Page 56 of Callista and the Elf

She nodded and took a glass mixing bowl. “I’m going to add the water and sugar in here—ifone of you could heat it up so it dissolves into a sort of syrup, that would be perfect.”

I pointed a finger at the mixture, more for her benefit than anything. I could heat a mixture without gesturing. I added the heat unevenly, so it forced the sugar water into a stirring motion that dissolved quickly.

She grinned. “That would be so handy.”

I raised a brow. “Heating water?”

“Magic, in general. Anyway—” She poured the syrup into the lemon juice. “This obviously makes it taste better, since your elven tongues prefer sweets.”

“Myelven tongueenjoys many foods that are not sweet,” I corrected.

“Sorry,” she said, stirring the mixture with a long fork. “What drinks do you enjoy, again, that are not sweet?”

We had many teas, but I did add sugar to them.

She set her fork down and gave me a triumphant smile. “Exactly.”

Forten blurted out a gusty laugh, and I threw a glare at him.

“Sorry, Your Majesty. I just… I’ve never…” He turned to Callista. “Is that everything?”

“No, we’ll want a little more water and ice, if you like your drinks cold.”

Forten filled a cup with water and handed it to her. While she added it to the pitcher, he said, “I can remove heat from the pitcher when you’re done, as can the king.”

She chuckled. “Of course. I should have remembered.” She raised her eyes to me, and I chilled the drink.

“That’s it, gentlemen,” she declared. “Lemonade!”

So she sweetened the lemons to make them palatable—not so different from what we did to tea. I poured three glasses, nearly to the brim. Normally, I would have excluded Forten, but Callista had brought him into ourcultural experience.

“Those are very full glasses for never having tried it before,” she said with a lilt to her voice that almost suggested she was teasing. Had anyone teased me before? Not since Robin had been here.

“I told you I would enjoy it,” I reminded her.

She burst into such a laugh that I felt it through the bond. That was twice in one night. I was both proud to have managed it, but also concerned that I did not understand the source of her humor well enough to duplicate it.

She was still so unpredictable to me… though I did not hate it the way I had at first. It felt more like a challenge—a mystery to unravel. What made her happy? What made her laugh?

I raised my glass in a small cheer. “To better understanding.”

“Hear, hear!’ Forten added his.

Another burst of Callista’s heated happiness traveled through the bond as she added, “And friends in new places.”

The next twenty minutes had left a nearly constant flow of hopeful happiness in Callista—I wanted to stay in the kitchen forever and listen to her laugh and chat with the cooks. She’d insisted on sharing with all four of them, and everyone liked the human drink enough that we mixed up another pitcher of it.

Eventually, though, Forten told us he was falling behind. When he abandoned our party, Callista insisted we leave so we did not make the cook’s job too difficult. It was strange to be forced to consider the difficulty of the work of people in my castle that I had never worried about before, but as we traveled back to our rooms, such thoughts kept breaking into my mind.

I’d considered the cooks’ safety. I worked hard for it. I wanted all my servants, regardless of their pay, to be safe. I’d felt bad for every family and schedule I’d disrupted with my curse. But I’d never thought of their convenience outside of the barrier’s separation.

As we entered our corridor, I slowed. I’d enjoyed knowing her emotions had been positive tonight, but I also knew the nature of the magic that bound us… and it wasn’t kind or just.

And if justice and kindness were objects of my pursuit, I needed to do something about it.

With Callista’s hand on my arm, it was easy to stop her a few feet away from her door.

She turned to face me. “Thank you, Aedan. I’ve really missed that, and it was a lot of fun to share it with you and the others.”

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