It is the scepter from the novel.
Not the anime version.
The real one.
He dusts it lightly with silver luster dust, just enough to make it catch the light.
“Here,” he says, holding it up.
Maya gasps. “It’s… It’s perfect. It’s the real one. The Kael scepter!”
I just stare.
Because it is perfect.
And because I do not know what to do with the fact that my disaster employee has just solved a problem I did not even realize existed.
I take the fruit leather scepter from him. My fingers brush his, quick and accidental, and I refuse to catalog the sensation. I place it against the side of the black, glittering cake with the careful precision of a surgeon.
Then, together, we scatter his lumpy purple stars across the galaxy.
We step back.
It is not the fondant monster from the phone.
It is better.
It is a Sunrise and Salt cake. All heart. Full of imperfections. Anchored by a perfectly nerdy, accurate fruit leather scepter and a hundred uneven, loving stars.
Maya starts crying again, but this time the tears are joy.
“It’s the best cake I’ve ever seen,” she whispers.
Then she darts around the counter and hugs me with full force, burying her face in my flour-dusted apron.
I freeze.
My entire body locks up.
I am not a hugger. I am a person who weaponizes efficiency and personal space.
After a long, deeply awkward second, I pat her back like she might bolt at any moment.
“Ok, kid,” I mutter. “Don’t… don’t smudge the buttercream.”
Maya’s mom is crying too now. She digs into her wallet, hands shaking. “You don’t understand what this means to her. To us. Maya has been through a lot this year, and seeing her smile like that…” Her voice breaks. “Please. Name your price. Anything.”
I glance at the clock.
4:32 p.m.
I am exhausted. Flour, purple buttercream, and silver luster dust coat every surface. The bakery looks like it survived a small, glamorous explosion.
“It’s… ten dollars,” I say, my voice rough. “For the scepter.”
“That’s ridiculous,” she says, but she does not argue. She stuffs a crumpled hundred-dollar bill into the tip jar. “Thank you. Thank you both.”
They leave with Maya clutching the cake box like it is the Holy Grail, chattering nonstop about Lord Kael and how this is the best birthday of her life.
