Drusilla and the Cake

We sat up all night, trying to come up with a plan—anything to beat Luca at his own game. Once he was king, he’d be unstoppable. The reason he’d not publically killed anyone yet was that only the ruler of the kingdom had the legal power to do such a thing. Being a prince wasn’t enough. He had to be king. If I outed myself after the coronation, it wouldn’t matter anymore. I would no longer be able to call myself queen. I had to show the world I was alive before that crown was placed on his head. I had to do it at the wedding.

The next morning, we dressed in the bakery cloaks we’d stolen, hopeful that no one would connect us to the break-in. Our auburn twin masks had worked well for us, so we elected to keep ourselves that way.

There was a strange atmosphere in the city as we walked through. Many people lined the streets holding the kingdom’s flag and banners with the names of Luca and Drusilla written on them. To most people, it looked the same as when I’d married Luca, but it didn’t feel the same. It all seemed forced somehow. There were no smiles on the faces of the people lining the streets, waiting for the royal carriage to bring Luca and Drusilla home after the wedding. On my wedding day, the excitement of the crowd was palpable. People were screaming my name and waving. Now, it was eerily quiet despite the number of people. I followed Cynder past the groups of people until we reached Luca’s house. The guards were still there. In fact, if anything, there were more of them, but this time the front door was wide open as a stream of people with flowers, centerpieces, and more importantly, food came in and out of it. Finding the bakery wagon was easy. We followed the smell of fresh food and there it was. Boxes and boxes of food were piled up ready to be taken into Luca’s kitchen. In the center was a cake. I thought my mother had gone overboard with my seven-layered cake, but this was a monstrosity. It was baked into the shape of a white castle and at the front, were two little figures kissing. They were obviously meant to be Luca and Drusilla. Both wore tiny crowns on their heads. After checking that no one was looking, I picked up the little figures and broke both their heads off, before placing them back on the cake.

“Don’t you think that was a bit petty?” Cynder grinned.

“You’re only saying that because you didn’t think of it first,” I replied, sticking out my tongue at him. “Besides, after everything that has happened, I feel entitled to a little pettiness.”

I picked up one of the boxes and joined the line of people going into the house.

Our plan was to get inside the house and try to rescue Seraphia, Daniel, Dean, and the others. At the same time, we planned to use the talk stone to contact Copper to free the prisoners. Last night, we’d let him know the plan, so he was ready. The new chief of police was heading up the security at the actual wedding, so Copper had been left in charge of the cells. It was all working out perfectly.

I tried to look as harassed as the other people as I was bustled into the house. Of course, they were harassed. They were expecting the wedding to happen in a couple of weeks and here they were, having to move it up with less than twenty-four hours’ notice.

I knew exactly where I was going. Once inside I took the stairs straight down to the kitchen. I took the door to the right. The door on the left was currently being guarded by one of Luca’s men. I was glad to see that it didn’t have a lock on it, just a huge bolt that would be easy to pull back if only we could find a way to get the guard to move.

As I walked into the kitchen, I thought I’d be nervous after being locked in there for so long, but it was so busy with people working that it didn’t feel threatening at all.

“Put that over there on the table with the other boxes,” shouted a chef with such a red face I was sure he’d explode. Behind me, I felt a nudge. It was Cynder with a box of his own. We placed the boxes on the table.

“We need to find a way to get into the door opposite,” I whispered to Cynder.

“I know. I was down there myself, remember?”

We both headed to the door but were stopped before we left the kitchen by a young woman with bright white hair. She had a clipboard in her hand and an air of efficiency about her. She reminded me of Xavi.

“I need a volunteer to help upstairs,” she announced. “You!”

She pointed at Cynder. He had no choice but to follow her. I tried to tag along behind but was stopped by the chef yelling at me.

“Where do you think you are going? I need someone to chop vegetables.”

I couldn’t help think it would have been better if I’d been called upstairs and it was Cynder that had been left behind. He was a whizz in the kitchen, whereas I had to make do with bumbling through.

Pulling out some carrots, I began to chop them as neatly as I could. All I could think about was Seraphia and the others just behind the basement door. I listened out for them, but any noise they may have been making was drowned out by the hustle and bustle of the wedding preparations.

Although we’d planned to help them escape, we’d not actually come up with a plan on how we’d actually do that. With so little time to prepare, winging it was our only option.

“Where is the cake?” shrieked someone from upstairs. This question was shortly followed by the pounding of someone stomping down the stairs. I almost fell over in shock when I saw who it was. Drusilla Bloom. Having only ever seen her on TV and in photos, I was not quite prepared for the sight of her. She was large, much larger than I expected, both tall and wide. The corset she wore was practically bursting at the seams, her bosoms pushed up so high she could practically rest her chin on them.

Her makeup was so thick that it looked like she was wearing a mask herself. It was almost grotesque. What on earth did Luca see in her? Urgh. And goodness only knew why she was wandering around in her underwear. Maybe she’d look better once her dress was on. She’d definitely look better with her veil on. I suppressed a snicker and went back to chopping carrots.

