Book 3: Chapter 76 (1/2)

Vur sat across the table from Mary, Alora sitting beside him. Tafel was sitting next to Mary, her dress changed into a new one. And around the group of four, there were dozens of tables occupied by nobles with plates of cold food in front of them. “You have to be nice to her, Vur,” Tafel said. “It’s her birthday.”

“Then I don’t have to be nice tomorrow? She attacked me first,” Vur said.

Tafel turned towards Mary, and the empress turned her flushed face away to avoid Tafel’s gaze. The demon sighed. “Yes, you can be mean to her tomorrow, but not today, alright?”

Vur grumbled. “I’m not being mean.”

Tafel sighed again and swept her gaze over the room. Alice and Mr. Skelly were far away, sitting next to Apollonia. The diminutive guild master had said a saying about not camping on top of an active volcano when Tafel had asked her to sit next to Vur. “Look,” Tafel said to Vur after realizing no one was around to back her up, “didn’t Mary and I make even worse first impressions than she did to you and you did to her? But Mary and I are friends now.”

A wrinkle appeared on Vur’s forehead. “I disagree. She didn’t almost kill your wife.”

Tafel’s expression darkened as Mary’s head seemed to shrink down into her shoulders. Alora nudged Vur’s side. “Tafel doesn’t have a wife.”

“Exactly,” Vur said and nodded twice. “See?”

“I’ve already forgiven her for thrashing me like that,” Tafel said and patted Mary’s back.

Vur snorted. “But I haven’t. And it’s annoying how she thinks she’s better than me in anything when she’s not.”

“But I am…,” Mary said in a small murmur.

Vur crossed his arms and looked at Tafel with a gaze that asked, “See what I mean?”

Tafel sighed and turned her head. A motion from the doorway caught her eye. “Oh, the cake’s here.”

A waiter came up to Mary’s table and placed a slice in front of the empress. Mary looked at it and nodded before pushing it towards Tafel. “Try it. I asked Alice what your favorite flavor was.”

“When did you ask her that?” Tafel asked and furrowed her brow. Was there a time when the two had been left alone?

“Secret,” Mary said and pushed the plate even closer to Tafel, nearly causing it to fall off the table. Dozens of waiters streamed into the room and filled the nobles’ tables with plates of cake as well.

Vur frowned at the slice of cake. It was gray on the inside, and the outside had a layer of cream and fruit covering it. He poked at it with his finger, causing the spongy substance to sink inwards before puffing back out. His hair brushed against the table as he leaned forward to sniff the cake, getting cream on his nose. “This smells like dirt.”

“That’s rude,” Tafel said. She stabbed into the cake with her fork and retrieved a piece. “What flavor is it anyway?” she asked and placed the spongy bit into her mouth.

“Rock,” Mary said. Gagging sounds echoed through the room along with the tinkling of forks dropping onto the ground. Tafel’s face paled, her lips pressed tightly around the tines of her fork. Small motions rolled along the surface of her cheeks as she savored the exotic flavor of the cake. With an audible gulp, she swallowed and placed the fork facedown onto her plate.

“W-what flavor did you say it was?” Tafel asked.

A bright smile decorated Mary’s face. “Rock.” She nodded as Tafel grimaced. “Alice said you loved eating rocks, so I made the cake rock-flavored. Do you like it? I personally didn’t like it very much, but it’s your favorite flavor.”

Tafel chewed on her lip. “By rock, do you mean like the bird … or the stones on the ground?”