Page 8 of Elixir of Strife
I knew because we were related. I knew because she was my cousin.
“Maximo,mi primo!” she squealed, with exaggerated enthusiasm and volume. “How long has it been since I’ve seen you?”
“Not long enough,” I grumbled. “Hello, Divina.”
Divina Brillante was one of the first cousins I’d met. We grew up together, but most other people would use that phrase in a more positive sense. She’d always been a bully, a girl with a mean streak, hiding the sharp edges of her terrible personality behind a beautiful face, concealing her stink in clouds of powder and perfume.
That was why I never noticed the smell of brimstone until it was too late. Divina Brillante was as human as anyone else in my large and horrible family, but anyone would be forgiven for thinking she was a demoness in disguise.
“Honestly, Maximo, how nice of you to come and congratulate me on the day of our grand opening.”
I gaped at her, stammering as I tried to formulate something to say. “Sorry, wait. Grand opening? This place has been around forever. Batter Up is one of my favorite — ”
“Ugh,” she interrupted, flapping her hand at me, enormous jeweled bangles jangling. “Batter Up. What a stupid name. I took over. Now it’s part of my growing culinary empire. Tada! Welcome to DiviniThree.”
I blinked, too stunned to speak. Trust Divina to destroy everything I loved. Growing up, she’d forced her grotesque culinary creations on me and the rest of our cousins. I remembered being sick for a day after eating one of her cupcakes. It was green, except there was no green food coloring in sight. It was salty, and tasted faintly of soap.
My stomach tangled in knots at the memory. I gazed mournfully at the treats in the display cases, reminding myself that they’d been tainted by Divina’s poison. No. I was better off. My appetite vanished along with my good mood.
“DiviniThree?” I repeated. “Let me guess. There’s also a DiviniTwo.”
She rolled her eyes. “Of course there is. Three is the bakery, two is the café. And the first one is the jewel in my crown, only the best Mediterranean food in all of Dos Lunas.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “DiviniOne?”
“Don’t be stupid,” she snapped. She stepped back, fluffed her hair, and struck a pose. “The restaurant is called Divinity, of course. Isn’t that just so fitting?”
My lips curled back as I winced. I couldn’t control what my face did around Divina, but neither did I have to. She knew how I felt about her, anyway. Couldn’t blame me, based on how she’d treated me growing up. Not that she cared.
“Let me come around and talk to you,” she said, earrings and ostentatious jewelry flashing as she shimmied down the space behind the counter. “You can make way for the paying customers, too.”
I scowled. “You really, really don’t have to come around. And I was totally going to pay for those, and you know that.”
“Oh, please,primo. My treat. Anything you want. I’m sure your finances are in dire straits after you walked away from the family.” Divina removed her apron with one hand, snapping her fingers at the rest of the staff with the other. “You. Whatever your name is. Take over.”
My teeth clenched. A few more people were in line behind me, and I was sure they’d heard everything in our exchange. I considered warning them about eating anything that came out of Divina Brillante’s kitchens, but she was already clacking excitedly toward me on stiletto heels.
It helped to imagine that they were actually the clopping of demon hooves.
Divina tugged me away from the queue, then wrapped me in a too-tight hug. All for show, of course, perhaps a way to demonstrate to her poor underlings that she was capable of performing human emotion.
My hands hovered over her back, refusing to reciprocate. I could only hold my breath for so long, forced to inhale as she squeezed the life out of me. Powder and perfume, exactly as I imagined and remembered. But I still knew who she was on the inside, a withered lemon dusted in fine sugar. Sour, bitter, and rotten to the core.
She pulled away at last, just when I thought I was about to suffocate from a combination of lack of breath and the stifling, cloying sweetness of her perfume. Something heavily laden with roses. Definitely not an Atomica signature scent. I still hated those fuckers for lying about their limited editions, but I couldn’t deny that they designed great fragrances.
“Oh, Maximo,” she said, brushing aside a lock of my hair. “Forced to stand in the bread line with the other poors.”
An older woman in line threw Divina a dirty look. She didn’t seem to notice.
“I enjoy a bargain,” I said, realizing that I was doing nothing to stop that kind of talk from Divina. “And I enjoy the breads here. Well, used to.”
She held a hand to her chest as she laughed. “Come, now. You’re going to enjoy my new line of products so much more.”
“Actually, I don’t think I will.” I shoved my hands back in my pockets, heading for the exit.
“Oh, come on,” she said with an annoyed grunt. “I poisoned you with a cupcake one time. Just once! I swear it was an accident.”
One of the people in the queue peeled away and beat me to the exit, the door chimes jingling as he left.
