A Christmas prompt for you, if youāve got time to do one (and if you feel like it, of course)! Carver/Merrill, number 38 from that list... :-)
āLast Christmas, you broke my heart. But Iām still not over you.āWhew, right on time! Itās 11:48 p.m. on Christmas day in the UK as Iām posting this. :D I hope you wonāt mind this little piece of incredibly trope-y, convoluted drama.
āThe mulled wine smells really nice, doesnāt it?ā Merrill says, throwing a handful of dried cranberries into the hearth-cake dough. Sheās wearing a headband with rattan halla antlers and a hand-knit sweater, now powdered with a layer of sifted flour. āHawke said it was your fatherās recipe.ā
Carver shrugs as he stirs the mulled wine. The cinnamon sticks and vanilla pods swirl in the saucepan, the flesh of the orange slices purpling. āIf āthrow the spice mix into cheap wine and simmer itā counts as a recipe, then yes.ā
āOh.ā Milk splashes on the table as she dribbles some into the dough. āStill, itās quite different from the version I grew up with. Weād just use the same spices as for the hearth cakes: ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg, so no anise or orange peel, with honey or maybe some purĆ©ed dates or even a chopped apple andāsorry,ā she says with one of those thrice-damned giggles of hers that just make him want to sweep her off her feet and kiss her. āIām rambling.ā
āYou are,ā he concurs, more harshly than he intended, regretting the words the instant theyāre out of his mouth.
She laughs again, but itās a little strained this time. āThatāthat wasnāt very nice, now, was it?ā
āYou said it first,ā he retorts. Maker damn it, why canāt he just apologise instead?
āI did, yes. Sorry. Iāll just shut up now.ā And she does, kneading in perfect silence before flouring the tabletopāand itās worse, of course itās worse, with that silence thick as the dough between them, only filled with the rustle of the wine simmering on the stove and the slow back-and-forth of the rolling pin.
Carver throws an agonizing look towards the doorway, hoping to see his sister return. Void, heād even take Fenrisās scathing remarks if it meant a distraction.
How long does it take to set up a bloody trivet, anyway?
Just damn his luck. Taken hostage by the mulled wine, doomed to watch it simmer while Fenris and his sister are busy getting everything ready to bake the hearth cakes ⦠and only then does it occur to him that it mustāve all been on purpose. Of course his sister would invite only Merrill and him early, then find a way to leave them alone together in the same room. Minding everyone elseās business is just what she does, romantic, meddling fool that she is.
But Carver feels, oddly, most betrayed by Fenris. Not that thereās much in the way of friendship between them for Fenris to betrayāand maybe this is what makes it doubly frustrating: that FenrisāFenris, with his bloody puppy eyes and his bloody flannel shirt and his bloody rolled-up sleevesānow thinks himself happy enough to meddle into other peopleās affairs. And why wouldnāt he be? The way his sister is glowing, she probably expects a marriage proposal before the night is over (now wouldnāt that be mortifying?), or sheās expecting, period, andā
And why does that bother him?
Bloody mulled wine. Bloody hearth cakes. Bloody Satinalia.