Page 36 of A Lie so Pretty and Poisonous

Stepping onto the cobblestone street once again, the smell of bread and sweets permeated the air.

“Can we stop by a bakery? I want to grab a sweet or two for Cora.”

He inclined his head and led me down the street to an outdoor merchant selling all manner of delicious-smelling baked goods. Pastries, breads, hand pies, and sugary candies lined the shelves. A man and woman worked in tandem, yelling about their delicious delicacies, and a breeze fanned the smells toward the seraphs walking by. I spotted a few daemonite younglings in dirty and tattered clothes on the opposite side of the cobblestone street, eyeing the baked goods. The merchant waved her hand, and the breeze stopped upon our approach, making me wonder if she was using an enchant to entice patrons to come to their stand.

“What’ll it be?” The male merchant asked, and his gaze wandered behind me to where Darragh stood. His eyes briefly widened before he returned his attention to me.

“Hi. My daughter loves cinnamon pastries. Do you have anything like that?” I kept my voice light and airy.

“Uh…yes…of course, my lady.” He kept looking up at the wall of intimidation lingering behind me and then back to my smiling face. He finally turned and showed me a tray of cinnamon scones and a rack of apple and cinnamon hand pies.

“Can I have two of the scones, two of the pies, a honey cake, and five of the cream pastries? Box up the honey cake and the pastries separately if you can. Can you put it on the tab of the crown?”

“Not a problem. Right away, my lady.” He continued to eye Darragh behind me.

The merchant made quick work of my order, and I had the three boxes in hand within a minute.

“Thank you!” I turned toward Darragh and walked straight past him, crossing the street to the younglings on the other side.

Darragh blinked, his eyebrows pulled together. “My lady? What are you…”

I approached the oldest child, who couldn’t be more than seven or eight, and handed her the box of cream pastries. “These are for you to share. Enjoy!” The younglings stared at me for a moment and then practically ripped open the box, each grabbing a pastry and shoveling it into their mouths.

I giggled as I pivoted, and Darragh had ceased all movement.

“What?” I shrugged.

He walked to me, the younglings running off as he approached. “I…You likely made those younglings’ whole month.”

“Oh, don’t worry. You get something, too.” I held out a box tied with white and green baker’s twine from my stack. He slowly took it from my hands and blinked twice. His hesitation lingered, like what I was offering was a trick.

“I hope you like honey cake. You seem like a honey cake kind of guy,” I plastered on a playful grin. Darragh looked down at the box and then back at me. His left eyebrow hiked up. I shrugged. “Everyone likes sweets. Thought you might too. If you don’t want it, it’s alright.”

I reached for the box, and he quickly pulled it close to him. “Uh…thank you. My lady.”

A simple gesture could go a long way. I didn’t expect friendship with him, but everyone was deserving of consideration. Including him.

“Rory,” I said once again. Maybe I will get him to stop being so formal at some point. Today was not that day.

The pattering of rain tapped against the cool windowpane, conflicting with the crackling fire warming the rooms that Cora and I shared. It had been three days of this weather, keeping me from exploring the castle grounds or the city beyond. The only time I saw Darragh was when he came to take Cora to school. The interactions we had were kept to short greetings and terse good evenings.

I cozied up on a chaise in the sitting room and flipped open to where I left off reading Deities and Demigods. It was an ancient-looking book that had the feel of a long-forgotten tomb that had just been uncovered. The binding creaked and cracked at each turning of a page. It was a fascinating compendium of all the known deities. Their relationships, kinships, strife, and their contributions to magic were all detailed. Many of them were siblings, like twins Danu and Dullahan, life and death. I found it particularly interesting that most of the power the Divine wielded was a direct result of the devotion, belief, and worship of them by their creations. Without proper worship, their power waned. According to the book, since the seraphs were closer to the Divine than humans, their devotion was more potent than that of humans. Seraphs had more pull in the outcomes of our world than I realized.

I stretched my arms and yawned. Sleeping in a bed with Cora was like sleeping next to a fish with the amount she flopped around all night. The hyperawareness that was heightened upon coming here woke me up to every position change she made. I was so tired and half-attempted to nap while Cora was at her daily lessons and activities—something she was always excited to go to.

Yesterday, Cora bounded into our rooms and told me all about the colorful bird she spoke to when the younglings went outside for an hour in between rain showers. There was a bird species here called Bittas that could communicate with seraphs and humans. The governess encouraged her to interact with the bird until it flew away. She was finding wonder every day here, and it made me happy that she had taken so well to this new place. Even if I had a lot of uncertainty and apprehension about it.

The danger here still set me on edge. Just this morning, a militia group used enchants to blow up part of the city, which held the Temple of Themis—the seraphs’ main worship house. The castle windows shook, and the rumbling sound of distant destruction jolted Cora and me awake. All of the castle had been aflutter with the news.

One more chapter. I turned the page to a chapter on divine flora and fauna when someone gently knocked on the door to the rooms. I stood and stretched after being curled up most of the day. I noticed a few discarded candy wrappers on the table that Cora must have left behind. This kid and her sweets.

“Come in!” I called.

“I thought you would like some company,” Anya greeted from the doorway.

“Goddess, yes. My eyes are going blurry from reading so much, and I am about to fall asleep.”

“Hopefully not too blurry to read this letter that came for you an hour ago. It’s a little damp,” she grimaced, handing me the envelope.