Page 41

Forty

Lira swept the back of her hand across her damp brow as she pulled a cake pan from the new oven, setting it on the top of the stove with a satisfied clatter. There was no smoke, no smell of soot, no odd clang as it heated.

She used one of Val’s knit squares to transfer the pan to the worktable, pleased by the brown, crackled top of the cake. The blast from the oven had brought with it the aroma of apple cider, and Lira felt reasonably confident that she’d replicated her gran’s apple cider cake recipe.

“Yes, yes,” she muttered to Crumpet as he sat grooming his fluffy white tail on the windowsill. “I made the cake that Korl mentioned.” She held up a finger. “But don’t you start too.”

Crumpet chittered at her, chittered at the oven, and then twitched his whiskers at the cake.

“It’s good to have something else to serve now that I’ve gotten meat pies and scones well in hand.” She wilted under Crumpet’s gaze. “But yes, the first cake is going to Korl and his dads for the new stove, especially since they refused payment.”

Korl and his father had been leaving the kitchen when she and Sass had returned to the tavern. She and Sass had both tried to offer payment to Korl and Vorto, but neither had entertained the thought.

“It’s a gift,” Korl had insisted. “You don’t pay for a gift.”

Sass had elbowed her, and she’d elbowed the dwarf back hard enough for her to stumble through the swinging doors.

Maybe her friend was right. Maybe Korl was trying to woo her by repairing the oven and mending the roof and making her a new stove. Then again, it could just be him being nice. Either way, they were the nicest things anyone had done for her in a long time, and if Lira had been in the right headspace to think about being wooed, she’d be flattered. But she’d been on her own for so long that it was hard to imagine any other way.

Even when she’d run with a crew, she’d stayed free from attachments. Pirrin might have taken up with a buxom widow or strapping sailor in almost every village they passed through, and Rog had a wife tucked away safe in a gnome enclave, but she’d never formed attachments. She knew all too well that loving someone meant risking your heart, and she had her fill of risk on their quests.

“So, that’s what smells so good.” Val pushed through the doors, her ball of yarn and knitting needles in one large hand.

Lira tried to mask her surprise at seeing the woman venture beyond her seat at the hearth. She held up the knit squares. “Your short scarves work like a charm. Thanks again.”

Val nodded and gestured to the cake. “No scones today?”

“Don’t worry. There will be scones. This is a cake that my gran made for Korl and his dads years ago. I made it as a thank you for the new stove since they won’t take payment.” Lira looked back at the cast iron oven. “I think I’m going to need to make a lot more cakes to properly thank them.”

Val rested her palms on the worktable. “I’m sure they’ll love the cake, but Korl didn’t do it for baked goods.”

Lira hesitated as she grasped the sides the cake with the short scarves so she could flip it over onto a plate.

“He did it because he likes to see you happy.”

Now this surprised Lira, and she stared at Val. ”He told you that?”

Val let loose a throaty laugh. “He doesn’t have to. We’ve been friends so long that I know what he’s thinking, which is good because he isn’t much for talking.”

“I guess he isn’t.”

“Don’t be fooled by his quiet ways.” She tapped her temple with one finger. “Korl has a lot going on up there. It just gets muddled going from his brain to his mouth. That’s why he doesn’t talk much. That, and he gets nervous around people he doesn’t know well or apparently women he likes.”

“You mean…?”

Val straightened and folded her arms across the quilted armor covering her chest. “Are you saying you haven’t figure it out?”

There had been few times in Lira’s life when she’d felt truly foolish, but this was one of them. “I thought that you two might be—”

Before she’d finished her sentence, the woman slapped a hand on her knee and cackled. “Me and Korl? Not likely. I love the orc like a brother, especially since we grew up together. We stick close because he doesn’t understand social niceties, so I try to smooth the way.” She gave Lira a sly wink. “Besides, Korl isn’t exactly my type.”

Suddenly, it all made sense to Lira, and her cheeks flamed with embarrassment for ever thinking Val was anything but a friend to Korl. The fact that she’d been jealous of his best friend made her want to sink in to the floor.

“You aren’t the first person who’s thought we were together, though,” Val said. “It took the other guards a while to get that we were nothing but best mates. I get it. I finish the guy’s sentences for him.”

Lira gave her a grateful smile. “I think I might owe you a cake, too.”

Val threw back her head and laughed at this. “You don’t, but I won’t fight you about it.”

Then Val caught sight of Crumpet, who hadn’t run from the kitchen when the woman had entered, although his wings were tucked flat enough to his side that they weren’t noticeable. “So Korl wasn’t making it up when he said you had a furry assistant. I thought he might be casting unfair aspersions on Sass.”

Lira couldn’t help grinning at that. “That would be unfair, since Sass doesn’t even sport a small beard.”

“If anyone could pull it off, though…” Val hiked a thumb toward the great room. “Well, I’d better be off.” She held up the orange ball that was significantly smaller than it had been a few days ago, no doubt thanks to making the oven scarves. “Think about what I said. Korl might take more effort, but he’s worth it.”

“Thanks, Val.”

The woman glanced at the cake. “You want me to take that to Korl and his dads? I’m on my way there now.”

“Would you?” Lira would have preferred to deliver it herself, but she still had supper to get through.

Val took the cake but paused in the doorway between the kitchen, letting out a low whistle as something caught her eye in the great room. “Now if I was the kind of woman who fell for men, he would be one I’d fall for.”

“I thought you weren’t into Korl.”

“I’m not talking about Korl. I’m talking about the hot Tiefling who just walked in.”

Lira stiffened. Tiefling?