Chapter 3
POSEIDON
There was always something satisfying about coming to the end of a service and shutting off the lights of the pass, knowing that everything that had gone out was beautiful.
There was a chance that it hadn't been as well received outside of the kitchen doors, but I was sure Aine would have already said as much if that was the case.
For an obscure Celtic goddess, she could be rather formidable.
The kitchen doors swung open, and the goddess in question stepped inside.
She wasn't the one who caught my attention though.
That was the beautiful woman with long black hair and dark brown skin at her side.
It took a moment to place why she looked familiar, before realising that she was the critic who recently did a piece on Il Cavalluccio Marino.
"Ah, good, you're still here," Aine said, looking right at me.
"There's plenty of work left to do in the kitchen," I pointed out. "Service doesn't end just because I've finished sending food out."
"And who can argue when the food was as good as what you served," Aine said. There was no denying that it was flattery, but it worked on me anyway.
"I only serve the best to any of my guests." Something I knew she understood, that was why she'd asked me to cater for her event in the first place. Everyone knew that her business was flourishing, she could have her pick of celebrity chefs.
"I was hoping you'd join us as a guest now that service is done," the goddess responded. "But I'm glad you're here because I have a favour to ask."
I raised an eyebrow. "I'm in the middle of the last favour you asked of me."
The woman beside Aine smothered a small laugh.
"It's related to that," Aine said. "This is Laila Mandal. She has a few questions to go along with her review."
"Is that so?" I looked over to the woman in question.
She quirked up into a smile. "If that's all right with you."
"I can talk about food," I responded.
"Excellent," Aine said. "Then my work here is done. Don't forget to join the rest of us once you're done."
I wasn't sure which of us she was talking to, but I didn't suppose it mattered.
"You have questions, Ms Mandal?" I asked, leaning back against the worktop behind me and crossing my arms.
She looked me up and down as if she was trying to size me up. I stood a little straighter and waited for her assessment.
"You were the chef tonight?" she asked.
I nodded. "I'm Poseidon."
"I know." There was a curious expression on her face as she looked at me. "I didn't realise you were the one who made the food until Aine told me."
"Jinx has a way of pulling all of us in eventually," I said, thinking back to how Aine had somehow managed to convince me to cater for her.
"So it would seem. I never expected to find myself at a Jinx event when I started working at Paranormal Gourmet."
If I hadn't already made the connection to who she was, that would have done it for me. "I should thank you for the good review you gave me."
"You can, if you want," she responded.
"I just did."
"No, you said that you should thank me. You didn't actually do it."
I blinked a couple of times. She had me there. "Thank you."
"I gave your food the review that it deserved. It had nothing to do with you being a god," she said, not showing an ounce of surprise that I'd actually said the words. I liked that. A lot of people thought I was too proud to apologise, but they were wrong.
"I should hope not. But you didn't like my Indian inspired course?"
"Are you sure you want more critique on that?" she asked. "Especially as I'm supposed to be here to write about the Jinx event."
"I always want to better my food."
She arched a perfect eyebrow and set down her bag. "I thought it was technically fine, but it was uninspired. Scallops with a curry reduction? That's the best you could come up with for India?"
It took a moment for her words to sink in, but she wasn't finished.
"There are so many more options you could have worked with. What about some kind of pakora? Cooking with a tandoori oven? A fish fry?"
"What would you have made?" I asked curiously. I'd met very few people who were as passionate about food as she clearly was.
"Probably the latter," she said after a moment's contemplation.
"Would you make it?" I waved to the kitchen behind me.
Ms Mandal stared at me for a moment, seemingly not sure what to make of my request. "You want me to cook for you?"
"Yes. If you don't mind."
"I'm not cooking for you here," she said. "I'm wearing a dress that's worth half-a-month's rent."
I cleared my throat. "Fair enough. Perhaps you could come by the Cavalluccio Marino sometime and cook for me there?"
She blinked a couple of times, drawing attention to her dark eyes. "You're serious."
"Yes. There are still three weeks left of the Around the World menu. I don't want my customers to continue to be disappointed by one of the courses."
"You're not what I expected," she said.
"Ah, the anger."
"You do have a bit of a reputation."
"It was well-earned," I admitted.
"Can I ask you about it?"
"Will you write it as part of your piece about the event?"
"It wasn't one of the questions I planned on asking," she responded. "But it will depend on what you reply."
"If we're going to go down that track, would you let me get you a drink first?"
"It's an open bar."
"Then we can have the drink, but I'll owe you one at another time.
Maybe when you return to my restaurant." Given the almost-glowing review she'd given of my menu, I was eager to hear more about what she had to say.
I loved praise as much as the next god, but there was always something refreshing about someone who didn't seem to have the same fear of me as other people.
"All right, but there's something you should know first." Her expression turned serious.
"Okay."
"I've met your brother."
"Hades? I'm surprised he's here. He's been even more of a recluse since he and Persephone got back together." There was no doubt what the two of them were getting up to. Thousands of years hadn't put a dampener on their attraction to one another.
"Zeus," she corrected.
"Oh, then I'm sorry."
Her lips quirked up into a smile. "I threw a drink over him."
"Is that a promise or a threat?" I asked curiously.
"Both. I'll see you at the bar." She turned around and headed out of the kitchen, not even looking back to see if I was still watching her.
I stared at her retreating form, my thoughts racing about the woman I'd just met and precisely why she seemed so intriguing to me. Maybe it was just knowing that she seemed to have the same respect for food as I did.
Or maybe it was because she clearly intended to stand her ground, even against gods who had fearsome reputations. My brother was a shameless flirt, and getting drinks thrown over him was a regular occurrence. And one that I was going to make sure I didn't experience myself tonight.