Page 2 of Royal Icing

“There you are,” Queen Eleanor said. Her voice was sharp, like he had personally inconvenienced all of them. She started to say something else but stopped. “What are you wearing? Did anyone see you?”

Leo raised an eyebrow and glanced down. He had on jeans and steel-toed boots. It wasn’t like he had wandered in sporting sequined nipple pasties and assless chaps.

She threw her hands up like he was a hopeless cause. And maybe he was. “Never mind. We have a problem.”

“What is it this time? The kingdom is entirely out of cloth napkins? There’s an international shortage of holly and mistletoe?” He plucked a snifter from the bar cart and poured a finger of bourbon.

“Your brother has had an affair with the royal baker.”

“Oh.” For once, a scandal worthy of an SOS.

Ruby looked up from her phone. “Dude,” she said with a glance at John.

“Don’t say ‘dude,’” their mother snapped.

“It wasn’t my fault.” John threw a hand up. “She came on to me.”

Ruby leaned forward. “I’m sorry—isn’t the royal baker married?”

“Yes,” John muttered. He touched his swollen eye.

“Silence.” His mother’s voice cut through the din like a siren. “The problem has been dealt with. The royal baker has found a lovely new position in Switzerland and will not be returning toLynoria. A nondisclosure agreement was signed this afternoon, and they have been compensated for their silence.”

Leo stifled a grunt. Typical. They seemed to have no end of money for bribes, but apparently they couldn’t scrounge up anything but the bare minimum for improvements in the kingdom.

The queen strode over to the fire and stared at it. “Do you have anything to add, Beatrice?”

Beatrice, the royal publicist, perched at a table under a portrait of King Frederick. The real king hadn’t looked up from his newspaper once since Leo had entered.

“Well, in the unlikely event that this does leak, we’ll need to present a united front,” Beatrice said hurriedly. There was nothing on this earth she was more afraid of than Queen Eleanor. The white-knuckle grip on her clipboard suggested she was waiting for a bomb to go off. “The only comment is ‘no comment.’ It wouldn’t hurt to do some proactive public outreach. Some warm fuzzies. Leo, what have you been up to?”

He shook his head sharply. There was no way in hell they were going to use his public outreach for good press. What he did for his community was none of their business.

“Okay.” Beatrice pivoted. “Princess? The people love you. There’s a ribbon-cutting this week at the new ski apparel store.”

Ruby looked up from her phone. “No, that’s boring. I’ll read a book to the children at the library on Thursday after my harp lesson.”

Leo smiled. Roo might be a tech zombie and angsty teen, but she was a good kid.

“Uh, great.” Beatrice shuffled some papers and made a note. “So that leaves us with one more problem.”

“Which is?” The queen shot her a look that would stop a rampaging bull in its tracks.

“No royal baker for the ball. I know you had high expectations for the dessert this year, Your Majesty.”

The queen muttered something under her breath.

Ruby gasped and straightened up. “Oh, Mom. You remember that place that I told you about in New York? With the espresso croissant that changed my life? Please, can we hire them?”

The queen sighed. “A New York bakery? On this short of notice? I don’t know, sweetheart.”

“Please? No offense to Sarah, but they really were the best pastries I’ve ever had. And they’re very prestigious. Look at their Instagram.” The princess handed over her phone.

Eleanor scrolled for a while, seeming to be in deep thought. After a minute, she handed it back to Ruby. “Beatrice, can you have someone reach out to this bakery? The princess will send you the details.”

“Thank you, Mama.” Ruby threw herself on the queen for a quick hug. His mother wore a smile when she pulled back.

“Shouldn’t we be hiring a local bakery to handle the dessert?” Leo asked. “There must be sixty in Lynoria.”