Page 31 of Appointing

Elizabeth smiled at her and said, “We’re doing well. Sophia and Leif are sad they weren’t able to make the trip.”

“They’re with their grandparents for a couple of weeks,” Palmer explained.

“Sophie loves cooking with Palmer’s mom, and Leif spends his time doing messy science experiments with Palmer’s dad. They love it,” Elizabeth added, looking over at her wife with such adoration.

God, Elin wanted someone to look at her like that. Instead, she smiled and looked around the table. Her brother had been relegated down to the end of the table and sat contemplatively, staring at his wineglass. Mari was talking to Erik, Prince and future King of Denmark. Lillian was engaged in a heated debate with Gretel about which was the best architect of the century. The two shared a love of architecture and design. Hugo seemed to just be kind of along for the ride. It reminded Elin of how she’d often sat at this table with little to contribute. Christian was next in line, much like Gretel, which meant Hugo and Elin were the spares and didn’t have much to do outside of the standard royal duties. Now, Elin was at the head of the table and felt very much out of place.

Just then, the staff brought out Elin’s favorite dessert on plates for everyone. Skolebrød was a Norwegian school bread, but it was more like a filled donut than a bread, which was how it had earned its name due to its popularity as a lunch treat for Scandinavian children. It was a sweet dough formed into buns, filled with vanilla custard, and baked. Then, they were glazed with sugar and dipped into sweetened shreddedcoconut. Elin had loved them since she was a child, but over the past few years, she’d noticed she’d loved them even more. The royal chef must have tweaked his recipe because they’d tasted even better than she’d remembered. They weren’t normally something to be served at a formal affair, though, so her father must have requested them for her tonight, knowing how much she loved them.

At the end of dinner, their guests retired to a sitting room where they could all share an after-dinner drink and conversation. That was when Elin told them of the change to the royal line of Norway.

“You’re stepping down?” Erik asked Christian.

“It’s what I want,” Christian replied.

“And Elin is going to be Queen?” Gretel asked no one in particular.

And on and on it went until finally, the topic of conversation had changed. Elin had chosen to wear a pair of black pants with a white button-down and black blazer over it since her parents wouldn’t be there to scold her over her attire, and she was grateful because she felt much more comfortable without the big, fancy dress. She did, however, need to undo one of her top buttons because it was getting hot in the room with everyone talking and the staff having lit the fire for them. After everyone was safely engaged in a conversation about something unrelated to the royal family, Elin stood and excused herself for a moment. She headed in the direction of the kitchen in order to snag an extra dessert for herself, which she knew she shouldn’t do in front of the others. In the kitchen, instead of the chef, she found her private secretary.

“Ingrid,” she said, nearly tripping over her own feet as the kitchen door swung forward and back and smacked her in the ass.

“Ma’am?” Ingrid asked as she stood there with a cup of coffee in her hands. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine. I didn’t fall this time,” Elin replied, taking a few steps forward. “What are you doing here?”

Ingrid looked around the empty kitchen and said, “Um… I was just getting myself a cup of coffee.”

Elin looked at her, feeling like something was off but not knowing what.

“Have you seen the Skolebrød Henri made by any chance? I was hoping to grab another one.”

“Oh, I don’t believe he made any extras, Ma’am. I think he made enough for the guests and planned on saving you a few, but the staff grabbed them before he had a chance.”

Elin squinted at her and said, “I thought you just came in here for a cup of coffee.”

“I did, Ma’am. And now, I’ll leave you to your guests. I can let Henri know you’d like him to make another batch if you’d like, but I believe he went home for the evening.”

“Never mind,” Elin sighed. “They’re my favorite, and I don’t know what he does to them, but they taste better here than anywhere else, and it’s just been a while since I’ve had them. I think I was craving something normal or familiar tonight.”

Ingrid placed her nearly finished cup of coffee on the stainless-steel counter and sighed, too.

“Ican make them for you if you’d like,” she said.

“What? Oh, no. I–”

“Really, it’s fine. I don’t have Henri’s recipe, but I have my own. It should taste about the same,” Ingrid replied. “And it won’t take long.”

“Ingrid, you should have gone home hours ago,” Elin said. “Please, I can get by until he makes them again.”

“It’s no trouble. If you go back to your guests, I’ll have another batch out to you soon.”

“They’re fine without me,” Elin replied. “You know, I was talking to Elizabeth and Palmer earlier. They told me Sophia is learning to cook from her grandmother, and I realized I had no idea how to cook anything. I mean, you know me; I can’t even make a cup of tea for myself.”

Ingrid smiled at her, causing Elin’s legs to go weak.

“Do you think you could show me how?” she asked.

“What about your guests, Ma’am?”

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