Page 40 of The Heart of the King

For the next hour, she did her best. Her leaves were a little lopsided when she tried to freehand them. The frosting she mixed was a little thick, but better than too thin, she supposed. Overall, it wasn’t a complete failure, and she thought they were able to do more intricate work than they would have otherwise.

Eventually, all of the cakes were lined up, and the groups of three stood in small clusters as they waited for David to enter.

“Good afternoon, Your Majesty,” they said in unison this time. They all bowed or curtsied. So did Jazz, even though she’d seen him earlier in the day.

“Good afternoon, boys and girls.” His gaze landed on Jazz. “Though one of you doesn’t quite seem to belong in this group.” He tried to contain a smile but failed.

“Queen Jazz helped us, ‘cause our parter was sick,” one of her new friends piped up.

“That was very kind of her.” He clasped his hands behind his back. “Now, I’ll be judging these cakes on their own merit. I have no idea who created which one, correct?”

“Yes, sir,” they all agreed in unison again.

“Very well.” He took a clipboard and examined each one thoroughly, saying nice things about each one of them, loudly enough everyone could hear. Then he’d make notes on the clipboard.

Finally, he reached the end. After a bit more scribbling on his sheet of paper, David turned. “We have a tie for first place!”

The students and accompanying adults cheered. Jazz cheered with them.

“So third place goes to team number seven!” David announced.

Jazz and her partners squealed and hugged, though the girls quickly seemed to remember they weren’t supposed to do that. She sent them forward to claim their medals and certificates.

“First place is a tie between teams number… one and ten!”

Those in the room cheered again as the teams went forward.

Fortunately, Jazz had already returned the apron, washed her hands, and fluffed her hair. All eight of the winners took photos with Jazz and David. They talked and mingled for about twenty minutes before leaving hand-in-hand.

Once back in David’s office, he turned to her and rested his hands on her waist. “I had no idea you would jump in to help, but it looks like you made some fans for life.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck. “I just felt bad for them because they were down a person.”

“Still. You did great.” He gave her a soft kiss. “I wish we could spend more time together, but I have one more meeting before dinner.”

Jazz gave him another kiss back. “I understand. I’ll see you in a little while.”

They headed their separate ways. Maybe David was right. She hadn’t actually been out among the people, but she’d met them in the palace. It had been fantastic. She needed to find a way to do that more often.

What else could go wrong?

David stared at Daniel, his new head of security, a man he’d recently promoted after he suspected the former guy remained loyal to David’s father and grandfather.

“You’re kidding right?” Because he couldn’t possibly be serious.

“No, sir. I wish I was, but you and your brother are the next of kin.” Daniel sat across the desk from David. “The arrest warrants will be served before long, but they wanted to make sure the little girl has somewhere to go.”

“And if I don’t take her in?” He already knew he would. Jasmine would take care of her in an instant. But he needed to know.

“We’d contact Prince Gabriel and Queen Esmeralda. If they’d take her in, she’d be in protective custody until they could arrange for transportation.”

David nodded. “And if they won’t?”

“I can’t be the one to tell you how it would play in the realm of public opinion, so I’ll leave it to your imagination what the general populace would think if they found out your half-sister was in the custody of Children’s Services.” Daniel’s voice seemed to remain carefully neutral. “However, I would be the last one to recommend doing something, especially like taking in a child, because of public opinion.”

“I need to discuss this with my wife, but start making plans to bring her here.” He tapped out a message to Stewart asking him to have Jasmine come by as soon as possible. “When do you expect the warrants to be executed?”

“As soon as we know what arrangements are to be made for the child.”

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