Page 39 of Sugar & Sorcery
“Fairies were once hunted for our wings because they could heal many afflictions. They are our pride,” he said with a sad smile. “Do not cry. To give you mine is an honor. The master never let me care for him. He is far too proud… But I need someone to look after. It has been so long since I felt useful.”
I stayed silent, my throat tight. He barely knew me, yet he offered me something so precious. I lowered my eyes to the iridescent bandage, brushing the wing with my fingertips.
“It’s beautiful,” I whispered, heart aching. “But promise me you’ll never tear off another?”
Yeun smiled. “As you wish, mademoiselle. And to answer your question… perhaps I am making excuses, yes. But I know who he is. What you saw, that’s not him. Not entirely.”
He was watching over Arawn for a reason I still didn’t know but I wanted to believe in what he saw in him. I wanted to believe curses could be broken.
“He really has stopped serving the witch, hasn’t he?”
Yeun nodded, then added with a proud smile: “Yes, and he hasn’t killed anyone, without reason, in years.”
I winced. “I suppose that’s… something.” Not exactly the answer I was hoping for. “But maybe it means he’s trying to change.”
I squeezed Yeun’s hand. He flushed scarlet. Even in his human form, I heard him crackle, as if sparks raced across his skin.
“Thank you for the bandage, Yeun. I feel so beautiful.”
He looked away, clearing his throat. I lifted my eyes to the sky. The translucent moth drifted gently. Then glided along the lake, brushing the water like a star in the night. It danced all the way to the far bank. Its flight ended on a gloved finger.
He’s back.
Mist seeped from Arawn like incense smoke, and rivulets of ink slid down his dark strands. I slipped my hand behind me to hide my wound, but he didn’t even look at me. He took out his lighter. The lid creaked faintly, as if it had been used too often. The flame flickered. A single breath could have blown it out. He stared at it for a long while until a butterfly of mist unfurled from it.
Moth and butterfly danced together. Light and mist.
He followed them with his eyes, as if recognizing in them something still alive within himself. A shard of humanity fighting its way back from the darkness where it had been buried.
And me? Why did my heart tremble for the man who had ordered me to kill him?
The mist butterfly died as quickly as it had appeared, and with it, everything that might have lasted one second longer.
14
A true confectioner doesn’t merely craft sweets. They create fragments of essence, torn from the depths of their own heart.
LEMPICKA
Braided brioches with cinnamon bark cause irritability, bad faith, and temper tantrums.
I reread the line in the grimoire. Three times. Then I screamed. “What?! But that was Nyla’s recipe!”
The one for mornings too hard to bear, when Aignan grumbled like an old cauldron someone had forgotten to scrub, and for me, whose stamina rivaled that of butter melting in a pan too hot. It was supposed to give strength. Not… this monstrosity!
A sharp noise. The tray of brioches lay on the floor. Empty. Sprawled majestically across the counter as if preparing to hold court, Aignan licked his glistening muzzle, golden crumbs stuck to his fur, his single horn sparkling like a shard of hardened sugar.
“What are you staring at, scarecrow?!” he snapped. “Nyla, at least, knew how to make brioches! Good thing she’s dead, thatone, or I’d have gored her myself for saddling us with this witch! That’s how she thanks me… And now you’re going to abandon me too!”
“I’m not going anywhere, I’ll fix this?—”
I reached out a hand to pet him, but he bolted out the window, shooting me a murderous glare over his shoulder. “Don’t touch me! You look like scorched sugar, and you smell like burnt caramel!”
My palms heated. My forehead was sticky. I was literally caramelizing. And of course, while I panicked, Aignan was outside growling at a tree branch. He challenged it with a glare, then tried to stab it with his horn.
I bewitched Aignan. This is all my fault!
“DELIVERY!” Yeun suddenly shrieked, in a flash of blue flame.
