The thought sent a pang to her heart. As much as it felt right to be here, she still missed her Coven.
“Yes,” Ty said. “You want to see it? I’m sure Lara won’t mind.”
Ena nodded enthusiastically, so Ty placed his hand on her lower back, leading her through the archway. There was another small passageway with several rooms that must have been bedrooms branching off of it, but at the back was another open archway leading into a small, unusual kitchen.
Darkrock lanterns lit the space, which was filled with a wooden island, and two large stone countertops, carved rightinto the wall of the cave. They were hollowed out underneath, with two large metal boxes installed in the empty space.
The metal boxes looked almost like square cauldrons, but they had a door on the front, and they seemed to be putting off heat, because it was warmer in here than the other rooms.
Lara was standing in front of one, stirring a pot that was placed on top of it. It looked to be the source of the delectable smell, and Ena found herself fascinated yet again.
“What are those?” she asked, pointing at the metal boxes that seemed to emanate heat.
“Stoves,” Ty explained. “They’re forged out of metal, and then we burn darkrock inside to create heat to cook on. That one’s for pots and pans,” Ty said, gesturing towards where Lara was stirring. “And that one’s like an oven,” Ty added, pointing at the other one that had several doors on it, presumably to place goods for baking.
“Wow. Does everyone’s chambers have those?” Ena asked. That seemed like a significant feat of engineering to create the stoves and carve the counters right into the wall.
“No,” Lara said, chiming in from where she stood cooking dinner. “The upper level daemons, including my father, are usually served by the king’s kitchen, and the mid-level andimperieach have a communal kitchen they use. We had a special one installed here because of my position.”
“Lara is the overseer of the kitchens. She handles the rationing for each one, and the planning for celebrations,” Ty explained.
“But don’t think I’m too domestic,” Lara said, smiling at his description of her. “I can still kick your ass in the fighting ring.”
Ty laughed at that, but Ena was confused.
“Fighting ring?” she asked.
But before anyone could respond, they were interrupted by a huge dog that came from behind them, barreling right into Ty’s legs.
“Cerberus!” Ty cried, bending down to scratch the dog’s ear.
Ena took it back. “Huge” was an understatement. The dog could’ve been a small deer. It was black, with a sleek coat, and large flopping ears. Ena had to dodge its whip-like tail as it wagged ceaselessly at Ty.
That’s when Ena realized—this was no ordinary dog, not like the ones the mortal villagers kept to scare away predators from their chicken coops.
It was a hellhound.
“He’s missed you, you know,” Lara said, coming over to pat the hound on the head. “But he does get an enormous amount of attention from the children, especially Leela, who likes to try and ride him,” Lara said, smiling fondly.
Having gotten his fill of Ty for the time being, the large dog fixated his black nose on Ena, sniffing her up and down, likely confused by her new scent mixing with that of Lara’s clothing. She cautiously reached out to pet his head, and he leaned into her, nearly knocking her over with his weight. She couldn’t help but laugh. All the horrifying things she’d been told about hellhounds—that they were vicious creatures who did daemons’ bidding and hunted small children in the night—well, they certainly did not add up to this picture of an oversized puppy that just wanted pets.
“Cerberus is your hellhound?” Ena asked Ty, trying to satiate the dog’s need for scratches.
“Yeah, he’s been mine since my father passed, but Lara and Steig take care of him for me now, since I’m gone so often,” he explained.
It struck Ena then how much she still had to learn about Ty. He had such a full life here. A history she would never fully understand. What else didn’t she know?
“Okay, time for dinner,” Lara announced, dragging Ena from her thoughts. “Cerberus, you get,” she said, shooing the houndaway with her free hand. “You already got your dinner, you big monster.” In the other hand, she carried a large metal pot.
Ena and Ty followed her out to the table. While they’d been in the kitchen, someone had set it with metal plates, cups, and spoons.
Steig and Turner already sat at the table, wrangling the younger ones into their seats. Meanwhile, an older child, about eight years old, appeared from down the hallway carrying their youngest, a toddler with the same dark-red hair as Lara.
“Dada!” the littlest one shouted, running over to Steig and climbing into his lap. He obliged her, smiling softly as she perched on his knee.
As everyone sat around the table, Lara dished out what looked like a venison stew into each of the children’s bowls before serving herself. Then each of the adults served themselves in turn.
It smelled delicious, filled with carrots, onions, and potatoes, and a slightly different combination of herbs than Ena was used to.
