Idris looked up at her, the fireworks reflected in his dark eyes. “Will you be my wife?”
“Of course,” she said, letting him place a simple ring with a large red stone (very large, Gods, what a rock) on her ring finger as he trembled.
“Really?” asked Idris now, not sure if he believed her.
“Yes!” said Rinka, throwing her arms around him as Alison and Keir cheered.
And then, because she simply could not make it one more moment without saying something silly, she added, “All hail Princess Rinka!”
“Princess Rinka!” said Alison, toasting her with a glass of sparkling wine Idris must have asked the Weldan House staff to bring around.
“All hail the Princess!” said Idris, holding up her hand. The crowd below was too busy kissing and toasting and cheering to notice.
Rinka took advantage of their distraction to sneak in a New Year’s kiss of her own with her new fiancé as the fireworks burst through the air around them.
It was magical.
Chapter Thirteen
DÉTENTE?
Charlotte
There was an art to piping frosting that Charlotte hadn’t quite managed to master.
It was two weeks after the New Year and less than a month until Keir and Alison’s wedding and the celebration of Lupercalia, and though Charlotte had practiced every single day since the Solstice, her loops and swirls still looked as though a child had done them.
She held up a heart-shaped cake she’d been using to practice, showing Mrs. Knox her lack of progress. “You might as well hire Finnli at this rate. I’m pretty sure he could do a better job.”
Charlotte had thought of Finnli and the moment he’d interrupted a few weeks earlier often. She was grateful to the boy: he’d stopped her from doing something impulsive that would have been both a betrayal to Mrs. Knox and a terrible complication in whatever fledgling friendship or rivalry she was forming with Julian.
And yet her mind often wandered back to the moment, lingering on what might have happened if Finnli hadn’t been there at all…
“This side is an improvement,” said Mrs. Knox, pointing to the first bit of piping Charlotte had done. “You just need to havepatience. Take breaks if your hands hurt. See how this line is uneven? That’s because you’ve rushed it and tried to use the bottom of the bag. Always make sure you have enough frosting made up for the entire cake before you begin. It’s difficult to match the color after the fact—see how this pink is a little too dark?”
Charlotte could see all of the mistakes clearly enough without Mrs. Knox pointing them out, but she thanked her for the tips. She knew the baker was right, but she hated that it took so long to improve.
She wished she’d had more time to practice, but they’d spent most of the previous weeks planning and executing the Lupercalia display in the window.
It was quite a lovely scene. They’d modeled the interior of the church in sugar cookies and chocolates, and they’d hung turtle doves and hearts on thin silken threads that swayed when the door opened. Charlotte had even made the wedding cakes in miniature—she had found it was a lot easier to decorate them when they were smaller than her hand.
Charlotte looked past the display and across the street at Julian’s window. He’d taken down his Solstice display shortly after New Year’s, but so far, he hadn’t answered their challenge with a Lupercalia display of his own.
In fact, it had been a couple of days since Charlotte had seen much of a crowd at Julian’s store.
“Do you think he’s finally given it up?” Charlotte asked Mrs. Knox. “The bread seems to have been going more quickly, and the croissants too. The coffee has certainly been helping, but I wonder if that’s all.”
“I was just wondering that myself,” said Mrs. Knox. “Did you want to go find out?”
Charlotte nodded, setting off for the cheese shop that might actually be a cheese shop now. The day was bitterly cold;Charlotte slammed the door behind her as she entered, trying to keep out the chill.
Julian was leaning over the counter. He was as handsome as ever—Charlotte pictured him under the mistletoe on Solstice, his face inches from hers. She pictured him coming out from behind the counter and pulling her into a kiss.
She blushed, shoving the thought from her mind. It was clear to see from his posture that this wasn’t the same Julian who’d so kindly entertained Finnli, who’d come so close to taking her in his arms…
This Julian barely lifted his head to greet her. “Come to gloat, have you?”
Charlotte didn’t understand. “What do you mean? Do you mean you’ve given up the baking idea after all?”
