A dubious feast

Surely it ought to have been a huge honor to get the opportunity to taste food prepared by Queen Iola herself, especially for any aspiring chef. When they received the exclusive invitation to attend a banquet hosted at the palace, Jayla had been beyond excited for her and Ninim to get to attend such an event, and they had both been buzzing about it for weeks.

But now, as a sharply dressed attendant placed a bowl in front of her with a look of pity on their face, her excitement quickly faded.

The dish looked... nothing short of grotesque, she had to admit. The color was strange, the texture slimy, and she could swear she could hear the meat begging for mercy due to how hopelessly overcooked it was.

Now, Jayla was no stranger to foods that tasted much better than they looked, in fact some of the best food she'd ever eaten hadn't looked exactly appetizing... But the odor wafting up from the bowl and stinging her nostrils did not inspire much confidence that this was one of those situations.

She exchanged a glance with Ninim questioning if it was too late to bail as an equally unappetizing serving was placed in front of her girlfriend. Unfortunately, the royal couple had already arrived, and thus it was, in fact, too late to bail.

Jayla tried her hardest not to make a face as she poked at the surface of her serving and it jiggled, for crying out loud. Ninim popped a bubble on the surface of hers with her spoon, causing a puff of steam to rise into the air.

Jayla could have sworn it briefly took the shape of a skull before dissipating.

The Royal Couple rose from their seats at the head of the table and Queen Iola daintily pinged her wine glass to get everyone's attention.

"Welcome, all my wonderful guests! I'm so happy you all took the time out of your busy schedules to be here today and enjoy this meal together. Today's dish is my specialty, and a long-time favorite of my wonderful husband,"

She beamed at King Nero by her side, who adoringly looked back at her, but as Iola returned her attention to the attendees, Jayla caught his expression morphing into what could only be described as a silent cry for help.

The Queen continued: "I took special care to make this dish extra special and prepared it all myself, so I really do hope you all enjoy it! Please, don't hold back and feel free to dig in!"

With that, the rulers once again took their seats.

Jayla felt a pang of guilt as the Queen smiled so brightly at everyone, clearly so proud of her work and eager to see everyone enjoy their meal. It was at that moment that she resolved that she would eat the entire bowl of grotesque stew, for the sake of the Queen. Reinvigorated, she dunked her spoon into the stew and scooped up some of Iola's... Creative culinary concoction.

As she brought the spoon up, she looked around the table to avoid having to look at whatever the hell she was about to put in her mouth. Some of her fellow attendees were still apprehensively staring down their helpings of stew, while some of those who had already begun to eat were quickly starting to turn a bit green around the nose. A few seats down, someone gagged, and Jayla half expected them to drop dead face first into their plate from being pierced by King Nero's positively murderous glare.

The offender quickly masked their retching with a cough. The Queen appeared none the wiser as she gleefully enjoyed her own portion, and Nero next to her continued to choke down his own, trying his darndest to not make a face.

No longer able to procrastinate without arousing suspicion and worried hesitating another moment would risk drawing the King's wrath to herself next, Jayla steeled herself against the undoubted atrocity she was about to commit against her palate, and brought the spoon to her lips.

Oh, this was a fucking mistake.