Chapter 5
Matthias caught himself as he stumbled backward, he had not been expecting her to walk into him instead of around him. Nor had he been expecting such force from someone so . . . thin.
He twisted to face her as he righted himself. He had made her angry, that much was clear.
He held out the chocolate toward her. "Wait, I was only—”
He stopped himself, holding back the lie that he was about to fabricate. He had been intending to annoy her. He had been intending to get through her icy exterior from the moment he’d first heard of her existence.
"I'm sorry," he said, raising his voice loud enough for her to hear as she was now several steps ahead of him.
She stopped at that. And turned to face him. Her nose was still tilted up, and she held her head high. "You've won your post, apprentice." She spoke his title like it was an insult. "Why did you follow me here?"
Matthias tilted his head to the side, examining her. She was confusing to him. He did not understand any of her reactions. And, frankly, she was right. He had won his post. "I came to ask why you only pretended to try my cocoa?"
She opened her mouth, her eyebrows raised as if to snap a quick retort. But no words came out and she snapped her mouth shut. Her eyes dropped from his face to the still-perfectly round sphere in his hand.
He had caught her in her lie, and she had no way to deny it while the very proof was in his hand.
Her eyes snapped back up to his face. "Your cocoa was not codex specified. Why would I bother tasting it?"
"Because you might enjoy the flavor of it?" Matthias offered. He stepped forward, they were standing just too far apart to converse comfortably.
"Hah." She turned to leave again.
"But why pretend to eat it only to hide it in your sleeve?" Matthias called out hastily, rushing the final few steps to reach her.
She stopped, half turned.
"You hide behind no pretense when refusing to try other things," Matthias pressed, stopping right in front of her.
She hesitated, and he could see her eyes scanning the ground before she looked back up at him.
He almost leaned backward at the intensity of the anger he saw in her eyes.
"Do you think you are someone special?" she said, her voice a quiet kind of angry. "That you are the first academy student to walk into my home and try to win the favor of the king by swaying my opinion? That by adding a rare ingredient to your perfect technique you can catch my attention?"
Matthias swallowed. That was precisely what he had thought but he was not going to admit to it. Not that it mattered if he admitted it or not, she clearly already knew.
She leaned forward, close enough that he could feel the warmth emanating from her thin frame.
"Congratulations on your post, apprentice," she said.
Her voice dropped to a low hum that was barely more than a whisper.
"But let me be extremely clear that while I may be frequently seated at the table you will serve, I will never eat something created by your hand. "
With that, she turned and Matthias watched her walk away from him for a second time that afternoon.
This time, he did not call her back. He had nothing to say to that. She was entirely right.
If she refused to taste his food, then it would not matter if the king liked his pastries or Renaud approved of his technique. He should have felt the floor drop out from under him.
Instead, a smile spread slowly across his face.
He knew the codex. Now, he would study her.
Before his apprenticeship was over he would make her eat her words. And an entire dish of his best cocoa creation.