Page 7 of Markets & Mooncakes

"Like I said," I respond.

"You can't be too careful."

I shrug. "Who would want to poison me? I'm not the heir. And the physician has assured us that Kathryn's sickness is past, so I'm not about to become the heir either."

"You're still one of Falhaven's princesses," he says. "It doesn't hurt to be careful."

I sigh. "Fine. But if you're happy it isn't poisoned, I'm going to eat it now." I tear some more of the bun off and put it in my mouth. It's even fluffier than I expect it to be, and a little sweeter. But it goes perfectly with the spiced pork inside. "It's like it's the bun of the custard baos we made, and the filling of the pork ones."

Nate nods. "I do think they said at the time that we could use both," Nate says. "Have you made them since?"

"The custard buns," I respond. "But they weren't as good. Maybe because we didn't do them together."

"I'm sure they tasted fine. But we can try again if you want?"

"Maybe." I smile at him. "But there's also so much else I want to bake with you."

He reaches across the table and touches my hand.

I turn mine over and lace my fingers through his.

"There's so much I want to bake with you too," he assures me.

"And other things. It's not just baking." I meet his gaze, hoping that he'll be able to understand just how much I mean that.

"I know, Evie."

I smile at him, feeling a lot lighter than I have in a long time. I always knew that I missed him when he was gone, but now that he's back and I know that he loves me and I love him, it's like everything has changed, and things have really slipped into place for me.

I don't want to lose that, ever.

Chapter 4

The moment I enter the kitchen, my dragon takes notice, stretching out her wings and hitting me in the face with one of them.

"Ember!"

She ignores me and lifts herself into the air, heading over to the oven where she sits and makes a demanding chirp, looking right at Nate as she does.

He barely manages to keep a straight face as he looks at her. "Yes, Ember?"

She cocks her head to the side, studying him with eyes that I swear can understand a lot more than I think she should be able to, considering she's just a baby dragon. She lets out another cry, this time louder.

Nate comes over to me and pulls me into his arms, ignoring the dragon who is demanding his attention. "Evening."

"Hi." I wrap my arms around his neck and close my eyes as he leans in to kiss me. As nice as it was to go to the tea shop with him yesterday and not have to hide that we're together, it's not as good as when we're baking alone. When we're here, I can kiss him as many times as I want. I never thought I'd be interested in doing it as much as we do, but I like it all the same.

Ember lets out an almighty screech, making me flinch and pull away from Nate.

"I'm guessing she's hungry," he says.

"She shouldn't be. It's not that long since she ate."

"Maybe she's just started to expect food when you come down to the kitchen," he responds. "Or she might be about to have a growth spurt."

"I hope not. She's already heavy to carry around."

He laughs and turns away from me so that he can get the metal bowl full of meat scraps that he's already prepared for my pampered little dragon. No wonder she's kicking up a fuss now that she's in the kitchen, she knows that he's going to reward her for it.