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“Orange zest,” Mimi yelled.
“Yup, we used orange zest,” Emilia said, bringing over the little bowl of glaze and a spoon.
Each child drizzled some glaze on top of their cupcake, then Emilia quickly did the rest and set them on a big plate to cool.
“Ready?” she asked, sitting beside Mimi.
“Toast,” Dyrk yelled happily.
“Do you want to give it?” she asked, pleased.
“To the brave warriors above, and the men below,” he said by rote. “And to chocolate cakes for dinner!”
The kids smacked their glasses together hard enough she was afraid she would be cleaning up a crime scene.
But the glasses held, and she clinked hers more gently to each of theirs.
There was absolute silence as they each took a bite. She had been a little afraid about the taste after putting in so many healthy fillers, but the sweet chocolate and the tang of orange flavor brought it all together very nicely.
“Mmmm,” Mimi moaned over an enormous bite.
“Take it slowly,” Emilia advised. “Careful bites.”
Dyrk’s cake was completely gone.
“Can I have another?” he asked.
“One more,” she said.
He grinned and grabbed the biggest one, and she watched as he closed his eyes to take a bite.
“You are a good cook,” Mimi declared when her giant bite was finally chewed and swallowed.
“Thank you,” Emilia replied. “And so are you and your brother.”
“And you are funny,” Mimi added approvingly.
“I am?” Emilia asked, taking a sip of milk.
“Remember when you fell down?” Mimi whispered.
“We knew you were okay,” Dyrk said in a tone approaching apologetic. “That’s why we think it was funny.”
Emilia pictured the scene from their point of view. She was shot by a safety arrow and then fell down and closed her eyes to die.
The humor of it hit her suddenly and she had to fight not to laugh with milk in her mouth.
“Ha,” Dyrk laughed.
“I almost had milk coming out of my nose,” Emilia said, catching her breath. “You guys are pretty funny too.”
“Milk coming out of your nose,” Mimi crowed and collapsed into giggles.
“But guys, I was never shot by any sort of arrow before,” Emilia said, still laughing.
“Well, we all learned a new skill today,” Dyrk said.
But Mimi looked a little downcast all of a sudden.
