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“You’re not really planning to travel all that distance alone, are you?” The kitchen walls rumbled slightly with the sound of Emrys’ concern, but Viola continued to mix the batter, unbothered. Since the giant had become a regular visitor, she had learned where not to place breakables.
“I’ve made the journey dozens of times,” she said airily.
A massive green eye peeked through the flowered curtains of the open window. Most people would have been thrown into a panic at the sight, but she merely regarded the eye with a soft smirk. If anyone was perturbed, it was him.
“You’ve gotten lucky so far, but there’s no telling when that luck will run out,” he huffed. “You clearly don’t know the dangers lurking out there.”
“Oh? Do tell.” She poured strawberry batter into a pan. A finished chocolate cake was already cooling on the counter, while another was rising in the oven. The warm scents intermingled and wafted around her. Perhaps if Emrys were capable of coming indoors and experiencing it, he wouldn’t be so unsettled.
“Robbers, for one,” he said after grasping for an answer. “Have you considered that? They’d be delighted to find a lone traveler with a basket of goods.”
“The sweets are gifts for the neighbors. No money lost.”
He groaned. “Can you call them neighbors if you have to cross an entire patch of woodland just to reach them? You’ll have to detour over a mile to find the bridge. The river is still high and turbulent after last week’s rainstorm. You didn’t know that, did you?”
Viola hummed indifferently, fighting a smile.
“That bridge looks one bad day away from snapping,” he insisted. “What if you fall in?”
“I supposed I’d get wet, wouldn’t I?”
His hand flashed in and out of view, fingertips rubbing the bridge of his nose in exasperation. “And I haven’t even mentioned the beasts prowling out there. The bears, the wildcats, the wolves—”
“The giants?” She finished scraping the last of the batter into the pan and set the bowl in the sink.
Emrys sourly met her smug look. “Exactly. Not everyone is as reasonable as I am.”
“I’d say my luck is perfectly intact, then.”
She brushed the cooling cake with her fingers—it was warm to the touch, but not too hot. Perfect. She swept it up from the counter and leaned out the kitchen window, stretching her arms with the platter in hand. Emrys jolted back from her sudden appearance and narrowed his eyes at the offering.
Cocking her head playfully, she raised it higher. “Are you trying to stop me from sharing these so you can have them all for yourself?”
“No,” he said at once, but he accepted the treat nonetheless. Her work all but crumbled apart when he pinched it between a finger and thumb, but his expression softened when he ate it. She grinned—never mind that he devoured an hour’s work in one second.
Rather than retreat back into the kitchen, she beckoned him closer. She swore she could feel his skin flush as she pressed a kiss to the bridge of his nose. “If you want to accompany me on the journey,” she said, “all you have to do is ask.”