Page 14 of Kiss of Smoke

Robin sank onto the edge of the bed, and I leaned in and took his face in my hands, kissing him softly. “You have your own army, Robin. And we’re better than the damn Souls. We can fix this.”

He grabbed my wrists and pulled me in to kiss him again, then sighed and collapsed back on the bed. “Wake me up in an hour. We can figure it out from there.”

His eyes were already fluttering shut. He really was worn down to the bone from this.

And I had no intention of waking him up in an hour. He needed more sleep than that. “Sleep tight, boss.”

I tiptoed back down the stairs and discovered chaos.

Gwyn was frantically shoving burned pancakes onto a plate while another congealed into a mass on the griddle. Titania watched him with vague interest, her bottle of brandy still tipped over her cup. The bottle was fully empty now.

Sisse dangled from one of Gwyn’s braids, tugging at it and screeching in his ear. “No, no, flip it now! Flip it now!”

He tried, but the pancake flopped over and chocolate oozed onto Cinders’ back. The salamander flared up with happiness, simultaneously trying to lick the chocolate off and scorching the remaining pancakes at the same time.

I rubbed my eyes, trying to hold back a laugh.

Nope, wasn’t imagining things.

“Move over and give me that spatula,” I demanded, shouldering past him. I’d just taken up my spot at the stove when the heat momentarily cooled, and then Jack strode into the kitchen.

Now there wasn’t room to swing a goblin without smacking a Gentry Fae in here.

Jack stopped in his tracks, sniffed the air, looked at the burned, sticky mess I was shoveling into the trash, and vanished again.

“Well, that was fast,” I commented, scraping the griddle clean and pouring new circles of batter. “Okay, Gwyn. It’s time for your first cooking lesson.”

He rubbed his chin sheepishly, leaving a streak of chocolate behind. “We don’t really have time to cook during the Hunt, you know…”

“I’m totally and completely judging you, but it’s okay. We’ve all gotta start somewhere.” I reached for my coffee cup and took a huge gulp or three. This was going to require some serious fortification.

But as I was showing Gwyn when to flip the pancake, Jack reappeared, this time with Thistletop. “I’ve brought a savior,” he announced gravely.

The brownie looked at the oven with horror, then trotted over to me, placing one paw on my leg and gazing up at me with pleading eyes.

“Hi again, Thistle.” I knelt down and scratched behind his ears. One of his hind legs quivered with happiness. “I suppose you want to take over.”

Thistletop practically snatched the spatula out of my hand, and I lifted him onto the counter. Within moments he was delicately throwing away all the pancakes I’d started on and was mixing an entirely new bowl of batter.

“I guess I’m not up to par, either,” I said, flopping into a seat at the table with my coffee. Oriande slid the creamer my way, and I dumped most of it in.

Soon my veins would be full of nothing but sugar and cream, just the way I liked it.

“No one is up to par with a brownie,” Oriande said. She gave a sigh of relief. “No offense.”

I raised my mug. “None taken.” Pancakes always tasted best when they were made by someone else, anyway.

Jack sat across from me, and Gwyn took the seat on my right, directly opposite Titania.

“Where’s our fearless leader?” Jack asked, not noticing Sisse sitting on top of the honeypot in front of him and batting her eyes. She still had bits of sugar cube scattered all over her clothes.

“Sleeping. He desperately needs it.” I sipped my coffee as Thistletop brought over a plate of flawless pancakes. “Thank you, Thistle. These look amazing.”

Everyone, with the exception of Titania and Oriande, dug in.

I found that while I would’ve once felt embarrassed about eating six pancakes at rapid speed in front of Gentry, I didn’t care much now. Neither Jack nor Gwyn judged me at all.

In fact, Gwyn refilled my coffee again and got me another couple pancakes. This was the life.

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