Waking Up As The Guild's Favorite: Space and Time Charmer

CHAPTER 9: COOKING RIVALRY

CHAPTER 9: COOKING RIVALRY

"Fine!" Feilon slammed his hand on the counter. "We'll settle this like adults! We both cook, and Little Sprout picks the winner!"

"Fine," Ace agreed.

"What?" I said.

"You pick the winner," they said together, and then they glared at each other for speaking at the same time.

I opened my mouth to refuse, but I was already too late.

The kitchen exploded into action.

Feilon went first. He seized a heavy pot and slammed it onto the stove, then raised both hands, and flames burst from his palms in a swirling ring.

"Fire Wall!"

The fire surged up like a curtain, wrapping around the pot and sealing it inside a glowing barrier so that the stew inside started bubbling almost instantly. With a flick of his fingers, little sparks danced across the vegetables, searing them on all sides without burning, and the smell of roasted onions and garlic filled the room.

"That's cheating! You're using your charm for cooking!" Lainey shouted from her chair.

"It's called efficiency!" Feilon shouted back, grinning like a maniac.

Ace, on the other hand, stayed calm. He picked up a bowl of fresh berries, ran his fingertips over the rim, and a thin sheet of frost spread across the surface, turning the juice into a glittering sorbet.

"Winter Veil," he murmured, and a cool mist drifted over the counter, chilling everything it touched.

He moved quickly but quietly, and every motion was precise, from the way he sliced the fruit to the way he arranged the petals on top.

The two of them worked side by side, but never in the same space. Whenever Feilon's fire crept too close to Ace's workstation, a small Ice Wall rose between them with a crisp c***k, and whenever Ace's frost spread too far, Feilon would snort and send a burst of heat to melt it back.

"Stop freezing my counter!"

"Stop heating my sorbet."

"I'm not heating it!"

"It's melting."

"Boys!" Flora called, rescuing her teapot just before a stray flame could reach it.

"If either of you burns or freezes my kitchen, you're both washing dishes for a month!"

"Yes, Flora," they said at the same time.

I covered my mouth with the blanket, because I was trying very hard not to laugh. I couldn't remember the last time I had wanted to laugh, in this life or the last one.

Half an hour later, the kitchen was a battlefield. There was a thin layer of frost on one wall and a scorch mark on the ceiling, and two dishes sat in front of me on a small table. One was a thick golden-brown stew, rich and steaming, with chunks of tender meat and soft vegetables. The other was a delicate bowl of berry sorbet with tiny flowers made of ice and sugar, glittering in the light.

"Taste mine first," Feilon said, thrusting a spoon into my hand.

"No, mine," Ace said.

"Ladies first, you cold block of ice."

"She's a lady, and I'm saying she goes with mine."

"That's not what ladies first means!"

I took a spoonful of the stew before they could start another war. It was hot, savory, and full of warmth, and I could feel it spread through my chest and into my fingertips, like Feilon's Flame Hug had been stirred straight into the broth. Then I took a bite of the sorbet, and it was cool and sweet and smooth, with a gentle tartness that made my whole body feel light, like fresh snow melting on the tongue.

They were both watching me with the most intense expressions I had ever seen on two grown men.

"Well?" Feilon demanded.

"Well," Ace echoed quietly, though his hands were gripping the edge of the counter.

I looked at the stew, and I looked at the sorbet, and I realized there was no right answer. If I picked one, the other would be crushed, and I didn't want to hurt either of them.

"They're both really good," I said at last.

"That's not an answer!" Feilon groaned.

"It's the truth."

"You have to pick one!"

"Why?"

"Because that's how a contest works!"

"Then it's a tie," I said calmly.

Feilon opened his mouth, closed it, and finally slumped over the counter like a deflated balloon.

"She's too nice. Ace, tell her she's too nice."

"She's right," Ace said softly. There was a tiny, almost invisible smile on his lips, and it was the first one I had seen him wear.

"They're both good."

"Traitor!"

Everyone laughed, even Mr. Shrolm, who had just wandered in to see what the noise was about, and I laughed too. It was small and quiet, but it still bubbled up from deep inside me, and I felt my cheeks warm.

Then, without thinking, I looked at both of them and said, "Thank you for cooking for me. I'll make it up to you somehow."

The laughter stopped.

Feilon's grin faded into something surprisingly soft, and Ace's eyes lifted to meet mine. Lainey looked at Flora, and Flora looked at Mr. Shrolm, and I suddenly realized that I had just said the wrong thing again.

"Little Sprout, don't ever say that again, okay?" Feilon said slowly, and he crouched beside my chair so that we were eye to eye.

"Say what?"

"That you'll make it up to us. We didn't cook so you'd owe us. We cooked because we wanted to see you eat."

"That's all," Ace said quietly.

I didn't know how to respond, because words like those didn't exist in my old world. I just nodded, my throat tight, and looked down at the little ice flower decorating the sorbet.

The little flower had a smaller twin tucked beside it, and I realized with a start that it was the exact same shape as the one on my nightstand.

"Was it you?" I asked quietly, lifting my eyes to Ace. "The Ice Flower Gift on my pillow?"

He was quiet for so long that I thought he hadn't heard me. Then he gave a tiny nod.

“I left it before the mission. I always do."

"It didn't melt."

"It never does," he said, and for a moment his expression softened into something almost shy.

I nodded slowly, holding that sentence close, because I had a feeling it meant more than it sounded.

The castle was quiet again by the time the moon had climbed high over the Black Thorn forest. Feilon had fallen asleep face-first on the kitchen table with a spoon still in his hand, and Lainey was snoring on the floor next to him, wrapped in half of Mr. Shrolm's blanket. Flora had finally persuaded the men to go to bed, and Mr. Clein's cigarette smoke was drifting down from the roof like a thin gray thread.

I couldn't sleep, so I walked out onto the balcony outside my room, barefoot and wrapped in my own blanket, and watched the moonflowers glowing in the garden below.

A soft crunch sounded behind me, and I turned around to find Ace standing at the door with a cup of warm tea.

"You should be in bed," he said.

"So should you."

"I'm not the one who just woke up from three months ago."

"You walked for two days," I said.

"Flora told you that?"

"Feilon did."

He sighed, and handed me the tea, and I took it with both hands. For a long time, neither of us spoke. The wind was cool, the thorn vines were whispering against the stone, and the glow of the moonflowers spilled across his silver hair like a halo.

"Ace," I said at last.

"Mm."

"Do you ever feel like you're going to disappear?"

His head turned, and his blue eyes met mine, steady and wide. "What do you mean?"

I almost said something stupid. I almost told him about the garden, and the whisper, and the frozen statue that shattered at his feet. But I swallowed the words, because I didn't have proof, and because the last thing I wanted was to scare someone I had only just met.

"Nothing," I said. "I just had a strange dream."

He studied me for a few seconds, then looked out at the garden again.

"You look at me like I'm going to disappear," he said quietly. "You did it earlier in the courtyard, too."

My fingers tightened around the cup. He noticed, I thought. Of course he did.

"I won't," he said. "I'm not going anywhere, I will never disappear."

He said it so simply, as if it were a fact and not a promise, and that made it worse, because I knew how easily facts could be broken.

"Good," I whispered. "You're not allowed to."

Ace turned his head, and for the first time since I had met him, he gave me a real smile, small and soft, like frost melting on a flower.

"Then I won't," he said.

Below us, the moonflowers glowed brighter. And deep in my chest, beneath the silver and gold lights, a quiet vow settled into place like a stone.

Someone out there wanted him frozen, and I was going to find out who, before they got the chance.