Page 55 of Sorcery, Swords & Scones
“This one?” Lira took it from him, her own thumb pressing gently near the stem before she smiled. “You’re right, Crump. It’s perfect.”
“So we’re serving pear scones today instead of cinnamon ones?” Sass asked.
“Chai pear scones,” Lira corrected as she efficiently peeled the pear with one of her rogue daggers and chopped it into small bits. She paused after dropping the fruit into the bowl. “Thanks, Sass. Usually baking calms me, but I think I’ve been so worried that even mixing and measuring hasn’t worked.”
“Worried about your missing father?”
Lira splashed some cream into the bowl and folded it into the dry ingredients. “No. I don’t know enough about that to worry.” Then she leveled her batter-covered spoon at the dwarf. “I’ve been worried about you, Sass.”
Sass blinked a few times, as if this made no sense. “You’ve been so worried about me that baking won’t calm you?”
“The thought of you leaving—having to leave—after all we’ve built together and all we’ve been through…” Her words faded as her voice cracked. “You’ve become such an important part of my life, of all our lives, that I can’t imagine losing you.”
Sass’s throat tightened as tears stung the back of her eyes, but before she could find her voice, Lira closed the distance between them and pulled her into a fierce hug.
“You’re as much a part of The Tusk & Tail as the beams in the ceiling,” Lira whispered.
“Or the troll smell in the cellar?” Sass croaked.
Lira laughed and hugged her tighter. “Exactly like that.”
Tiny feet landed on Sass’s shoulder, and wings enveloped both her and Lira’s heads as Crumpet joined the hug, his chittering soft and soothing.
Sass reached up and patted the tiny flutterstoat’s back, marveling at his silky fur. “Thanks, Crump.”
Lira pulled away and squeezed Sass’s shoulders. “I’d better get these scones in the oven so we can get to work figuring out that amulet.”
And how to defeat a dwarf princess, Sass thought.
Forty-Two
“You’re surethis is a good idea?” Sass cast a longing look back at The Tusk & Tail.
“Iris, Cali, and Erindil are already at the apothecary researching possible enchantments.” Lira put a reassuring arm around Sass’s shoulders as Thrain, Korl, and Val walked ahead. “We won’t be gone long. Besides, I have every confidence in Rog and Rosie. If the gnome can peddle apple brandy the way she does, she’s more than capable of handling afternoon scones and chai.”
Sass bobbled her head back and forth. Part of her thought she should stay behind to help the gnomes pass out scones and pour chai, but there was also no way she was going to miss learning what enchantment had been placed on the amulet Florin gave her.
She slipped one hand into her skirt pocket, touching the velvet pouch as if to reassure herself that the amulet was there. Then she remembered it was charmed and snatched back her hand.
“Don’t you worry about me and Rosie.” Rog bellowed to them from the front door of the tavern with a pear and chai scone in one hand and crumbs speckling his blue beard. “We’ve handled rowdier bunches than the folks in Wayside. Doling out scones andmugs of that spiced tea won’t make me and the missus break a sweat.”
Sass wanted to say that there was more to it than that, but she pressed her lips together. Lira was right. She was being overly territorial about the scone service she thought of as her innovation. It would survive without her for one day, just like their usual customers would be fine with a different flavor of scone.
“See? Nothing to worry about.” Lira gave her shoulders a squeeze before running to catch up to Korl.
Sass sighed and picked up her pace to join the rest of the group headed toward the village. The midday sun eased down the sky, the morning mist long since burned away as Wayside had finally roused itself from its post-festival slumber. Hooves clopped on the dusty road, the blacksmith’s hammer clanged against steel, and the waterwheel splashed in the stream.
When she caught up to Thrain, he took a sizable bite of the scone he’d grabbed on the way out the door. “These are quite the treat.”
Lira swiveled her head to grin at him. “They turned out well, didn’t they? Sass was the one who saved them, you know. I thought the batch was ruined when I mistakenly put the chai spices in the scone batter, but she reminded me that every misstep is still a step forward, and possibly even in a better direction.”
“Even the errant swing of a pickaxe cuts a tunnel,” Thrain said.
Lira fell back so she could walk in step with Sass, dropping her voice to a whisper. “Sounds like your mum isn’t the only dwarf dispensing mining wisdom.”
“Thrain spent a lot of time at my house growing up,” Sass told her. “Trust me, he got all of his wisdom from my mum.”
Lira laughed at this, giving Sass a nudge of her hips and taking a few long strides to catch up to Korl and Vaskel as they strode past Pip’s bakery.