“The cake!” she screeched once again. The head chef, who just seconds before had been the epitome of angry was now bowing and smiling to this hideous woman. He was now fussing around Drusilla as if his life depended on it. Knowing this woman, it probably did.

“I don’t know where it is, Your Majesty. We have many boxes of food we haven’t opened yet. Perhaps it’s in one of those?” The poor guy looked like he was going to cry.

“You heard the lady,” he boomed, causing everyone to stop what they were doing and look at him. “Find the cake.”

I certainly wasn’t going to let on that it was still on the wagon. Let them look for it. I used the pandemonium of people opening boxes while Drusilla and the chef screamed at them to duck outside the kitchen. Very quietly, I closed the door behind me. The one guard that had been standing at the bottom of the stairs guarding the door opposite had gone into the kitchen to help. With him distracted, now was the best time to get them out, but how? Someone was bound to notice them, even in the melee of people. Opening the door was simple. Only a bolt held it shut, but I still had no idea what to do once it was open.

Deciding I’d worry about it later, I pulled back on the large iron bolt. It made a horrible screeching sound as it opened, matched only by the same noise Drusilla was making in the kitchen.

“Hey!”

I jumped, fearful that I’d been caught, but when I looked back up the stairs, all I could see was the ridiculous cake coming towards me.

A face peeked out from behind it.

“Cynder!”

“I was asked to bring this down to the kitchen,” he explained. It was so huge; I could see he was buckling under the weight of it.

“You can’t take it in there. Looking for the damn thing is the only thing keeping everyone occupied. Once they search through all the boxes, the guard will be right out. Bring it in here.” I opened the door to the basement.

Ten pairs of eyes looked back at me.

“Seraphia! Daniel! Dean! It’s us, Charm and Cynder!” I ran over and hugged them. They were all noticeably thinner than the last time I’d seen them, and their clothes were filthy.

Cynder placed the cake on the floor and hugged them all. Apart from Seraphia, Daniel, and Dean, the other seven were all people I recognized from the farmhouse.

“Seraphia,” said Cynder, throwing a wand to her. “I found your wand in an office upstairs. I hear you are good at transforming. I can only do so much. Can you transform your clothes to uniforms like this?”

She nodded and waved her wand. Seconds later, instead of nine Magi and Dean, there now stood ten caterers. She’d done a magnificent job of transforming them. Their faces had changed too.

Leaving the cake where it was and carefully closing and bolting the door behind us, we all dashed upstairs. At the main door, the guard gave us a quizzical look. Maybe we should have changed everyone into something else. There were now more caterers trying to get out than had come in.

“We are looking for the wedding cake,” I said, looking harassed. “It seems to be misplaced, and Her Majesty is rather upset.”

The guard blocked our exit. “The cake already went down to the kitchen. I saw it being brought in just a few minutes ago.”

Damn! I’d not thought of that.

“It’s another cake. The one brought downstairs was the wrong one!” cut in Cynder. The guard arched his brow but didn’t back down.

“My cake!” Drusilla screamed. She was so loud, we could all hear her all the way up here.

Her loud footsteps began to pound on the steps.

“Ok,” I smiled sweetly to the guard. “I’ll just let Her Majesty know that you won’t let us go look for it.”

The guard adopted a terrified look and backed off, letting us go through.

We’d done it!

We’d gotten everyone out.

Getting away from the house was easy. Only streets away, huge numbers of people were gathering to see the royal carriage make its way to the cathedral. All we had to do was join the throng.

“Stand together,” Seraphia commanded. We did as she asked, and she once again waved her wand. I felt warm as the spell consumed me. All the others changed clothes again. I looked down, and my catering uniform had now been replaced by a beautiful blue dress.

“It wouldn’t be enough to fool Luca up close, but with us all mingling in with so many other people, he’s got no chance of spotting us.” Seraphia put her wand back in her waistband.

“Luca!” I exclaimed out loud. “Where is he?”

I’d not seen him at all at the house.

“He’s getting ready somewhere else,” said Cynder.” I overheard one of the staff talking about it when I was getting the cake. His guards at the house were drastically reduced because most of them are already at the cathedral and what was left had to be shared between his house and the place where he’s getting ready. That’s why it was so easy to get in and out. I guess he wasn’t expecting us to just waltz in and out on the day of his wedding. Hopefully, it will be a long time before anyone notices that the prisoners are all gone.”

“We still need to get the others,” I reminded him.

“Others?” Seraphia asked. She’d turned herself into a dowdy middle-aged woman, but somehow her radiant beauty still shone through.

“Luca caught everyone. They are all in cells below the police headquarters.”

Seraphia’s hand flew to her mouth. “What about Elise? She was so unwell the last time we saw her.”

I took hold of Seraphia’s hand. “I’ve got so much to tell you. Come on, let’s go.”

“Actually,” interrupted Cynder. “I need to talk to you alone before we go anywhere. You’ll never believe what I found out in that house.”