Bloody Angel Book 1

Baking Day pt II

Annie sipped at her tea. It had a sweet flowery aroma, so she suspected it was a chamomile blend. Though good for calming anxiety it also aided with sleep and she didn't want that, so she only took a few more small sips before pushing it away. She was moved by his gesture, though.

Unable to keep still, she got up and went to her basket to begin sorting through the elderflowers and herbs, setting the dandelions aside for her salad. Seth watched her from his spot leaning against the cabinets.

"Unless you're okay standing there, you could help if you wanted," she says softly, plucking the small elderflowers off their stems.

"Oh, I don't mind. Just tell me what you need me to do, Annie," he smiles and walks over, rolling up his sleeves. She shows him how to pluck off the small flowers and between the two of them they nearly had all of them separated from their stems and washed by the time Rain walked through the door.

"Good afternoon, my lady," Rain greets Annie with a bow. She flushes lightly and shakes her head.

"I've told you, just Annie is fine," she sighs, looking up to him. "How are you today, Rain?"

"Forgive me, Annie. I am well. Seth said you are in need of assistance?" He strides over to the pair looking over the flowers and herbs laid out.

"Yeah. This kitchen is overwhelming," she pops one of the small flowers in her mouth, chewing it slowly. "I need to bake and I don't even know how that oven works. Or where to even look for anything."

"Tell me what you need and I shall gather it for you."

"Alright. Uh, for both recipes I need two large pots with oil. Flour, eggs, nutmeg, cinnamon, sugar, honey, white wine and brandy. And a couple bowls to mix," she counts out the ingredients with her fingers and he gets to work, moving faster than she thought possible to line up canisters and spice jars along the remaining counter space. His speed was impressive and her lips curved up in a smile as she felt some of her anxiety fade.

While Rain gathered the main ingredients Seth dug through cabinets for bowls and pots. He reached for the large jug of frying oil at the same time Rain did and their fingers brushed against each other. They jumped apart, pulling their hands back. Seth rubs the back of his neck and lets out a nervous chuckle.

"Eh, sorry about that Rainy," he mumbles. Rain just smiles and grabs the jug and the pots from Seth's arms, bringing them over to the counter.

"What else do you need my la- ah, Annie?" Rain catches himself after filling the pots with oil.

"Just your hands. Though you may want to roll up your sleeves for this. And wash them first!" She giggles lightly. "I hope you aren't afraid to get messy. The way I do this everything is mixed by hand. Literally."

Seth picks up his books and smiles over to Annie. "I'd love to stay and help, this looks like it'll be fun! However, I should get back to Copia."

Annie gives a small smile and nods. "Thanks for all your help, Seth. Try not to let him work too hard, yeah?"

"I'll try. But you know how stubborn the man is. Rainy, text if you need anything."

Rain nods and with a final wave Seth pushes through the doors and disappears down the hall. Annie sighs and relaxes a little more before turning back to her bowls.

"Alright, first the flour!"

Following her directions, Rain prepares the dough for the honey cakes as she mixes and measures the fritter batter. The dough felt weird on his hands as he mixed the dry and wet ingredients together- not totally unpleasant but enough to wish he was using one of the mixers or spoons. However this is how she did it, so that's how he would do it. He could see how working food with your hands, even as messy as the batter she mixed next to him, could be relaxing and he felt her shift into a state of ease as she worked mixed with a slight shimmer of magic.