Page 40 of Enchanted Heir
I nodded, feeling more hope that we’d pull this off after all. “Okay, the dough needs the moisture and humidity first. But if it doesn’t rise fast enough, I might need your help.”
Owen smirked at me.
“What?”
He laughed. “Remember a few months ago when you hated magic?”
My eyes briefly went to Krew. “Someone wise told me that not all magic is used to harm.”
* * *
The dough was rising,but now that we had almost pulled this little adventure off, I wanted the bread to be perfect. So I took the bowl with Krew’s dough, the one I was less sure was perfect, and sat it in front of him on the massive dining room table, our own little workstation. I kept a white towel over the bread.
“Okay,” I told him. “Can you try to warm the bowl? At a slight temperature?” Then after the fact, I added, “Gently?”
He gave me a smirk. “Yes.” And then he flipped his hand out and his magic flew from his palm and circled around the bowl like a blanket wrapped around it.
“You didn’t have to send it so fast,” I said with big eyes. “I thought you were going to shatter the bowl.”
“Have a little faith, love,” he jested.
“I’m not sure anyone has ever helped bread rise with magic,” I offered. “Not a lot to have faith in.”
He laughed. “Good point. Just tell me when you’d like me to stop, all right?”
Five minutes later, I was impressed with the progress. I wanted to test the dough with my hands, but I was so pleased with it that I decided I might have him do this for the other batch too.
“Are you tired yet?” I offered. “It’s working.”
Owen laughed.
I looked at him. “What?”
“He will be fine,” Owen offered, “but you’re cute for asking.”
“Not all of us have been raised around magic,” I reminded him.
Krew added, “And even those of us who have, have been lied to for two king’s worth of reigns about how it all works.”
I thought of how sad that was. How many Savaryn people were living in fear, only using magic when they had to or for training, when all along they could’ve been using it as often as they wished. When all along they could’ve been slowly getting stronger, one day at a time.
The king was a prick for a lot of things, and that was definitely one of them. Not only was he a powerful Enchanted, but he had manipulated the knowledge about magic to continue being the strongest Enchanted. Was the king intentionally making everyone’s lives as difficult as possible?
Being content with that batch of dough and knowing we were on a time crunch, I began rolling the dough into the ball shapes for the dinner rolls while Krew started heating the second batch. “Can I ask a question?” I gave Owen a look, and a green barrier was immediately in place.
“Of course,” Krew responded.
I made three perfectly sized dinner rolls before I finally gathered the strength to ask. After Krew had been so moody lately, I was sure one of these times he was going to shut me out and not answer my prying questions. “So the practicing you and Keir do? How does the king not know about it?”
Owen smiled as Krew said, “We’ve been knocking him out with a sleeping tonic every night for years. And we pay some of his staff extra to let us know when he’s sleeping.”
My hands stumbled and my mouth fell open.“What?”
Krew shrugged. “Sleeping tonic. And we fluctuate if it goes into his food or his drink.”
“How?” I demanded.
“Maurice, of course,” Krew explained.
