In Which Lyraina Aspires to More

February 27, 1180

"Na-an!" Asalaye whined, her voice more like a small child's than that of a woman with two of her own. "How much longer? I want cake."

"I see that. But it's only been in a few minutes, in case you haven't noticed." Nanalie shot an exasperated glance Lyraina's way; Lyraina grimaced, not sure if she had a better option. The elder of her two sister-in-laws was here on her request, and when Asalaye had heard Nanalie would be baking, she'd invited herself, bringing her older son along as if the whole visit was for his gustatory benefit. But Lyraina supposed she didn't mind, so long as neither she nor Nanalie were distracted--and, for the most part, they hadn't been.

"Well, do you have any tricks for speeding the process? There are four hungry children upstairs."

"And three hungry women down here?"

Asalaye grinned sheepishly. "What a coincidence. But never mind that; did Garrett show you how to make his secret icing?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Are you going to make it?"

"Indeed."

"Will you let us watch?"

"Absolutely not."

It was Asalaye with the visible pout, but Lyraina was no less disappointed. Nanalie made the best cakes in the kingdom and no one could argue otherwise, but Garrett's light-yet-creamy icing was nothing short of divine, and a combination of the two would have landed her the job and then some. But before her marriage and the resulting recipe access, Nanalie had managed a derivative that was excellent in its own right, even if it wasn't quite the original; surely she wouldn't be averse to sharing that, now that she had the real thing?

"Smells good, Nan."

Had licked his lips as he shut the door behind him and stepped into the kitchen, not bothering to remove his cloak. Asalaye greeted her brother with a leer. "Oh, so you just assume it's Nanalie's cake?"

"What can I say? There's no fooling this nose." And he tapped it, as if to prove his point, as if any of them could have possibly missed it. "Nanalie's cakes are what you expect heaven to smell like. Your cakes just smell like smoke."

Asalaye sniffed. "I could have improved."

"Well, you couldn't have gotten any worse, that's for sure." Had pulled up the seat on Lyraina's right and flashed her a smile. "Think you'll try yourself after we all inhale this one?"

"As long as Nanalie sticks around to watch." She glanced to her sister-in-law, who nodded, though her eyes flicked upward in a half roll. "Sorry, Nan. I just don't want to fall into any bad habits."

"I'm sure you won't. You're as good a baker as any."

Had nodded in agreement, and if the spark in face meant anything, not just because he was supposed to. Still, she wasn't quite reassured. It wasn't every day that Lord Severin was looking for a new head pastry cook, after all, and the hours were reasonable and the wages quite good--and for all it was still a little early to be telling even Had, Lyraina suspected they'd have another mouth to feed before the year was up. A flexible job with decent earnings would go far.

Not that Had didn't make enough to support the family on his own. And not that they didn't have a strong family that would be willing to help them if they needed it. But what could she say? There was a certain satisfaction in work, at least if it was work one enjoyed. Raia managed both the toy business and Little Rio and she was as happy as Lyraina had ever seen her. Aerina helped out at her mother's shop more days than she didn't, Nanalie and Garrett had passed over a kitchen staff in favor of cooking for themselves, even Lady Leonora sold a few whittlings by means of her brother. If they could find the time for everything--if they could have it all--who was to say Lyraina couldn't aspire to that as well?

Other than, of course, the panel of hungry keep residents. "Not as good as you."

"We won't know that until we've all had a slice of each cake. Besides, you were paying attention while I was making mine, and I didn't have to teach you any new techniques; icing aside, I'll be surprised if there's much difference at all."

Lyraina scanned her sister-in-law's face for some tell-tale sign of a lie. If it was there, she never caught it. "You think so?"

"She knows so," Had corrected as his sister nodded, resting his hand on Lyraina's own. "We all do."

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