It didn’t take long for them to reach the massive dining hall. Happy conversation and laughter echoed off the stone walls and bounced up into the high ceiling. They filled up plates buffet-style, and Tori couldn’t help but be touched to find three Finnish dishes.
“Hi!” greeted an apple-cheeked man with slightly frizzy, red hair on the opposite side of the table. “I’m Gris. You’ve got to be Tori Taavi.” He introduced himself in heavily accented Finnish.
Tori returned his smile. “I am. Do I stand out that much?”
Gris’s eyes went wide. “Oh no! It’s not that. You just recognize a new face pretty quickly around here. I wanted to say that I oversee the kitchens here. Sort of the head chef. I tried my hand at making imellety perunalaatikko and lihapullat for the first time. I think they turned out pretty good, but I’d love to hear your thoughts. My assistant made the kalakeitto, and it has been going very fast.”
Tori blinked at the man for a moment, speechless. He’d cooked just to make Tori feel more at home and welcome. “I…I will try them all. Thank you so much.”
“It’s not a problem. We’re so happy to have you here,” Gris said with an easy grin. “And be sure to have Baldewin snag you a laskiaispulla. Dessert of any form does not last long in this castle, but this horde will at least think twice about crossing Baldewin for that yummy pastry.”
“I will. Thank you again.”
Tori was in a bit of a daze as Baldewin ushered him over to an empty table in the far corner of the dining hall. They were away from the larger group while giving Tori an excellent view of everything and everyone. He’d caught more than a few people watching him, but they were at least trying not to look obvious about it. No one looked angry or threatening. They all seemed curious and welcoming so far.
“He cooked just for me?” Tori asked softly when Baldewin sat down next to him. Unexpected warmth blossomed in his chest, and he couldn’t wipe the grin from his lips. He couldn’t believe a total stranger had done something so nice for him.
“Gris is great. Makes amazing food and is an all-around sweet person. I’m sure he wanted you to feel at ease here. It’s all new, but if you had something familiar, you might be happier,” Baldewin explained.
“Oh I am. It’s just…so nice. I hadn’t expected that. I wouldn’t want him to go to any trouble for me.”
Baldewin laughed. “Trust me, it’s no trouble. Since the Noh family came to live with us, we’ve all been experiencing traditional Korean food. Gris has dug all through Ha Na’s brain for recipes. Now he’s got an actual Finn to talk to. I’m sure he’s excited to learn a whole new cuisine.”
Tori snorted. “Well, I’ve never been much of a cook.”
“Doesn’t matter. He’s undoubtedly buttering you up so you’ll taste all the Finnish dishes he can find and tell him whether they are meeting the standards of a true Finn palate.”
“He needs a Finn guinea pig?”
Baldewin nodded, and Tori laughed.
“Well, I have no problem with that. Luckily this place is so big, I’ll have a chance to walk off all the food I’m going to eat.”
“Do you like your room?” Baldewin asked.
“Oh yes! It’s amazing. You didn’t need to put me in something so fancy. I would have been happy in a regular room.”
“That is a regular room. Obviously, Alric and Cameron’s rooms are fancier and bigger, but that one is pretty standard.”
“And if I lived here?”
“That would be your room. Unless…” Baldewin drawled, nudging a crispy Finnish meatball on his plate with his fork.
“Unless?” Tori prodded.
“Unless you had a mate. Then you’d decide whether you wanted to move into his rooms or if you wanted him to move into yours.”
Tori let his mind wander for a moment, trying to imagine what it would be like to have someone sharing that room with him. Of course, the only someone his mind was willing to conjure up was Baldewin.
And yeah, there was a part of him that really wanted to watch Baldewin getting ready in the morning for his job. Or watch him peel off his clothes at the end of a long day before crawling into bed with Tori. The mattress sinking under Baldewin’s weight before the dragon pulled him in close and—
Whoa. Yeah, the dining hall was not the best place to be entertaining those thoughts. Food. He needed to concentrate on the food and the people.
Luckily, Warin dropped into an open seat across from him and started peppering Tori with questions about how he liked the castle, his quarters, and the food. Ravi drifted over a few minutes later with a chunk of bread clutched in one hand and what looked to be a massive drumstick in the other. He delivered a flurry of German to Warin, who grunted, and then waved the drumstick at Tori in greeting before drifting off to another table.
Oddly enough, it didn’t look like Ravi’s behavior was all that strange. People leisurely ate their meal and then remained at the table, talking to their companions, or drifted off to other tables to talk to more friends. It was all relaxed and friendly.
“Is every meal like this?” Tori asked.
“Pretty much. Each meal is served for about two hours. People drift in and out according to their schedules,” Baldewin replied.
“And there are a lot of people—like Ravi—who are here for the full two hours just to socialize,” Warin added.
“Oh good,” Baldewin said with a small sigh of relief. “Alric and Cameron stopped in for dinner. That must mean Cassie is fully out of danger.”
Warin snorted. “Lisette probably kicked them out so she could focus on healing Cassie without them hovering.”
The couple walked arm in arm down the center of the room, toward the exit. As they passed by their table, Alric bowed his head toward Tori in greeting, and Cameron offered up a friendly wave. Tori waved back, feeling a little in awe about the entire thing. It was one thing for Alric and Cameron to talk to him while he was in danger. But now that he was in the castle, he’d figured he’d be shuffled off to people who worked for them.
“Alric said he would be happy to meet with you tomorrow at your convenience. He understands that you would like to rest up today,” Baldewin murmured.
“That’s very considerate of him.”
Baldewin placed his hand on Tori’s forearm and squeezed. “You don’t have anything to worry about. You’re going to like him and Cameron, I swear.”
Tori opened his mouth to tease Baldewin, but the words got stuck in his throat as he watched Alric spin Cameron around and then pull him tight into his arms. The king proceeded to tango his mate out of the dining hall and down the hall while Cameron’s laughter rang out. Several people clapped, and a few others called out, but Tori didn’t catch what they were saying. From their smiles and playful tone, he could guess it was friendly teasing.
“Was…was that normal?” Tori finally choked out.
Warin snorted and returned to his soup. “For them? Yes. Definitely.”
Okay, then the royal family was certainly…interesting and in love. Tori could see it in the way Alric kept his arm around Cameron and how they looked at each other, as if they were the only two people in the entire world. Just completely lost in each other.