Page 160 of A Fate of Blood and Magic
With my stomach rumbling, I tugged on her hand to lead us to the kitchen when everyone finished serving themselves.
“I’m pretty sure it’s considered rude to eat before your king even serves himself,” I grumbled.
Brenton snickered. “Don’t worry, Your Royalness,” he teased. “I’m sure these heathens saved you something.”
“I would hope so.” I smiled, knowing this would make everyone feel guilty. “Especially considering Teddy is pregnant.”
As I expected, everyone stared at me, with George and Alastor holding their forks frozen in the air.
“Don’t worry, best friend,” Ryenne said. “I hid a plate for you in the microwave just in case.”
Teddy laughed.
I opened the microwave and took out her plate, chuckling at the face Ryenne had created with the berries, scrambled eggs, and bacon. After serving myself, we joined our friends who sat in the living room.
While I guided Teddy to the couch, I took a seat on the floor between her legs. It felt good to sit around with our family and friends, eating and enjoying a moment of much-needed lighthearted teasing.
“What time are you going to the orphanage today?” I asked Brenton.
Since the attack on the castle and Reignom’s main street, Brenton spent every moment he could helping with the children. Many of our friends did the same. It wasn’t enough, and far too many children were being neglected.
Too many children—both fae and human—had lost their parents in the attacks. The orphanage had been forced to take on more children than they could house.
“I pre-ordered sandwiches and pastries at the bakery and will take it to them for lunch,” Brenton said.
“Don’t they get food from the public kitchen?” I asked.
As far as I was aware, the public kitchen my parents had put in place years ago hadn’t been destroyed.
“Have you been to the public kitchen?” Teddy asked me.
“It isn’t suitable for children,” Brenton said before I could answer.
Teddy huffed in agreement.
Chewing my food, I mulled over their words, remembering how Brenton had complained about the kitchen when we’d first met many yearsago.
I was ashamed to admit I’d never considered what he meant and had never gone to visit the kitchen. Instead, I’d thought my parents were kind and compassionate for offering such a place for any fae in need of extra assistance.
“That’s one of the changes I want to make at the orphanage,” Teddy said, focusing on Brenton. “How great would it be if we could get a few people in there permanently to make the kids three homemade meals every day?”
“It would definitely be an improvement,” Brenton said.
“Oh.” Ryenne clapped. “Remember the night we went to the pizza place?”
“Ugh, world’s worst pizza,”Jasmine griped with a roll of her eyes.
Ryenne rolled her eyes right back. “I don’t know if this would be feasible or how expensive it would be, but it’d be nice if the kids at the orphanage could do something like that sometimes. While the food wasn’t great, all the kids had fun playing in the arcade, including Nate.”
“That’s a good idea,”Teddy said. “Does the kingdom have a budget for this kind of thing?”
I didn’t think so. “We’ll figure it out.”
“What about movie nights?” Jasmine traced a finger over one of the rocks Teddy and I had received at our coronation. She went to a shelf in our living room to put it back in its place before she picked up another one. “One of our old neighbors used to hang up a white sheet against the wall of his trailer home and put up a movie for all the kids in our neighborhood.”
“Yes, I miss movie nights.” Teddy smiled. “When your scholars figure out how to get the internet working here, we could do something like that.”
If a movie night was what my mate wanted, I’dfigure out how to get the scholars to work harder so I could give her a movie night.
