Chapter 29: In the Kitchens

Lilia POV

THREE DAYS LATER

Whack. Whack. Whack.

Lilia wiped her brow and paused in chopping herbs for the marinades that the kitchen crew would soak the meat in. Outside, the voices of the hunters, who were preparing the meat, rose in song through the kitchen window. Some hunters wore clothing, and in the kitchens, everyone wore clothes, which made sense.

When Patch said they needed a lot of meat, he hadn’t been joking. That meant they needed whole pots of marinade. Fortunately, the Cresta kitchen had a stack of copper pots a child could crawl into.

As a matter of fact, one of the children of the pack had tried to do just that. Lilia had to coax her down with a ripe fruit as a bribe.

The little girl asked Lilia to cast a spell on her. Serra, the Cresta housekeeper, stopped cleaning vegetables and ran over, with a nervous look at Lilia.

“I don’t cast spells on little girls,” Lilia explained with a laugh.

The child pouted. “Awww.”