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I smile and take a seat at the island, feeling as though I were a boy again.
"If you're not too busy. That would be nice."
"I'm never too busy for you, Dare. You know, your brother was just in the hall. If you want me to, I could…”
Before I can even say no, the door slams open, and I hear footsteps. I don't even have to look to know that it is my twin brother. No one else in the family has enough courage to intrude here, in Magda’s fortress. The kitchen has long since been her domain, it was already this way before I was even born.
My lips curl and I move my gaze to the open door. Burn appears, one hand in his slacks pocket, a smirk on his face.
He greets me. “Hello, brother. You're looking particularly wretched this evening."
My smile drops away. I fix him with a glare, wishing like anything that I had the kitchen and Magda to myself.
"Burn," I say as a greeting. "Don't you have homes to wreck? Villages to pillage? Peasants to burn?"
Magda looks back and forth between us, her hands going to her hips and a frown kneading her brow. "Boys, please don't fight. You know I love you both. Burn, come sit down. Have some cake."
She waves him over and heads to the refrigerator once more. I press my lips into a thin line as I watch him come closer, smirking all the while. He settles himself on the stool next to mine and looks me up and down.
"So? What's new?"
I can't help but want to smack his teeth down his throat when I see his handsome face. "Quit smiling at me, you bastard."
I whisper it low so that Magda doesn't hear it. But she has ears like a dog, and she intercedes before he can even say anything.
"Dare!" she says. "Come on now."
She brings a cake stand and two plates with a cake server over to us. Burn looks like he has something to gloat about as she uncovers the beautiful chocolate cake and carefully cuts us each a slice. The cake looks amazing and delicious, with no less than five full layers of death by chocolate. Though I am very angry right now, my mouth automatically starts watering at the sight of Magda's cake. It's been too long since I sat at this exact table and let Magda mother me.
With my mother dying at a young age and my father busy drinking himself to death, I received all of my attention as a child from Magda.
Magda cuts two thick slices of cake and plates them, pushing them across the island to us. Burn looks at me with a smirk and picks up his fork, toying with the cake slice. I know that he'll do what he always does, eat the cake from the inner edge to the top corner, where the frosting is smooth across the top and the sides. He was always one for delayed gratification like that.
I look at him and gather a forkful of the best part of the cake, right at the joint of the two frosting sides. I smile at him thinly as I put the fork to my lips. The sweet bitterness of the chocolate cake bursts across my tongue. But it's not as sweet as I imagined. Nothing is, not since my brother stole from me.
Magda leans her thick forearms against the stainless steel top of the kitchen island and leans forward, looking between us. "Well? Are you going to make me ask?"
Burn plays it cool. "About what?"
I still have another forkful of cake and shove it in my mouth, chewing and swallowing angrily.
"Why has Dare been so distant for the last six months?" she asks.
I can feel her watery eyes trained on me. I look down at the cake and frown. "It does taste as sweet and wonderful as I remembered, but suddenly I've lost my appetite altogether." I put my fork down.
Burn laughs a little. "You’ll have to ask Dare about that. I don't know exactly why he does the things he does. Eh, brother?"
I push my plate away and glare at him. "You know very well why I don't come around anymore." I dart a glance at Magda and then smooth the front of my tuxedo. "I've been busy working on a new project."
"Yeah, a new project that Remy hates. He already told you exactly what he thinks about your project." He laughs to himself. "Deep sea drilling. What a fucking crazy idea."
I hurriedly stand up, my fists bunching. But Magda settles the fight, as she has been doing for our entire lives.
"Boys, boys. You two are brothers. I do not know why you sit around and pick at one another like two chickens eating bird feed. Why can’t you just be nice?"
She comes around to where I am standing and puts her hand on my shoulder, pressing down to get me to sit. She is short, probably no more than five feet tall. Having her gentle hands on me makes me give in, though with anyone else I would fight the touch. She smiles and pats me on the shoulder, then rubs the back of my hand the way she has always done.
It’s not chicken soup for the soul, but I do relax a little bit. Burn is somewhat chastised, and he looks at the two of us with an expression of longing. Magda sweeps a hand across his back as she heads to the stove. She picks up a wooden spoon and stirs the tomato sauce.
