Dressed in her usual attire, skinny jeans and a comfy light blue sweater, Lora went on a search for food. Since crossing over, she had barely eaten anything. She was wary of any food Eyden had offered and had settled for only eating the plain bread he had given her.
When she opened the fridge, she didn’t see many options. She had already opened every drawer in the kitchen so she knew there wasn’t much food there either except for more bread and some items she didn’t recognise.
Her stomach rumbled loudly and that was all the motivation she needed to get to it. She found a pan and took out the eggs from the fridge. Lora hadn’t inherited her mum’s cooking skills, but even she could make an omelette if need be.
Placing the pan on the gas stove, she took a look at the dials and noticed it didn’t seem the same as she was used to. She turned it up anyway and a small flame appeared. Satisfied, Lora cracked open an egg and watched it sizzle in the pan, her stomach turning in anticipation.
The sound of jingling keys made her turn to the door just as Eyden walked in. His gaze landed on her but quickly shifted to the stove behind her.
“Fuck!” he shouted as he rushed towards her.
Lora turned back around in confusion and her fingers almost grazed the now burning pan. She let out a surprised gasp and took a step back on instinct and bumped into Eyden, who pushed her to the side. He switched off the stove and grabbed the pan, dumping it into the sink as he let cold water extinguish the flames.
“I leave you alone for a few hours and you decide to burn down my apartment?” He looked furious, but was that amusement she could hear underneath the anger?
“I was making an omelette.” Said omelette was now a black blob of nothing, drowning in water.
Eyden gave her a look as if to sayplease elaborate.
“I didn’t even turn up the heat that much. I think you should check your stove. It’s clearly malfunctioning.”
“Did you press the confirm button?” Eyden asked, eyes roaming over the kitchen.
“The what?”
“The stove is spelled to quickly increase heat until you confirm the temperature.”
Lora didn’t understand why he felt the need to spell a stove. The concept was utterly foreign to her. And how had he managed it? It must be the work of a witch. The wordwitchmade her pause. As far as she knew, witches were all but extinct. The fae saw them as unnatural. While humans were simply unblessed by the fae’s gods, witches were cursed beings who were either used by fae to do their bidding and create spells or killed off. Lora wondered if Eyden acquired spelled items through the black market.
“Well, that’s…stupid,” she concluded.
“How exactly is it stupid? It’s much faster and practical than whatever stoves you use.”
“It’s a fire hazard.”
“Only if you don’t know how to use it.”
Why would she? It’s not like history books talked about such insignificant things as stoves. “If you’re waiting for an apology, you’ll get none. I was hungry. Did you want me to starve?”
Eyden grabbed a bar of soap and began washing his hands. There was soot all over him. Only now did Lora realise he had grabbed the pan with no hesitation. It hadn’t left a wound behind. If it had burned him, he didn’t show it and it must already be healed.
“I know humans are pretty fragile, but as far as I know, dying of starvation takes more time than that.”
“Still need to eat,” she replied dryly. For once, she was in no mood to argue.
“That’s your great comeback?” Eyden turned off the tap and dried his hands. “Disappointing, but you’ll be happy to know that I’ve actually considered that.”
He walked back to the door. Lora noticed that his duffle bag from earlier was lying forgotten on the floor. Eyden moved his bag to the kitchen table. Lora regarded it with curiosity as he unknotted the top. He pulled out two small bowls, the tops covered with paper.
“Here you go,” he said.
The smell of food invaded Lora’s senses as Eyden removed the covers and revealed some sort of rice and vegetable dish. Eyden handed her a wooden spoon. She made no move to eat.
“I thought you were starving.” Eyden looked at her expectantly, then lightly shook his head in frustration. He grabbed a spoon full of food from her bowl, ate it quickly, and caught her surprised glare. “See, no poison or whatever you’re thinking of.”
“It doesn’t prove anything. What if it doesn’t affect you because you’re fae?”
Eyden stared at her. “You’re impossible, you know that, right? Starve if you want to, but can you do it after our deal is done?”
