Amity slipped in behind Luz in the lunch line. She hardly ever needed to buy lunch since her mom made hers, and she’d been packing some extra as of late for some reason so she especially had no reasons to worry about that. Now worry about her mom trying to tell her something? Then again, that was a constant fear. No, she usually waited in line for the sake of not sitting alone until she got her food.

Shloorp.

Luz paled a bit as she looked down the line and saw the brown ‘meat’ that had landed on another student’s plate and chomped at them. “Oh. I forgot it was slop day.”

Amity cringed as she looked at the living menace before hesitantly putting a hand on Luz’s shoulder. “Um, I think my mom might have packed me an extra sandwich or something. So…”

Luz giggled a little bit before elbowing Amity in the shoulder. “You know, Eda would say that fighting your food just made you tougher. What do you think?”

Amity rolled her eyes before snarking back with, “I prefer that I keep it down, thank you very much.”

“I don’t believe either of you shall need to worry about such things today.”

Luz and Amity looked back to the lunch line and it was now time for both of them to pale at what they saw. The first red flag was one of the lunch ladies having been replaced by an Emperor’s coven member who wore a hair net from the bottom of their mask to the beak. The soldier raised a hand to wave at them before a snap from the second figure got him to stop and focus back on giving food to the next kids in line.

After all, they would be served by Kikimora herself. The small demon couldn’t be seen by anyone who wasn’t leaning over the counter with how short she was, but her voice had been enough to stop Luz and Amity. Neither knew her well of course, but Lilith had told Luz plenty and Luz acting worried about her was enough to put Amity on edge. The serious girl paused for a second before leaning in and hissing out a whispered, “You shouldn’t be here.”

Kikimora waved away the warning before calmly saying, “I am the assistant to the emperor. I am welcome anywhere I am needed. Today, that is here.”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Luz swallowed hard before placing a hand on Amity’s shoulder and reflexively pulling her back. After all, Amity had a lot more to lose if she got in trouble with Belos than Luz did. “Look, I haven’t done anything wrong. Again. I think. So why are you here?”

Kikimora took her time thinking about how to respond, though it was mostly to mess with the two. She didn’t really want to be here herself but as she was here she should at least have some fun. “Emperor Belos wishes for unity amongst his subjects and so wishes for a peace offering to you. And, uh, you.” She said the last parts while pointing at each girl individually. As she did, the coven soldier pulled out a large, perfectly frosted, five layer chocolate cake.

Luz immediately began salivating at the almost sparkling cake before she rapidly shook her head to clear it. She then was stopped by Amity from pointing at Kikimora because the serious girl knew all too well that it was a miracle that no one was reacting to the coven member, let alone the emperor’s assistant. That didn’t stop Luz from practically growling out, “If he wants to make peace, then I think he should be giving this to Eda, don’t you?”

Kikimora shut her eye and had to force herself to remember that Belos told her they’d resist and speak against him. Their words were too weak to matter though and should just be ignored. How that didn’t also mean they shouldn’t just ignore them she didn’t understand but she wasn’t emperor. “Emperor Belos has deemed it more important to see unity between the two of you as a higher priority than making amends with The Owl Lady.”

Both Luz and Amity turned a touch red before Amity waved her hand in front of herself. “N-now why would unity be important with us? We’re united already after all. The best of friends even.”

Luz nodded and wrapped an arm around Amity’s shoulders as she added, “Yep! Two peas in a banana!”

Kiki half closed her eye as she looked at them before simply saying, “Please kiss and take your cake so I can go home.”

Both girl’s faces turned bright red as they immediately parted from each other and tried to form some sort of words while pointing at themselves, each other, and really anywhere else their hands wanted to. Amity, having far more experience in this sort of panicked state, managed to say something. “Us? Kiss? No. That’s absurd. Only in my dream- Our! No one’s! Yep! No one wants th- Oh, what was that Principle Bump? Coming!”

Principle Bump looked up from where he sat at the far end of the cafeteria and watched as Amity booked it in the other direction before shrugging and going back to his apple blood. He wasn’t one to get involved in his student’s romantic lives, no matter how cute the two looked together.

Luz on the other hand, now free of Amity being right there, looked back at Kiki. “A-And, um, uh, yeah! I mean, we’re friends! Just friends. And we don’t need your stupid cake!” She then took a step away.

And then looked back.

And then grabbed the cake as she glared at the now very annoyed demoness. “I’m only taking this because it’s rude to refuse a gift.”

Kikimora took in a very, very slow breath before looking at the guard above her. “We’re done here, Steve. Hopefully Emperor Belos will see reason once he hears how infuriatingly simple these two are.”

He did not. In fact, he was even rumored to have chuckled. No witnesses will confirm this.