Demon's Revenge (High Demon 5)

"This cake is marvelous," Perdil was still eating as Zendeval walked out of the kitchen with his container of ice cream.

"What's this?" Nedrizif stared up at Zen when he set the small container of ice cream on Ned's desk.

"The best ice cream you'll ever eat. And the most expensive," Zen smiled at his cousin. "Here, I brought a spoon for you." He handed the utensil over.

"What kind of ice cream?" Ned loved ice cream, and dipped his spoon in for a generous bite.

"Gishi fruit ice cream,&quo Cce d lot; Zen said as Nedrizif rolled his eyes in pleasure at the taste.

"Here is your schedule; you'll work from fourteen bells to twenty-four bells each day, unless Mr. Rjjn specifies," Jerves handed over a small comp-vid that held my schedule. "Every other Eight-Day off—you'll switch with Master cook Perdil. You'll get First-Day on the other weeks." I nodded; that was standard if you had two pastry cooks. My shift would cover the hours when dessert was likely to be served, I noticed.

Jervis had shown me to a nicely appointed suite on the fifth floor of the business wing, completely furnished and with room service available since I worked in the kitchen as a master cook. Most other employees didn't get that. The pay was good—what a master cook might expect at Desh's, and for a pastry cook, that was very good.

"We'll supply aprons with our logo, and launder them. Yours should be ready and in your locker tomorrow when you report for work. Mr. Rjjn expects enough of the gishi fruit ice-cream dessert to feed fifteen people tomorrow evening. We'll be offering it as an exclusive to special guests first, and then place it on the premium menu for an additional cost. Mr. Rjjn wants you to sprinkle edible gold flakes on the chocolate cake and charge even more for it. It truly will be the most expensive dessert available." Jerves was smiling widely.

"Then you need to make sure you get some of it next time," I said.

"Mrs. Windle, do you cook other things as well as you make desserts?" he asked.

"Perhaps you can be the judge of that, if you'll come to dinner some night when I'm off," I said. I was hoping Ry and I could get information from Zendeval Rjjn's personal assistant, without making it obvious.

"Just tell the kitchen what ingredients you want, and they'll supply it. At least they won't have to cook it and carry it up," he said, nodding enthusiastically.

"I will. How much is Mr. Rjjn planning to charge for the dessert?" I asked.

"Five hundred credits," Jervis said. "And he says it's worth every bit of that." I could tell that Jerves was upset that he hadn't gotten to try that particular dessert. "Now, this will allow you to eat at or visit any of the clubs or restaurants," Jerves handed a chip necklace to me. "And Mr. Rjjn mentioned that he would like for you to visit the other four clubs and restaurants that he supervises, to let him know how their dessert menus rate. In your opinion," Jerves added.

"Does he have a particular time period for these visits?" I asked.

"He says within the next two eight-days. I can relay the information; just contact me by comp-vid. Here's my code," he passed that to me on a data chip. We were standing in the small kitchen inside the suite I'd been given. Ry chose that moment to walk through the door with our luggage, his own version of Jerves leading the way.

"I see your wife is already here," the assistant said, smiling at Ry. The man was smitten, that's all there was to say.

"Wife, what will we do for dinner this evening?" Ry was grinning at me, the scamp.

"I thought we might go next door and check out their menu tonight," I said.

"Good. I've been asked to evaluate the service I get in this complex of five clubs and restaurants," he nodded.

"Great. We'll check everything out while we eat," I replied.

"Mrs. Windle, welcome to Galedaro's, and if you have any issues, please let me know." Jerves gave a brief wave and left. Ry's escort was slower to go out the door, but he did eventually leave.

"Any trouble getting the job?" Ry asked, coming over to give me a warm hug.

"The Master Cook's position was filled during the interview before mine," I said. Mentally I added, and the jerk, Rjjn, was callous enough to tell the man that he had it right in front of me. "But I got the pastry and dessert cook position," I added aloud.

"Sweetheart, if they'd tasted your cooking, you'd have the other job now," Ry told me. We knew not to say anything aloud that we didn't want overheard. If there was something going on, it was a safe bet that everything was bugged in some way.

"I invited Jerves to dinner some night when I'm off," I said. "I was thinking about making the stuffed duck, or maybe the ox-roast."

"Make the ox-roast. I haven't had that in a while." Ry was hungry, I could tell.

"Hon, let's go next door and get something to eat before you cave in," I patted his stomach.

"You noticed, huh?"

"I did."

"Did you want to change?"

"Do you think I should?"

"No, you look great. Let's go." Ry walked me out the door.

"Reah suggested this, but I'm varying it just a little," Lendill said. Garde sat across the table from where Lendill sat, at Lissa's formal dining table. Everyone had come to dinner, almost, including Tory.

"What is it, and how are you varying it?" Garde asked. He was still angry about the hijacked gishi fruit shipment, and blew smoke whenever he thought about it.

"We'll label the next gishi fruit shipment as nannas, as she suggested, and when we ship the nannas out, we'll say it's gishi fruit. That's how we'll list it with the ships, too. All the crates will be sealed, and we'll see which ones get hijacked."

"It's worth a try," Garde blew out a slightly smoky sigh. "Where is the little thing, anyway?"

"Can't say, it's top secret," Lendill replied. "We're tracking down a hunch at the moment, but it might be a very viable hunch. If it turns out as I suspect it might, some mighty big heads might roll over it." Lendill refused to discuss it further.

"When did Kifirin start growing gishi fruit?" Tory asked. He now believed his oldest twins were eight. He'd come quite a way in only a few days. Lissa smiled at her second-born. She was waiting for Connegar to heal Tory's memory well enough to explain that he'd had a second set of twins. She hoped the information wouldn't be too difficult for him to accept.

"It was an experiment just a few years ago, son. Reah thought the Southern Continent would support the fruit. Turns out she was right," Lissa said gently. "Gishi fruit has become Kifirin's top export."