Touch of Flame

Ravina felt the uneasiness that followed Saul’s statement. While Malachi and Saul stared at each other, the other brothers looked uncomfortable.

“Alright. Let’s eat.” Araminta said and sat to Malachi’s right. “Please, sit Ravina.” She told her and Ravina sat across from her.

Mia helped serve around but the men helped themselves mostly. Araminta grabbed the pot of soup that Ravina made and poured some into Malachi’s bowl. “Thank you,” he said picking up his spoon.

“Ravina made it,” she smiled just as he was about to pick it up with his spoon.

He paused for a moment then without looking at any of them he proceeded. Ravina watched as he sipped the soup and tasted it. His expression remained the same and he picked some more.

So it was alright she guessed?

His mother smiled and poured some for Ravina and to herself. Araminta tasted it before her and Ravina could see that her expression changed but she tried to hide it.

It was terrible.

Ravina picked up her spoon and hurried to taste it. As soon as it went down her throat she began to cough and tears burned her eyes. It was very spicy and she didn’t know what to do with herself. She almost panicked but Malachi calmly poured water into her glass. She reached for it and gulped it down.

He smirked. “Cooking is not for you, princess.”

She let out a breath of relief when she cooled down her burned inside. Her tongue was still stinging.

Despite it, Malachi continued to eat the soup and so did his mother.

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“Don’t!” She said baffled.

“Mah, don’t!” Malachi told his mother. “I like spicy.”

“Well, maybe we could mix it with mine so it is less spicy.” She suggested as she reached for the one she made. She poured them some, to mix with her spicy one but Malachi gave refused with a slight gesture.

Was he torturing himself? He didn’t even drink water in between.

Ravina ate the soup that was less spicy now, but still, she had to drink water and eat the bread with it. She reached for the cold vegetables to soothe her tongue. She looked over to see if Araminta was still alive since Malachi didn’t seem the least affected.

Araminta seemed to enjoy her food now. Clearly, they were more tolerant of spicey food than she was and now she understood why she had enjoyed their food. They used lots of flavors and spices that gave it a strong distinctive taste and it made it smell delicious, already calling to her appetite before she could eat.

Saul suddenly stood up from his seat.

“Where are you going?” His mother asked.

“Enjoy some time with your new daughter-in-law, Mah. Thank you for the food.” He said and walked away.

New daughter-in-law? And was he referring to her?

Araminta shook her head. Kenan and Joel followed to leave. “Thank you for the food Mah and princess,” Joel said.

Kenan remained quiet and left with his brother. At least they had some manners.

Malachi put his spoon down before turning to her, “well done.” He told her but she felt like he wasn’t talking about the food.

He rose from his seat and as he walked past his mother he grabbed her shoulder in a soothing gesture before leaving.

“Well, they saved the desert for us.” Araminta forced a smile.

Aaron nodded.

“Why don’t you show her to the balcony upstairs? I will bring dessert.” Araminta told her son.

Aaron showed her to the balcony on the third floor of his mother’s home. The view was large farming landscapes.

“Excuse my brother. He is just grieving.” Aaron said.

“Grieving?”

Aaron came to stand near the rim with her and looked ahead. “He lost his breedmate and child.”

He lost his family? “That’s… heartbreaking.” She said.

He nodded with a sad smile.

“I am sorry.”

“Me too.”

“What happened?”

“They were killed.” He replied.

“By humans?”

“Yes.”

That would explain his hostility and why his family was being patient with him, especially Aaron it seemed.

“He has been like this since their loss. He is not being rational.”

Ravina nodded. “It is understandable.”

He turned to her and watched her curiously for a moment. “You don’t behave like a princess.” He pointed.

“How do princesses behave?”

“Perhaps I am wrong but I would guess that they are spoiled and even if not, they would certainly not be as brave or as knowledgable or as…” he shrugged. “You just seem to have a lot of endurance.”

She nodded understanding his meaning. “I was born into a privileged household but I was not born into a privileged society. My parents never tried to protect us from reality and taught us the values of everything that we had. We would often go out with my parents, mostly I would go out with my father when they helped our people who lost their homes, families, or properties. We saw people starving, dying or grieving.”

Aaron frowned.

“At one point even we didn’t have food. The way the slave trade worked was to make people submit by removing their source of food. The dragons from your clan would burn down farming landscapes where farmers worked for months to supply us with food and have some saved for the winter. It would be all gone while you would use human slaves to make your own farming lands to later sell them to us after you took everything. I must say that is a great strategy.”

Aaron nodded. “It is.” He sighed looking ahead again. “But your father changed everything and then you continued. You must have obtained a lot of knowledge from him.”

She nodded.

“Well, your father raised you well. I wish I could say the same about my father.”

She studied him closely. “Would you say you are more like your mother?”

He became thoughtful then nodded.

“You are considered less male.”

He stiffened and looked at her as if she discovered something.

“You are the youngest and you are like your mother. I assume your brothers value your opinion less because you are the fragile one.”

He frowned and she could see that it made him uncomfortable so what she was saying was probably true.

“I mean that is what they think and it is not necessarily the truth unless you allow it to become the truth. You have to be confident in yourself and in your beliefs to be able to voice them with conviction. If you have no voice, you have nothing.”

He watched her with a deep frown. Clearly, he didn’t think about the fact that what he allowed would continue.

He nodded slowly as he thought about it. “You are right.” He said.

She would give him one more piece of advice. Not to take advice from people like her but she remained quiet.