Page 53 of The Tempest
“Nay,” she said, now pouting because her efforts had gone up in ash. “Lady Munro did, but I watched her do it.”
“I’d wager that ye can do it yerself and do it better.”
“Probably not,” she said, sighing in despair. “I told you that I am not a cook. I am not anything useful when it comes to a house.”
“That is not true,” he said, digging a hand into the other pot, which contained theverybrown bread. He tore off a hunk from the middle, hissing when it burned his fingers.
“Look—the bread is fine,” he said. “We can eat it. I am certain it is delicious.”
He began shoving it into his mouth as if it were the greatest thing he’d ever eaten. Astria watched in fascination as he continued to pull out more hunks of bread, some of it burned on the bottom, and took big bites of it.
“Sit down,” he told her, mouth full. “This is a grand meal, lass. Sit down and we’ll eat it.”
Woodenly, she did as she was told. She sat down because he’d told her to, and he began to pull out more of the bread, break off the burned parts, and put it in front of her. He did the same thing with the eggs, not even using a bowl, but simply putting the more edible pieces in front of her on the table and encouraging her to eat them. Meanwhile, he sat down opposite her and used his spoon to carve out pieces of burned bread and egg.
He ate every last bite.
Astria was so surprised at what he was doing that she barely ate what he’d given her, but she managed to swallow most of it. The taste was good even if the consistency wasn’t. More than anything, she was awed by Payne’s determination to eat everything she’d made for him regardless of the texture. Burned parts didn’t matter to him. He ate it anyway—he ate until there was nothing left in the pots, and then he burped louder than anything she’d ever heard.
All he did was grin.
“That was a magnificent first try,” he told her. “Ye’re going tae be an excellent mistress of the house.”
He had managed to make her feel better about the cooking mishap. “I will need to practice,” she said. “You know that in thenoble classes, it is unseemly for a noblewoman to actually cook or clean.”
He nodded. “I know,” he said. “But ye did an excellent job of it. Ye’ll get better and better at it.”
“I hope so.”
He continued to smile at her, and she was a little embarrassed at all of the attention. Perhaps not exactly embarrassed, but she was so unused to it that she didn’t know where to look or what to say. This was all so new to her.
“I suppose I should clean these out so I can use them again,” she said, standing up and peering into the pots. “Although you have eaten every morsel. There is nothing left to save or clean.”
He burped again, loudly, before standing up wearily. “And I’ll do the same tae every meal ye prepare,” he said. “If ye put a pile of mud before me, I’d eat it because ye prepared it.”
She paused a moment, looking up at him. “You did that tonight,” she said. “There was little more than ash left of your supper, but you still ate it. You ate it as if it were the best thing you’d ever tasted, and you did not have to. You could have become angry about it.”
He shrugged. “Why?” he said. “Ye tried yer best. It was a good meal.”
“It was burnt.”
“I like my food burnt.”
She giggled because he was being so ridiculous. Sweet, but ridiculous. It was really rather wonderful.
“Then I’ll burn it every night for you,” she said, watching him grin. “One of the servants brought eggs and flour and some other items, but no meat. Where would I find that for tomorrow’s meal?”
He pointed off to his left, toward the rear door. “Did ye see the kitchens out by the dormitory?”
She nodded. “Aye,” she said. “I did see it. There were a few servants who brought us things from there.”
“A big meal is served there every night,” he said. “Since we work our recruits so hard, the meals are always plentiful and full of meat. I’ll tell ye a secret… if ye go tae the kitchen and tell them that ye’re my wife, they’ll give ye all the food ye want. Ye’ll never have tae cook if ye dunna want tae.”
That was the best thing she’d heard all day. “Why did you not tell me this before?” she said, rather peeved. “I would not have had to serve you burnt eggs.”
He smiled. “Because I wanted tae know if ye’d at least try tae be a wife,” he said. “There are a great many things around here that will make it so ye hardly have tae lift a finger, but I wanted tae know if being my wife meant anything tae ye. If ye’d even try. And ye did. Thank ye.”
She seemed both pleased and irritated at his explanation. “You did not have to test me,” she said. “I never intended to do anything other than fulfil my obligation.”
