Chapter 6
I'm both nervous and excited to be heading down to the kitchen to bake with Nate for the first time in five years.
I've been baking on my own since he left, and it's going to be strange to share a kitchen, even if it's with him.
Ember is perched on my shoulder with her tail around my neck.
I don't love the way it brushes against my skin, but she'll be on top of the oven in a few minutes, and then it won't be my issue.
Several members of the kitchen staff nod to me as I make my way through the main room and into the small kitchen I use for baking.
I pause in the doorway, watching as Nate rolls out some dough with a heavy-looking rolling pin.
His sleeves are pushed up, revealing arms that are much more muscular than I remember. Maybe that's what's changed about him.
Ember lets out a screech, stretching her neck out to examine what's going on.
Nate looks up, a smile spreading over his face. "You're looking a little indignant, Ember."
Her tail tightens around my neck as she tenses.
"Hey, that hurts," I murmur.
"Maybe she doesn't like having someone else in her kitchen," Nate says.
"She knows you," I protest. "You were here when she was born."
"She only knew me for a week," he points out. "There's a good chance she's forgotten me."
My heart aches at the reminder of how much time we've missed together.
"Then we should have introductions. Nate, this is Ember. She's a Green Oak Dragon who likes to try and climb into the wood-fired oven."
He chuckles. "Not the gas one?"
"She's never tried."
"Interesting," he says.
"Ember, this is Nate. He's the best baker I know."
"That might not be true any more," he says.
"Have you gotten worse at baking since you left?" I ask, still lingering in the doorway. "That would seem like a waste of an apprenticeship."
He chuckles. "I've learned a lot."
"Including how to make croissants."
"Yes. I was working on the dough just now. I need them to be ready in case Graaf Van Bergdal arrives tomorrow morning. He likes to break his morning fast with them."
"Can I watch?" I ask.
Nate raises an eyebrow. "I don't think I've ever known you just want to watch when it comes to baking."
A part of me doesn't want to admit my failings, even to Nate, but it's the only way I'm going to get better. "I've been struggling with them," I admit.
"Why didn't you say anything in your letters?" he asks.
"I wanted to figure it out before you came back." I make my way past him and over to the wood-fired oven so that Ember can take her place on the dragon bed. She hesitates for a moment, confusing me a little. "What's wrong?"
"Maybe she's being protective of you?" Nate suggests. "I'm a stranger in your space, maybe she doesn't like that."
"You're not a stranger." My voice cracks.
There's a sad expression on Nate's face. "I am to Ember."
I chew on my bottom lip, not liking the idea, even if I know he's right.
"But you can give me all the tips I need to change that," he responds.
I laugh. "I think it'll mostly be a case of feeding her scraps." I manage to entice my dragon onto the top of the oven. She stretches her wings and turns around in a circle a few times before sitting down and propping her head against the edge of the bed.
"Scraps, you say?"
"There's a bucket of them in the ice house," I say.
"It surprises me that you don't have the kitchen staff to make her a stew every day or something."
"I don't want her to become spoiled. And she likes setting her own meat on fire."
"I'll keep that in mind," Nate responds.
"So, croissants?"
He gestures towards the table where he's currently working. I grab my apron from where it's hanging on a hook, tying it around me.
"I was glad to find out that you kept the layout of the kitchen the same," he says as he checks the dough he's working on. "Other than the gas stove."
"It's a good addition to the kitchen," I say.
He chuckles. "And here was me thinking that you'd refuse to use it."
"I still use the wood-fired oven when I'm baking something I've been making for years," I respond. "But if I'm making something new, I think the gas oven is a good choice."
"I'm impressed by your willingness to embrace change."
"I don't mind change," I respond. "So long as it's logical."
There's an expression on his face that's hard to read, but I don't want to ask him about it. Maybe I would have done five years ago, but I don't know exactly what's changed in that time.
"Well, I'm glad," he says. "I learned to make croissants in a gas oven, so that will make it easier."
"You'd think," I murmur.
"Have you been leaving enough time for the proving?" he asks. "And the chilling?"
"I've been trying to," I mumble.
"Overnight?"
I wince. "No."
"Evie." He gives me a look that I do recognise. "I wrote that in the instructions I sent to you. And underlined it twice because I knew you'd want to ignore that instruction."
"I know, I know. But it's hard to wait that long. I just want to make them and then eat them."
"Let me start laminating this dough, and I'll show you a trick to help with the waiting," he promises.
"How can I say no to that?"
He picks up his rolling pin and finishes rolling out his dough, then trims some off the top so it's an almost perfect square.
Even though I know the recipe already, I flip open my leatherbound journal and turn to the page about croissants.
I look between Nate and the instructions, even as he places a smaller square of butter diagonally in the dough.
He encases it completely, taking care to make sure that there are no gaps between the pastry.
He bashes it with the rolling pin. So far, it's the same as when I've done it myself.
Maybe it's just that I haven't had the patience to wait overnight.
Once it's the desired size, he wraps it in a cloth. "I'll go put this in the ice house," he says. "Should I get something for Ember?" He looks over to where my dragon is watching us.
Her tail is flicking, and she certainly seems interested in what we're doing, but she doesn't seem as on edge as when we arrived.
"You can." I grab her bowl, which gets her attention.
Nate takes it from me. "I'll be back."
He disappears from the kitchen, and I lean against the wall, trying to put words to how I feel about being here. I wouldn't go as far as saying that things feel normal, but it is nice to be back in the same space as him.
Now I just have to work out how to get things back to the way they were, because I want that more than I want anything.