Luminescent (Inheritance Cycle and Beyond)

Chapter Seventy-Three: Blinding

"I want to find as many places like this as I can."

"Hmm, sounds fun."

"Care to join me?" He asked in a teasing manner.

"Please, you know you don't have to ask."

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"Have you gotten any word from Thorn?" I asked as I stirred the pot in front of me. We had returned from our walk, and I had promptly started dinner, falling back onto the roll I had assumed since we started living at Du Weldenvrangr.

Murtagh shook his head from where he sat.

"No, I take it you haven't heard from Alethea either?" I nodded with a sigh.

"I don't know what those two are up to, but they better at least be enjoying themselves," I muttered as I poured rice into the mixture of sautéed vegetables and beans before pouring in the water I had gathered.

"I'm sure they are," Murtagh responded as I slumped down next to him. "so, what have you decided to cook for dinner, o' wife of mine?"

Laughing, I rolled my eyes and jabbed my elbow into his side.

"First off, I'm not your wife."

"Yet," He commented.

"Second, rice and beans." I finished. "Seeing as I just added the rice, I think we'll need to wait about twenty minutes until its finished."

The twenty minutes went by slowly as the pot simmered, emitting smells that made both Murtagh and I's mouths water. Finally, not being able to take it anymore, Murtagh let out a groan.

"Tell me it's done," Murtagh groaned. "I cannot think straight with the smells it's emitting."

I got up from my seat and dipped a spoon into the pot. Scooping up a little bit of the mixture, I blew on it before shoving the spoon into my mouth. The flavor of root vegetables and rice filled my mouth.

"Is it?" I turned back to look at Murtagh with a raised eyebrow.

"Good food takes time, my love," I teased before I checked the consistency of the rice. It was tender. "You're in luck."

Murtagh all but jumped up from his sitting position and grabbed two bowls and two spoons from our saddlebags. He trotted over and held the bowls out. I ladled our portions into the bowls before pulling the pot off the fire so it wouldn't overcook.

"Enjoy!" I said before we sat down across from each other and started spooning the rice and bean mixture in my mouth. Murtagh groaned out as he shoveled the rice and beans into his mouth. "Careful, or I'm going to start thinking that you want to marry my cooking rather than me."

"Totally worth it," Murtagh said in between bites. I narrowed my eyes at him as the spoon in my hand, stilled. "joking, my love, joking."

"You better be, or this will be the last time I cook for you." I threw back in a fit of fake anger before we started laughing at each other.

"In all seriousness, the meals you fix are the best I've ever had." I turned my eyes to the bowl in my hands.

"I've had practice."

"Eragon and Roran were lucky to have you."

"Oh, I know," I replied with a grin. "those boys can't cook anything other than oats, and that's a stretch."

"Well to bad for them, I've got the cook." Murtagh grinned back. I smacked him in the stomach. "I'm not going to lie!"

"You're lucky you're cute," I grumbled at him before gathering our bowls and getting ready to clean them. I washed the dishes in the nearest stream and dried them off with a little fire magic before packing them back in the saddlebags.

We cleaned up dinner and put away the cooking supplies before settling in front of the fire with a heavy blanket. Leaning against Murtagh's shoulder, I stared at the flames licking the wood.

"I wonder if the green egg has hatched now that it is out of the poison of Urû'Baen." I mused quietly.

"The green egg? I'm sure that now it's in better hands, it has a greater chance of hatching. You think Eragon has pulled his head out of his ass and stopped chasing after Arya so he can focus on rebuilding the Rider's?"

I giggled at his words, so I wasn't the only one who saw that Eragon's feelings for Arya were ultimately not going to go anywhere. My cousin just wasn't the woman for him.

"I will admit, I don't think that Arya is the woman for him. It is much like the story of the Menoa tree, they simply don't suit each other. He's got puppy love."

"Puppy love, he does pant after, doesn't he?"

"Can you blame him?" I replied. "She was the first female he met that he didn't see as family. He's got a serious case of lust, and he needs to see that."

"I think for that to happen, he's going to need his heartbroken."

"That's what I'm afraid of," I whispered. "he's never felt pain like that."