“She played you?” I pushed, giving her a look that I didn’t buy it.
“She played us all,” Nora chuckled behind her wineglass. “Here we’re dancing around her and trying to gently coax her into becoming closer allies, trusting us so we could have better access to her areas and more, and the whole time she was really walking the path, knowing we were following her. She turned the whole thing around so the three of us were managing her assets for her in areas she allowed and limited.”
“Instead of being the trustees to her estate and wielding the power of the daughter-in-law, she basically tricked us into being the administrative assistants under her nobles on the projects that manage the other members on the team for her,” Hanna drawled. “The damn girl is a strategic genius, and you can’t even be angry at her for it as she doesn’t do it to win or gloat, simply protect herself.”
“She said it started when Jaxon told her I would never let him be with an adopted princess. I sort of loved her even more for loving my son that much,” Nora confessed.
It was a lot to wrap my mind around as she was considered by most as a strategic genius, Hanna too, so for someone to have pulled one over on them… Wow.
Dinner inspired more jealousy. The first salad had grilled chicken, apple slices, and nuts in it, a good blend of refreshing and filling with the meat. The second was blue crab salad overflowing out of avocado halves, and I could about see the steam coming out of people’s ears.
Especially because it was clear people were hoping to maybe join Inez’s coven or court to live better instead of being spies and pawns for their princesses like the original goal had been. By the time the veal Wellington was served with potato stacks and grilled veggies to make an overflowing plate, I was amusing myself by counting all the death looks Inez was getting.
And then, we were served large bowls of wild boar and mushroom ravioli with some amazing cream sauce. There had to be a pound of ravioli in each one. How the fuck had they swung this so fast when three times as many people came? I think that was what pissed the petty people off the most. Here they’d poked her into starting trouble, and instead she shined even brighter.
That seemed to be her super power, if I was honest. Really, it was probably inspiring devout loyalty. Her people were willing to do just about anything for her, she was so kind and giving to them.
It sort of spit in the faces of all the princesses that believe ruling with an iron fist and fear were the best options.
A few seemed to admit defeat or blow their tops when individual cheesecakes, with an array of toppings on a tower, came out. Next was a delicious trifle and I saw people tossing drinks back.
And Inez was completely oblivious. It seemed that way, but I had a feeling she intentionally was ignoring it because she didn’t care and wasn’t petty enough to engage. Maybe. I wouldn’t take the bet either way.
When she said goodnight, I glanced around and wondered which of the princesses left would start shit first. I had a few I would vote first, but given how much everyone had to drink, there were some that I knew could surprise me.
“Princess Nora, Princess Inez asked for your input, along with Princess Matilda and Princess Hanna,” a shifter said as he set down a tray on our mostly cleared table. “On top of the gelato buffet station, Nick thought different giant filled cookies available throughout the day and maybe a few boozy cupcake options for the party vibe.”
“Now that is a cookie,” Mother chuckled, giving him a curious look. “However did Nick start these already when he was so busy?”
“He didn’t,” the shifter answered. “These came from the Gagnon clan up north to try and help. The Novak clan came up with the cupcakes and sent ideas they are going to get working on for tomorrow and Sunday if you tell them how to split them up.”
“That definitely brings them up from basic and childish treats to look down at,” Nora said with a smile. The boozy cupcake was huge with some sort of plastic thing full of liquid sticking out of the frosting.
“Shops were popping up all over with those before everything happened,” Olivia admitted. “They were very popular and all over social media.” She gestured to the plastic thing. “That’s a shot of the booze. You squeeze it and it gets injected into the cake. There’s normally alcohol in the frosting.”
“Well done indeed,” Nora muttered, squeezing the applicator before putting it on a clean plate. She cut off a bite and tried it, her eyes going wide. “This is delicious. One of them had to have owned a bakery to make something this good.” She passed the plate on and went for a cookie. She sighed when she broke the chocolate chip cookie and it was stuffed with gooey marshmallow. “Of course, it’s s’mores.”
“The other one is a brownie cookie with nuts and filled with caramel,” the shifter told us. “The last is a peanut butter cookie filled with chocolate.” He handed Nora a piece of paper. “The list of boozy cupcakes here and other ideas. Nick is thinking of chocolate fountains throughout Sunday and a buffet of pie since it’s the more casual day.”
“People might demand more gelato after they try it,” Oliva warned him. “I would. It was lovely.”
He nodded he heard her.
“Excuse me, why are only some of us being treated to
