Chapter 2I had long preferred my food hot, and since the kitchen was a vast distance from the Great Hall, meals were almost always cold by the time they reached the table, especially in winter. Not long after arriving at Whitehall I had taken to eating in the kitchen, and making myself pleasing to the cooks because, being pleasing got me more of what I wanted. The cooks, bakers, kitchen girls, and lads, all liked me, especially Marian, so I always sat on the bench at the table where she prepared the soups, stews, and bread, leaving the fancier cooking to others.
She doled a ladle of beef and parsnip soup into a bowl and cut a thick slice of bread for me from the ravelled loaf. With my dagger, I slathered butter on it.
“There now, Master Alleyne, you eat that. Though I don’t know why you
