Page 24 of Sugar & Sorcery
“Was your bath at least pleasant?” she muttered. “I’m sure you’d curse it yourself just to make sure it stayed for your exclusive use.”
I took a step toward her, crossing to the opposite bank. “Even if confectioners’ sucre d'or restores my magic, it can still turn unstable or tainted. Every transformation leaves traces of black magic. They must be purged.” I bent down, tilting my head to meet her eyes. “Unless, of course, you’d prefer to be suffocated by the mist.”
She bit the inside of her cheek. With a finger, I opened the apron she guarded so closely at her stomach to see her bundle of apples.
“Ah. You succeeded. Against all odds.”
“I spoke to the child Spirit. He let me take them.”
“And now they speak to you,” I murmured, more to myself than to her.
Since when did they take anyone’s side but mine? Even the boy Spirit avoided everyone. The gong sounded.
“You should move, Confectioner. You’re in their way.” I nodded toward the black water that shivered at the surface. “The lake. It belongs to the Spirits.”
I turned away without waiting for her, my steps leaving wet prints on the few warm stones. The branches above us sagged, weighed down with lanterns that flared to life one by one, like drops of amber suspended in the mist. She hurried to catch up.
“I can smell… warm honey… pumpkin soup? And candied ginger?” she breathed, her words chased by the growl of her stomach.
A second gong.
And this time, they emerged from the steam, detaching from the water in coils of smoke.
The confectioner ducked behind me, tucking her face just behind my arm, gripping it as tightly as she could. Every musclein my body tightened. My fingers twitched in the air, searching for the lighter I’d left in my quarters.
The Spirits stretched into long, fluid ribbons. Others floated small and round. A few larger ones tried to find a human shape before abandoning the idea and letting the wind take them. It was the same show every night. They slid silently over the damp mossy grass in a slow procession.
“You can stop hiding,” I said.
She jumped, then let go of me as if just realizing what she’d been doing, and bent over the lake. Her sugared skin shimmered, traced with veins of gold, as though someone had blown light into her bloodstream. Even her neck glittered with a crystalline web that crackled faintly.
“It’s showing you what you’ve lost,” I cut in before she could be tempted. “Memories, pieces of yourself, anything that might lure you in. But if you touch its water, it will drag you into a nightmare without end.”
She jerked back, then trotted at my side like a sugared shadow. We merged into the line, gliding behind the Spirits. Yeun’s lanterns floated like little humming islands in the fog.
“And you?” she asked.
A small laugh escaped me. “There’s nothing I want badly enough to fall for.”
But she wasn’t listening. Her eyes were roaming everywhere, devouring everything. “Where are we going?”
I sighed, glancing back at her over my shoulder.Always the need to talk when silence was called for.
“You must be hungry.”
9
A golden apple holds the purest magic, but a cursed apple holds its opposite. A dark magic, stripped of light.
LEMPICKA
The pavilion revealed itself through the fog. Red lanterns, strung from beams, cast dancing circles across the low tables. Shattered benches ringed a counter overflowing with strange dishes, levitating on spinning trays, stacked in a moving cascade. At the center, a spectral cook with a floating beard stirred the contents of a steaming cauldron.
I bent at a right angle—like a spoon dropped into too narrow a jar—to peer between two silhouettes. My stomach clapped in applause at the sight of a pink mushroom-shaped burger, plump and glistening. Behind it, and the mountain of empty dishes stacked high, Aignan was dozing, paw on his belly. Ten empty plates, two half full, and one clearly stolen from Éclair, given the sheer size of the salad. Chouquette, meanwhile, swished her tails with mischief, stealing forgotten scraps and even going so far as to nibble on a plate.
“They’re shameless,” I muttered.
I straightened, ready to share my choice with Arawn. But he was already cutting through the line, the Spirits opening a path for him. I blinked.Great, he was my ticket to the buffet.
