“She wouldn’t have to make more if you didn’t eat like you were Ned.”
The pup perked his head up at the sound of his name, pink tongue lolling.
“She doesn’t mind,” Eilie spoke for me because I wasn’t wading into those waters. I had no idea how to sibling. I barely knew how to human most days.
Anise tossed another plate of food onto the table. “You can ignore my offspring. They settle down once they have food.” Relief flooded through me and then panic surged right back up when she said, “So tell me how you and Declan met.”
Emergency! Get in here before the questions get even worse!
She smiled fondly at a memory. “Did he try the ‘ole I’ll woo you through the bond trick?”
I froze. We hadn’t really coordinated a story more than the truth: that our friends threw us together. But mysudden panic wasn’t for that. It was the “through the bond” part. Mates were supposed to have some sort of link. Is that what happened in the temple? Did all this fake horsing around bond us somehow? I couldn’t bond with anyone! I was a mess.
“Fate threw us together.” There, that sounded sufficiently magical.
“That’s how I felt too when I met Draven - like the Fates struck us both,” Anise said.
None of my panic must have been shining in my eyes because Anise was still talking while I nodded. She told me some story about her and her mate but my mind kept bleating like a stuck sheep.
Declan!
What happened in the temple… the accidental orgasm. I had to call it that because what was the alternative? Was that some sort of wolfie tactic on Declan’s part? The man was the least tactical person I had ever met, but he could be single-minded in his goals. We had that in common. But what goal? Surely he wasn’t so innocent as to think trading orgasms counted as a way to relax.
“And by the end of the night, I was laughing until I cried. They’re not all terrible memories of him.”
I nodded like the stupid girl I was as Declan bounced into the kitchen in his wolf form, knocking Briggs backwards out of her chair. The tussle had her shifting to snap and snarl at him with more sound than fury. Anise threw a dish towel at Declan. That piledeveryone out of the house to either watch the fight or participate. I wasn’t sure. Ned barked his fool head off, though.
“Shut your sauce-box, you’ll wake the neighbors.,” Anise shouted, adding to the ruckus.
Take all the time you need, Honey.I’ll deal with these hooligans. They can get Krystall Whitewolf’s friends talking to me. Maybe it will give us a new lead.
How was he so good at that? Just when everything was about to fall to pieces, Declan always knew how to make the situation better. I turned back to Anise.
She smiled at her children retreating out the door. “Back to work, as my son reminds me.”
Anise had me repeat basic recipes to her. Then flavor pairings. Her knowledge of how pairs influenced other pairs began to make sense. Time baked around us until I reached the limit of my memorization. The sun glowed behind the mountains again. Anise stopped before my brain grew truly fuzzy.
“Tomorrow I can write out a few more obscure pairings for you to think about. Not to pile onto a dish, but so you know when you make a simple one, what will shine.”
I ran my hand through the flour on the table, thinking. “What if you don’t know the parts of a dish? Can you still separate them, manipulate them?”
Anise formed dumplings out of the flour. Then she set out a bowl and it slowly filled with the broth she called. “It takes practice but, yes, you can. Eventually you’re notthinking about them, you’re changing the intent of the thing and your magic is following that intent.”
I stood there, shock rooting me to the floor. I had never attempted to make something out of nothing. Manipulating food took enough energy. A shiver of dread went through me. Anise endeavored to show me slowly, in comprehensive steps, but the level of her magic was off the charts. No pot, pan, or bowl contained her if she really wanted to use her magic.
She tapped my cramping hands, forcing them down. “It can be overwhelming. Take your time with it. You want it right and repeatable. Not fast.”
I attempted to come up with an intelligent question. “How far can you change something?”
She shrugged, cleaning up the workspace. “As far as your will allows.”
“Can you encourage herbs to grow?” I already knew how to make their flavor more robust so maybe that was just ultra growing.
“Yes. You can ripen fruit and bring an herb to peak freshness.” She let me smell the dried basil she had revived.
“Can you kill an animal for its meat?”
I meant it as a straightforward question about pork chops but Anise stiffened all over. What did I say?
