," Draven scoffed. "The answer is no, and will continue to be no. If you come into this palace without a meeting scheduled, and without the other members again, I will have you removed entirely."

Draven had Orion see them out.

Draven was so tired of people already. He didn't even feel like doing the brunch.

The brunch was for the people, not for him to discuss budgets and all that political nonsense. He wanted it to be a safe environment for a hot meal, whether his people agreed with his ideas or not.