Chiiirp. Chiii. Ch.
Lowering his head, Rían breathed against my cheek. I raked my fingers through his hair, holding on a moment longer, but a burnt smell was tickling the back of my throat, and I couldn’t stop my cough.
“We can pick this up later.” I kissed his chin. “After we stop them from burning down the house.”
Grumbling under his breath, he pulled back and stood, reaching down to help me to my feet.
Hand in hand, we approached the kitchen with caution and found all the doors and windows thrown open.
“Ana.”Goldie barreled straight at me. “We made you pancakes.”
The plate in her hands held five black discs, and I noticed a second dish on the stove piled high too.
“They’re to commemorate your first solo fire summoning.” Sloane turned her face into her shoulder, but I saw her smile. “From what Liam told me, it’s an accurate representation of the ornamental hedges slain during battle.” She almost twisted her head off her neck trying to hide her tears, but her body betrayed her as she shook with laughter. “Your heroism will not soon be forgotten.”
“There’s bacon too.” Liam selected a charred squiggle off a greasy paper towel. “Want some?”
Nausea roiled in my stomach at the goop congealing the crispy edges, and had Goldie not been gazing at me with so much pride in her work, I might have torn a page from her book and dove out a window to avoid spending the day sucking down Pepto.
“Those pancakes look delicious.” Rían stepped up beside me. “Can I have some?”
“You’ll have to ask Ana.” Goldie linked her fingers at her navel. “They’reallfor her.”
Dear God in heaven, say it ain’t so.
As Rían claimed half the stack off my plate, a twist in my chest warned I was falling for him. Fast. And not only because he was willing to suffer gastric distress with me.
“Wait.” I lifted the rest of the pancakes like a sandwich. “We’ll do it together.”
“On the count of three,” he agreed, tapping his against mine. “One. Two?—”
Before I clocked his intentions, he struck out, biting down on my stack and ripping them from my hands. He threw his head back while crunching and crunching and crunching and then swallowing them with an audible gulp that left him choking black flecks onto his lips.
Unable to bear the idea of him suffering alone, I snatched his portion from his hands and shoved them in my mouth before he could stop me. Teeth grinding, I urged my aching jaw to hold out a little longer then braced for what came next. Swallowing took a few tries, but then I croaked, “Three.”
“That’s true love right there.” Sloane elbowed Liam in the ribs. “Now I kind of feel bad for paying Goldie five bucks to go along with the joke.”
Bitter char coated the inside of my mouth as I set my sights on her. “This was ajoke?”
Goldie, smart girl that she was, stole my idea and beat a hasty retreat through the nearest open window, which was what I should have done as soon as I set my sights on breakfast.
“Um.” Sloane hid behind Liam. “He told me to do it.”
“You little liar.” He wrestled with her, shoving her in front of him as a shield. “It was her idea.”
Rían and I exchanged a weighted glance. Nodded. We knew what we had to do.
Busy bickering and wrestling, they didn’t notice I took a hefty stack of pancakes and left Rían the bacon. I waited until Sloane clinched Liam in a headlock, until she threw back her head in a victorious laugh, to cram every last scrap in her mouth.
Liam used the distraction to break free and lunged toward the nearest door.
Too bad for him, Rían caught him, hooked his elbow around Liam’s throat, and yanked his cousin against his chest. As soon as Liam opened his mouth to protest, Rían stuffed a dozen brittle strips of bacon in his mouth, smearing grease on his lips, then clamped his hand over his lower face, forcing him to swallow or choke.
Standing over our victims, who hit their knees to plead for orange juice, Rían and I watched them claw at their throats, moaning. As soon as they realized no help was coming, they rolled onto their backs, arms and legs twitching like dead bugs.
“Ana.” Rían extended his hand to me. “Would you care to join me for a walk?”
“That sounds lovely.” I meshed our fingers, and we left the house. “Did you have somewhere in mind?”
