Page 96 of Moonlight Hearts

Soyer groaned.“Hands off my glassware, Vico.I’m on my way.Amory, come on.Let’s get your party started.”

“Our party.”

He held out his hand for me to take, which I did.“Yes.Our party.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

EliasandIendedup sitting at the artists’ table again, our Champagne in front of us.

“What a marvelous pumpkin,” Elias said as we watched Soyer and Ben get the massive gourd out of the oven.Everyone else was standing around in the kitchen, snacking on Soyer’s cookies and the bread Chef had cut into a little while ago.Dwayne and Laura were busy knitting on the couch, and Ella and Sophie had their heads together and their phones out, having claimed chairs at the table already.

I couldn’t help but remember Soyer in the kitchen earlier, when I’d gotten myself a cup of coffee.When he’d gotten me…when he’d gotten me off.

“Yeah.He didn’t let me help cooking it.”

Elias crossed his legs.“Oh, why bother with that sort of thing when you have someone who does it for you?”

“Because it’s nice?”

Elias waved his glass at Soyer and Ben.They’d gotten the pumpkin out okay, and Chef was looking at it with interest.Soyer had reattached the top, and now, after hours in the oven, the skin was shiny, golden brown, and wrinkled.The smell was divine, even over the Champagne.

“Oh, you’re misconstruing what nice is, Amory.You see, one lets their powerful lover take care of them.That’s nice.It’s your responsibility to be needy enough that they keep taking care of you.You can be extra-special needy every now and then to remind them that you need taking care of.”

I frowned at him.“I’ve never really been in a relationship before, but I’m pretty sure that’s not how it works.Speaking of, you and Valentin and Simeon have been together for a while, right?”

A smile snuck over his face.“Yes.As long as I care to remember.”

“Then…did things ever change?”I moved my chair closer to his.“I mean, you get that feeling too, right, when you look at them, and you just feel…happy.Like happiness is a spark, and looking at them turns it into a flame.”

“Aww!How romantic!Say, do you burst into an actual flame in all this?”

“No.But does that change?Does that ever go away?”

Elias thought about that.“It hasn’t, not for me.I cannot imagine not loving them.Say, are you done with your Champagne?”

I looked at his glass.He still had two fingers in there.“Why?”

“Oh, well.”He tossed back his drink.“I’m just so thirsty, Amory.I’m parched.”He tilted his head and blinked big puppy eyes at me.“Please, Amory?”

I sighed.“Fine.Here you go.”

He took my glass and wrapped his fingers around the stem.“You’re just my bestest friend, you know.I have already forgiven you for not visiting me in my unjust confinement, but really, I must have you for the photos finally.It won’t do for much longer, your social wallflower lifestyle.”He waved my champagne flute at the room.“Not when you’re throwing lavish parties such as this one.”

“I think everyone’s having fun, but I wouldn’t call it lavish.”

“Po-tay-to, po-tah-to.”He leaned in close enough to whisper in my ear.“If you think your black prince ever had a party, you are deluding yourself, so this is memorable.”He straightened.“Speaking of potatoes, you have nothing at all to drink, and that’s sacrilegious.We should get you some potato juice.”

Elias finished the remainder of my drink, but before he could beg Chef to run the juicer for him—apparently after trying to do it himself, he’d been forbidden—Simeon put a hand on Elias’s shoulder.

“No getting people drunk, pet.”He looked at me.“Mind if I join you?”

“Oh, sure.Sorry, everyone’s breaking off into little groups.”

Simeon glided into the chair next to Elias, putting one hand on Elias’s thigh.“That’s to be expected.With the overrepresentation of culinary masters, I’m surprised anyone left the kitchen at all.”

“Right.I didn’t even consider that.”

He was very right.Kasey and Chef were at the stove, Vico right next to Chef.They’d found a burner to reheat the chili, and it looked like there was a tasting and a general evaluation happening.Kasey’s snakes were subdued, and Chef looked strict and intimidating, which was his norm as far as I was aware.