Make it make sense.
“I would give in to eat some delicious food,” I admitted. “Mess or no mess. Not that they give you any good foods on offer here. There aren’t any spices.”
I’d complained about that already today, but it really was a travesty.
“Felix’s secret stash has some basic spices,” Kirin said, grating the last of the cheese and turning to face me with a smirk. “That’s how I supplement my diet. Raiding his piles of food. He doesn’t come here often enough to miss it, and the magic replenishes anything I take. I don’t know how long the magic will keep replenishing it, but I’ll take the chance.”
My jaw dropped open. A secret stash? I’d been here for over a months’ worth of todays, and no one had thought to mention this to me? Then again, Bennett was looking at Kirin disapprovingly, the stash clearly off limits. “I follow Kirin in when he steals from Felix,” Waylon said with a smirk. “He takes so much, no one would ever notice the few things I grab while he’s on his way out. Whenever he eventually gets caught, he’ll take all the blame and I’ll be blameless.”
“Seriously?” Kirin said, grumbling under his breath. “I’ve never noticed you.”
Went to show how sneaky the pixie could be when he wanted to be. I wouldn’t think about how often he might have been observing me without my knowledge. “I’m more concerned about where the heck this food stash is. Show me.”
“Felix wouldn’t appreciate us stealing from him,” Bennett said, shaking his head.
“Uncle Felix is dead, and I inherited this damn house. In theory, the food is mine.”
Four blank stares turned to me in shock, and I sighed. I’d skipped the introduction today, and had almost forgotten they didn’t know who I was. We’d been having so much fun being companionable, it was easy to forget they didn’t know me like I knew them. Zan wasn’t staring at me in shock like the others, simply avoiding eye contact and biting his lip.
“I told you, my name is Hadley,” I said. “He passed away and left me the house. This is old news. Can you show me where his secret stash is now?”
Old news to me, but I’d told them the ‘bad news’ enough times by now to know none of them were saddened by his untimely demise. He’d been one of their prison wardens, after all. I wouldn’t be sad. Fuck, if he came back to life and died again, I still wouldn’t be sad. He was a fanatic who’d locked me up.
“You don’t seem particularly torn up about his death,” Kirin said. “Aren’t you his niece?”
“Yes, but I learned about his death a while ago and I’d never met him.” I paused, and when none of them said anything, continued. “Food?”
Kirin loosed a chuckle and placed a large hand on my arm, tugging me toward the decorative doors separating this area from the rest of the house. I stiffened and Zan opened his mouth like he was going to tell Kirin off, but I shrugged and grinned at him. The orc was a big softy who wouldn’t do anything. Besides, we all knew by now he enjoyed being told what to do. In descriptive, vivid detail.
He led me across the hall and into the storage room, where my body reacted much more strongly. We were too close to Felix’s office for comfort, knowing a ghost was in there. But I stayed, on high alert, as Kirin moved a box of baking soda to the side and pressed a small hidden button on the wall. The shelving slid back with a faint creak, revealing a hidden pantry.
Oh Ixaris, I’d been saved.
Every food imaginable stocked the shelves. Well, I was exaggerating, but compared to the sparse kitchen cupboards, it sure as fuck felt like it. Different flavours of pasta sauce lined one shelf, flour and baking ingredients sitting cheerily on another. Fresh fruit and vegetables sat in a corner, and when I went to stand beside them, the air felt cool and runes glowed faintly on the floor. The magic no doubt replenished every item, same as the kitchen items.
Most important of all were the spices.
Salt and pepper, cajun, ginger, garlic. Plenty of options I’d never in my life used, but would experiment with now. “I’m in heaven,” I said, awed.
The space was small enough that Kirin had opted to stand outside instead of boxing me in. “Bennett was right that we’re not supposed to take from here, or know about it, but honestly? What’s Felix going to do about it? He’s dead now. Even when he was alive, he wasn’t the type of guy who would stand much of a chance against someone my size.”
I wouldn’t doubt it. Glancing over my shoulder and blatantly checking him out, I grinned when he blushed. “You didn’t have much respect for him, did you?”
His pupils widened in surprise, and he shrugged. “He wasn’t that respectful of a guy. Didn’t hate him, didn’t love him. He was just there.”
I could imagine, considering the reading material he kept on hand. Orcs were workhorses in his mind. Having Kirin lazing about and reading his books wouldn’t have sat well with Felix’s beliefs. He would have been happier if Kirin spent his spare time smashing through walls and putting them back up, or something.
“Part of me wishes I’d met him, but mostly I’m glad I didn’t. Especially considering he intentionally made sure I would be locked in here.”
“He didn’t tell you about the seal on the house in his will?”
Scoffing, I shook my head and pulled down some spices, gathering them in my arms to take back to the kitchen. “All he told me was I’d inherited a house. There was no information about it being in a graveyard, and he neglected to mention it was being used as a prison. He didn’t even mention it was in disrepair.”
“Abraxas keeps the house in good enough shape.”
“You guys haven’t seen the outside. I’ll admit, the inside is surprisingly homey and pleasant considering the weather damage and broken siding on the outside. Not to mention the overgrowth of weeds.”
“I guess you have a point,” he said, reaching out to take the bundle of spices into his arms.
