When she asked him if he was sure, Luke almost frowned and snapped at her for doubting his offer. Yet when he saw the look on her face, the excitement that reached her eyes and the faint blush across her cheeks, the irritable beast in him shied away and the prince nodded in encouragement. “How was it?”

Her immediate response was not composed of words, but an unschooled reaction of a human being appreciating the culinary gift bestowed by the kitchen gods. He couldn’t help but be affected by the purity of the pleasure that a single bite of the dish brought. For Luke, it was a common meal served sometimes during dinner and sometimes during lunch. Nothing special. It was not even his favorite dish, but the kitchen had known him enough to understand how to satisfy his cravings, thus it was correct to assume that he enjoyed every strand of the pasta. The experience must be different for her. For a whole lot of different reasons, it was different for him too. 

No mockery, no judgment, just a genuine smile that reached his eyes as he too tasted the familiar dish, expecting the burst of flavor in his mouth, but somehow it tasted better than he remembered. “You’ll get used to it after a while,” he assured her when she asked if he was used to eating the kind of dish. Then, he used his fork to draw a line across the plate, cutting the linguini, the tomatoes, and the lobster in an estimate half like he used to do when his sister was younger and would not stop pestering him until he gave her a share of his food. The maidservants and Ms. Viscomi seemed to have been deleted from the picture. It felt like a private dinner, or a first date. Her telling him about her life and him willing to listen, as if he was not the crown prince and she was not a former farmer. As if they finally found a common ground.

“Then you’re a good cook if you have had that much practice?” Luke asked, still not looking at her, but busied himself in pushing the pasta to one side of the plate. “I can cook…egg.” He can burn an egg, to be honest. He did so on several occasions when he was in the mood to make breakfast for his [i]overnight guests[/i], but ended up deferring to the expertise of the kitchen staff. “My father taught me how to cook when he was – when I was younger. Him and me, we prepared a private feast for mother’s birthday once.” He lifted his eyes from the plate. The smile never left his lips, but it did diminish in brightness as if he was remembering a memory that both made him happy and sad. “It was grand. Supposed to be grand, but then I poured too much salt into the cake batter. Salt instead of sugar. They looked the same to me, they still do. Mother had no idea, I had no idea until she sliced the cake then tasted it. Imagine the look on her face.”

“Anyway,” Luke sighed, before he lost too much of himself in their little conversation. “I propose a trade. Your half of the sandwich to half of my pasta. Plus, cook for me one of these days.” If there was one thing he learned about drafting trade agreements, it was that his side should gain the most benefit out of the treaty.

Before Rhiane could answer, though, their appointed image manager bravely cleared her throat and checked her watch. She wouldn’t have done so if she had a choice, even regretted it the moment she did. “Without meaning to disturb your pleasant evening, your highness,” she chimed in, her voice was uncertain. “We are behind schedule. Ms. Black, have you?” she gestured towards the paper containing the expected questions ranging from a short description of her family and home town, why did she choose to enter the contest and did she ever dreamt as a girl that one day she would be a princess. Other questions also asked for details about her first day at the palace, the royal family, her accommodations and how generous was the crown as a host. Those were part of the introduction. The meat of the interview tackled her current relationship with the crown prince like, what was her first impression, what was he really like, even touching the issue about their engagement ball. Of course, in all those questions lined up for her, she was expected to answer in a manner that would place the royal family in a good light.

“I know, but the queen says you can wait,” he answered lazily.