The Lycan King's Puppet-Chapter 82: Lemon Cake 2

She climbed to her feet after he left.

Terrence and Arman stood as well. They were still very dirty, reeking of mud and dung.

She struggled to not wrinkle her nose at the odour.

"What’s that foul smell!" The King’s Aunt cried out, pulling out a perfumed handkerchief and covering her nose with it.

"Thank you." Arman said, his cheeks flushing as he offered her a small smile.

He had a nice smile - that was the first thing she noticed.

Terrence nodded at her, not trusting himself to speak. Then, both men left her standing there.

Eliza rushed to her and held her hand.

"Shall we take a walk together?"

Claire looked down at her hand on her arm.

"To where? I was headed for the kitchens."

Yeren’s Aunt hissed. "We were walking together, Eliza. It is very wrong to leave me by myself."

Eliza cast her mother an apologetic glance and squeezed Claire’s arm.

"You can find your way to your chambers, mother. I will see you soon."

Claire found herself being pulled along.

Andon was coming towards them. He stopped and waited for them to approach.

"I see you have an escort. The King asked me to escort you to the kitchens."

Escort her?

The King’s first man escorting the Cupbearer to the kitchens? How did that seem to onlookers?

"There will be no need for that. You must have more important things to do."

He offered her his arm, his expression indicating that he wasn’t entertaining any arguments with her.

"Nothing is more important to me than serving the King. I hope you understand that."

Eliza looked between the two of them, clearly feeling the tension in the air.

"I wanted to talk with Miss Stenly." Eliza was saying. "Privately, if you will." She added.

"If you cannot talk to her with me present, I suggest you do it some other time, Miss Eliza."

Eliza’s lips thinned but she left nonetheless.

"You seem determined to escort me. I almost thought you were smitten with Miss Eliza.".

Andon playfully touched a hand to his chest. "Me? Smitten with her? I like my women more... round and less like a sack of bones."

Claire covered her mouth as she struggled to hold back her laughter.

His expression suddenly became serious and he peeled her hand away from her lips.

"They’re swollen. I thought as much."

Claire blinked. "Pardon?"

"Don’t try to fool me. You don’t understand how dangerous this is, do you? I have reasons to believe that the mating ceremony failed because you exist - and many people would see you as a stone in their path."

Claire stopped walking altogether.

"I didn’t ask him to kiss me. I didn’t ask to be his Cupbearer. I don’t even know what he wants with me."

"You don’t have to do anything to make a man want you, Claire. You just have to exist... and you do more than just exist. You’re a walking temptation."

She gulped. He didn’t smile.

"Tell the King to relieve me of my duties, then."

Andon rubbed his eyes.

"The stubborn man would not. I have told him in a hundred different ways."

They continued walking, their footsteps echoing on the stone floors beneath them.

"What else do you suggest?"

"That you get married. And as soon as possible."

Her step faltered slightly, but he held her firmly.

She had no plans of getting married. Aldrich had offered, but only after she had fulfilled all her duties to him.

"I can handle myself around the King. As for marriage, I will not marry any hastily hand-picked man for the sake of convenience."

Andon raised his palms up in surrender.

"I’ve warned both of you. I’ll rest my case." He cleared his throat. "How did you even learn how to bake? Your hands don’t look like you’ve done a drop of tedious work since you were born."

Claire looked down at her palms.

"Who do you think did house work for Aurora and I when we still lived at Loodswood?"

He shrugged. "Your lover boy."

Claire gave him her most potent glare. "He is not my lover, Lord Andon. If you say that again-"

"What would you do? Tell the King to have my tongue carved out?" He teased with a playful glint in his eyes.

Claire smiled despite herself.

"I... I will let Eliza know how smitten you are with her."

It was his turn to glare at her.

"I normally would not be bothered, except I don’t want to be rumoured to be pursuing the King’s cousin."

They entered the Kitchen. Many servants were up and about as it was day break.

The head cook walked up to them and bowed to Andon.

"My Lord." The man looked at her awkwardly, unsure of how to address her.

"Clear a space for Miss Stenly to bake a cake." Andon said, clasping his hands.

The man beckoned to a nearby servant. "What sort of cake would you like to bake, Miss."

"A lemon cake." 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

The man whispered to the servant, inquiring the whereabouts of the lemons.

"He will gather everything you need. Just wait for him." The cook said and left with a curt bow at Andon.

The boy arrived with a tray of equipment and ingredients for the lemon cake.

Andon requested for a bowl of washing water, shocking her when he washed his hands as well.

He was a menace all through the process, dipping his hands inside the batter just to spite her, mixing things just to see how they’d taste together.

When she was done, he helped her set the tray above the burning coals in the coal oven.

Claire glanced down at the bulging veins visible through his rolled-up sleeves.

"We should leave the heating." He said, rolling down his sleeves. But not before she saw the mark on his arm.

Just as they left the Kitchen, she asked, "Did you turn the lever?"

He ran a hand through his hair. "Did you ask me to?"

She swatted her forehead and ran back into the kitchen.

Someone was already at the oven, a little boy around Rory’s age.

He didn’t notice her approach.

When he turned around, she saw he was holding a packet of white powder.

"What are you doing?"