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"Move," I ordered.

"Fine," she grumbled, stepping to the side and folding her arms.

Grabbing a rag, I pulled the pot from the stove, then turned to the mess of vegetables.

Shaking my head, I took her knife and picked up the first massive carrot chunk. "I can't believe you don't know how to cook, Witch."

She glared at me with that bewitching face of hers, and my chest twisted uncomfortably.

"I'm not great in the kitchen," she said. "But so what? I'm good at other things."

"But you love food," I insisted. "It's like if someone was obsessed with watches but refused to learn to read time! Why?!" I positioned the tubers in a neat row and sliced them in equal bits. "Beyond that — how will you feed yourself when you're free? Or are you planning to starve?"

She narrowed her too-beautiful eyes at me. "Maybe I'll just find myself a good-looking man who loves to cook —" She cut off, eyes going wide as she looked at the growing pile of neatly chopped vegetables.

I resisted the smirk trying to work its way onto my face as she cleared her throat awkwardly, blush deepening.

"You think that's funny, do you?" she asked. "Well,myman will be funny andkind. Definitelynota grumpy asshole like you."

Her words lodged in my chest with a painful twist, but I forced myself to shrug. "Whatever makes you happy. Now, stop pestering me and go make yourself useful."

With a huff, she stepped away from the table and looked around. "What about tea? I know how to make that." She strode to the saddle bags and withdrew a small kettle, some little bags, and a satchel of tea. "Would the grumpy asslike a cup?"

"He would," I said with a small smile. It had been a while, but I did like tea. In fact, Jaiel and I used to enjoy a cup together occasionally.

Fuck.

Jaiel was considered attractive. And he was funny andkind. And dammit if he wasn't also the one who got me into cooking.

The Witch must have been thinking about him …

"Have you heard from him?" I asked, moving on to the graiel meat. "Jaiel, I mean."

Kaiya froze, squeezing the tea bags in her hands. "I — I don't know. Sometimes I have these dreams about him, but" — her expression fell — "no, I haven't seen or heard from him since that night at the shifter stronghold."

Part of me felt relief, but a bigger part was worried about my friend, andallof me ached at the look of worry on her face.

"I'm sure he's okay," I said, voice rough. "He's tough."

She nodded, but her feistiness was gone as she filled the bags of tea in silence.

Damn my jealousy! I shouldn't have asked. It was almost pleasant there for a moment —

"Did you know him well?" Her voice was soft, almost quiet.

I slowed my work seasoning the meat, debating how to reply. I didn't want to talk about the prince, but it was my fault for bringing him up. And talking to her was never as painful as it was with other people.

"I knewofhim, back when I was a kid at the orphanage and when we went to the King's academy," I said, words halting. "But he was kept away from the other students most of the time. It wasn't until he was injured a couple years ago while on a mission that I really got to know him. Lynn was stubborn about me needingto make more friends and he was stuck in the infirmary. So, when I lost a stupid bet, she forced me to visit him as her prize."

"And?" Kaiya asked, eyes fixed on me.

The attention made my body warm and my chest tight, but I knew it was forhim,not me. The thought made me want to smash the table. But that wouldn't help anything. So, I poured the growing frustration into the stew.

It would be fucking delicious. And her moan of contentment as she tasted it would beallmine.

"And … he was every bit the selfish prick I expected," I snapped. "At least at the start. Near the end of the visit, though, his terrible parents came up, and he told me some of what he'd been through as a child."

Memories of him recounting how they'd abandoned him to the Kings and all thoseexperimentsthe Empire had done on him filled my mind, softening the frustration in my gut just as it had back then.