Persuasion in the Pantry [Maid for More #1]

Chapter 21: Breakfast Pancakes

The following morning Liara stumbled bleary eyed to the breakfast table in search of tea and instead was greeted with questioning scowls of her friends as they sat with empty plates and stomachs.

"Can I help you?" she asked sarcastically.

"As a matter of fact you can! "Verushka piped up.

"What kind of hostel do you think we are running, where you can just come in and out as you please without so much as a 'by your leave'?" Mina yelled.

Liara shuffled around the kitchen looking for cups and perhaps a crust of bread, "I don't know what you are talking about."

"Don't play coy with me," Mina argued. "I saw you duck out last night and then you came back in a completely different dress. WHAT were you doing?"

Verusha gaped, "Oh my god! Really?"

"Yes. And you would know that if you actually stayed put for five minutes too," Mina scolded. "Don't think I didn't see you leave to meet those boys across the fence line last night.

"Well...." Verushka hedged knowing that the secrets the she held now were not just her own. Could she really divulge the secrets of her country? In the end she decided that deflection was the best course of action and spat back, "I told you I was going out and anyway I don't have to tell you everything!"

"What world do you live in? We tell each other EVERYTHING!" Mina yelled.

Thanks to her late night, Liara couldn't handle much more screaming and edged her way into the pantry to look for flour. She should make pancakes, she thought. Everyone was always happier with pancakes.

As Mina continued her tirade, the hypocritical nature of her dissertation dawned on her. It wasn't as if she could come right out and tell the girls that she was training to be an Agent for Her Majesty.... or could she?

Liara waddled back in with an armload of bowls, butter and flour hoping that she siphoned the items discreetly enough to not be noticed by Madam Shiela. When she plomped them down on the table Verushka was rolling her eyes while still being harangued by the eldest girl.

"SO, Mina," Liara began loudly cutting through the tension. "What have you been getting up to with that gorgeous Duke?"

Mina scowled, before her face softened. "He had the nicest jaw... and those eyes."

"Eyes?" Verushka pricked up at the mention of her secret sibling.

Mina smiled. "Yeah, he had grey eyes that gleam like the Bexley silverware."

Verushka's mouth twisted. "I have grey eyes..."

"Verushka, nobody cares about your eyes right now." Liara joked.

Ver scrunched her nose in playful annoyance.

"He was gorgeous though wasn't he?" Mina continued in her daze.

"Was?" Verushka asked

Mina slumped down a little dejected on her stool, "Well, I haven't seen him again."

It was Liara's turn to frown, "Well if you haven't been out philandering with him, where have you been. Cos, I can certainly tell you that you weren't around when I had to beat the dust out of all the rugs yesterday morning!"

Mina shifted uncomfortably before answering with unease. How could she explain the story of how she met Dra'gaan without incriminating her pickpocket ways? "Umm.. so I was out in the Garden and this guy kinda grabbed me."

Verushka's eyes widened with shock. "Oh my God, Mina! Are you okay?!"

Mina brushed off her inquiry with casual deflection. "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine."