Chapter 10

Luna was stress-baking again. The palace kitchen looked like a flour bomb had exploded, and Mrs. Chen had given up trying to maintain order hours ago. She just kept quietly refilling Luna's coffee cup and occasionally steering her away from more experimental flavor combinations.

"No," Mrs. Chen said firmly, removing the cayenne pepper from Luna's reach. "The Swedish ambassador does not need spicy chocolate chip cookies."

"But what if—"

"No."

Luna slumped against the counter, leaving a flour handprint on her "Kiss the Cook (At Your Own Risk)" apron. "I just want everything to be perfect."

"Perfect is boring." Mrs. Chen started cleaning up what appeared to be Luna's fourth failed attempt at Swedish butter cookies. "Your father will either get over himself or he won't. No amount of stress-baking will change that."

Luna's hands shook slightly as she checked her phone again. No new messages from James about whether their father would actually show up to tonight's formal dinner. The first official state dinner since her mating ceremony, and she couldn't even keep her hands steady enough to frost cookies properly.

"Here." Mrs. Chen pressed a familiar mug into her hands. "Your mate's been hovering in the doorway for ten minutes looking like he wants to come rescue you but isn't sure if he'll get hit with a spatula."

Luna looked up to find Alexander attempting to blend in with the doorframe, which was impressive for someone over six feet tall in a suit that probably cost more than most cars.

"I wasn't hovering," he protested. "I was... strategically observing."

"You were lurking," Luna corrected, but she smiled despite herself. "And you'll get flour on your suit if you come any closer."

"Bold of you to assume I don't already have flour on my suit from the last three times I checked on you." He finally entered the kitchen properly, nodding respectfully to Mrs. Chen. "Victoria's about to have an aneurysm, by the way. Something about proper queens not having flour in their hair during state dinners."

"Proper queens are boring." But Luna touched her hair self-consciously. "How bad is it?"

"You look like you got in a fight with a bakery and lost." He kissed her forehead, getting flour on his tie in the process. "It's adorable."

"You're biased."

"Incredibly." His thumb brushed flour from her cheek. "Come on. Let Victoria work her magic, and then we can face your father together. Preferably without starting any food fights this time."

"That was one time," Luna protested. "And he deserved it."

"The diplomatic incident with the pudding says otherwise."

Mrs. Chen snorted. "Go. I'll finish the cookies. And no cayenne pepper," she added when Luna opened her mouth to argue.

Victoria was indeed having something close to a breakdown when they finally made it upstairs. She took one look at Luna's flour-covered state and made a noise like a deflating balloon.

"Forty-seven minutes," she said with terrifying calm. "I have forty-seven minutes to make you look like you haven't been rolling in baking supplies all day."

"To be fair," Luna started.

"Do not." Victoria pointed her toward the shower. "Just... do not."

Forty-five minutes later, Luna barely recognized herself in the mirror. Her hair was somehow flour-free and elegantly styled, her makeup perfect, her dress making her look like an actual queen instead of someone who'd spent the day stress-baking questionable cookie combinations.

"You look beautiful," Alexander said softly from the doorway.

Luna turned to find him in a fresh suit, his tie mysteriously flour-free. "You clean up okay yourself."

"If you get flour on that dress, I will end you both," Victoria warned, but she was smiling slightly. "Now, remember—"

"No food fights," Luna and Alexander said in unison.

"And?"

"No challenging anyone to duels," Luna added.

"And?"

"No impromptu dance parties with the wildlife," Alexander finished.

"That deer had rhythm and I stand by that," Luna muttered.

Victoria pinched the bridge of her nose. "Just... try to act like functioning adults for one evening. Please."

The state dinner was actually going surprisingly well until James arrived alone. Luna felt her heart sink even as she maintained her diplomatic smile.

"He's not coming," James said quietly when he got a moment alone with her. "I'm sorry, Luna."

Luna nodded, swallowing hard. "Did he say why?"

"He said..." James hesitated. "He said he's not ready. But Luna, that's on him, not you. You're an amazing queen. Everyone can see it except him."

Luna blinked back tears, grateful for Victoria's waterproof mascara. "Even with flour in my hair?"

"Especially with flour in your hair." James smiled slightly. "Though maybe lay off the experimental cookie flavors. Michael's still traumatized from the wasabi incident."

"That was an accident!"

"Was it though?"

Luna felt Alexander's concern through their bond before she saw him approaching. He'd been stuck in a conversation with some dignitary, but she knew he'd felt her distress.

"Your Majesty," James said formally, bowing slightly. "I was just telling my sister that her cooking experiments are becoming legendary."

"That's one word for it," Alexander said dryly, but his hand was warm on Luna's back. "Though I still maintain the curry cookies had potential."

"You're both ridiculous," Luna told them, but she felt steadier. "And the wasabi was definitely an accident."

The rest of the evening passed in a blur of diplomatic small talk and only minor cookie-related incidents. Luna caught Mrs. Chen sneaking extra desserts to James when Victoria wasn't looking, and even Michael managed a almost-sincere compliment about her non-experimental baking.

Later, after the guests had gone and Luna had finally kicked off her heels, she found Alexander in their chambers already changed into his comfortable clothes.

"Okay?" he asked softly.

Luna considered the question as she changed into her own pajamas - his stolen t-shirt and the fuzzy pants Victoria pretended not to know about.

"Not yet," she said honestly. "But I will be."

He pulled her close, and Luna breathed in the familiar scent of his laundry detergent mixed with what might have been a bit of flour. "You're an amazing queen," he murmured. "And an even more amazing mate. Even if you do occasionally poison your brothers with wasabi cookies."

"That was an accident!"

"Of course it was, dear."

Luna poked him in the ribs, but she was smiling. "I love you. Even when you're mocking my culinary innovations."

"I love you too." He kissed her hair. "Even when you're committing crimes against baking."

They ended up in the kitchen again, because Luna still had nervous energy to burn and Mrs. Chen had left out ingredients for normal, non-experimental cookies. Alexander helped this time, though "helped" mostly meant stealing bits of dough and getting flour on yet another suit.

"Your father's missing out," he said quietly as Luna slid another batch into the oven. "On you. On this. On everything."

Luna nodded, throat tight. "I know."

"But you have us." He pulled her close, not caring about the flour on her hands. "Me and Victoria and Mrs. Chen and your brothers. Even that judgmental raccoon."

Luna laughed wetly against his chest. "That raccoon did have very high standards."

"The highest." Alexander kissed her forehead. "Almost as high as yours."

They ended up falling asleep on the kitchen floor, surrounded by cooling cookies and covered in flour. Victoria found them there in the morning and just sighed, but Luna saw her sneak a cookie before launching into her lecture about proper royal behavior.

It wasn't perfect. Luna's father still hadn't called, and she still got flour in her hair at inappropriate moments, and she still occasionally had to be talked down from questionable baking experiments.

But she had Alexander, who loved her even when she was covered in flour and trying to recreate action movies in wolf form. She had Victoria, who pretended to be annoyed but kept all the embarrassing videos in a folder labeled "Royal Blackmail Material (For Emergency Use Only)." She had Mrs. Chen, who showed her love through baking and quiet understanding and just the right amount of snark.

She had a family. Not the one she was born into, maybe, but the one she'd chosen. The one that chose her back.

Sometimes that was everything.

Especially when accompanied by cookies.