"I was and it was," Dominique confirmed flatly, had been too careful not to speak much of his time employed by the Versailles lest he gave away how fond he'd been of working for the palace, and the woman he'd become had no such history to speak of. "I specialized in decorating cakes and baking all sorts of breads, though I often helped with the more elaborate meals for special banquets and holidays." He created some artful masterpieces, things that the enraged public would scorn as wasteful. A talent that had become shameful to have, embodying everything that caused outcry.
Anymore information he didn't feel too comfortable sharing with the man he hardly knew, had been betrayed by somebody he had already trusted who apparently held bitterness over the favoritism the queen had shown him versus those who felt more entitled to the same treatment. He'd almost been overlooked as somebody of no consequence when the palace had been raided until another chef had thrown his name out in order to save himself. All because he had openly spoke of his appreciation, he'd been considered a conspirator against the state.
It'd been an opportunity typically not afforded to somebody of his class, but what he lacked in connections he made up in talent and a gentle sort of awkwardness that somehow endeared the queen. She'd been good to him with appointments and promotions through the years, the benefits worth the endless work, but now he couldn't defend her nor show any sort of gratitude.
He wasn't so sure how loyal his husband was to the Revolution, how tied up in politics he was, though he seemed just as quiet and stiff in front of Benjamin as he had. He didn't know why it was this man his brother had chosen to marry him off to, wondering which one of them was really selected to save the other. He'd never been on any particularly good terms with his brother, who made his opinion on the source of Dominique's income quite clear from the beginning with skepticism, but had at least quietened over time as it became essential to keeping their entire family fed. Dominique really wouldn't be surprised if it was the monk's head that Benjamin was more concerned with saving in this arrangement.
"There's something lighter and happier about the piano. The organ is beautiful, but its weight drags down the spirit," he expressed, thinking a lot about the church was depressing. Less celebratory than something of its nature should be. "I never learned to be particularly good at it, though. But who has time for that sort of thing, now?" Being thrown in with the rest of the struggling masses was humbling, in a way. "You do miss it though, the monastery. I know you don't want to be here with me."