Heart of Ashes

The Agreement

Evelyn felt Caine's lips near her ear, "Are you hungry?"

She pulled away from him, "Are you?"

He laughed, "Not really, but I asked if you were hungry?"

She was about to answer but her stomach gave one loud growl, "Er..."

He smiled, "Go upstairs and fix your eyes, then call those two lovely friends of yours and invite them for dinner. Tell them your cousin from Romania wants to meet them."

She frowned, "Okay? What's for dinner?"

"Do you have chicken?"

"In the freezer."

"How about paprika?"

"In the spice rack."

"Excellent!"

He stood up and marched into the kitchen. He was tall and very handsome and as she observed his long, swift stride she found it hard to believe he was her grandfather but the evidence was in the box on the coffee table and in his emotion towards her. She shrugged and went upstairs to fix her face.

She looked in the mirror and groaned when she saw the black streaks down her face. She cleaned it off and fixed it. She called the "two lovely friends" Caine had requested. Evelyn and Morwenna Connery had been best friends since they met at the age of four in preschool. The other one Caine was talking about was Anthony Drew. She and Morwenna met him in high school and Morwenna ended up going steady with him. She dialed their home number and Anthony picked up.

"Drew/Connery household," he said.

"Hey Ant," she said, "my... er... cousin got in from Romania two days ago. He says he wants to meet you two so we're inviting you for supper."

"What's for supper?" he asked.

"I don't know, he's cooking," she answered, "some chicken dish."

She heard Anthony yell to ask Morwenna then a scuffling and he was back, "What time?"

"Caine!" Evelyn covered the microphone.

"In an hour!" he called back, it was creepy how he knew exactly what she wanted.

"An hour's time," she told Anthony."

"Awesome, we'll bring some wine," he said, "uh... your cousin, he does," Anthony paused and put on a bad Romanian accent, "'drink wine' doesn't he?"

"Ha ha," she said dryly, "I'm going to die laughing."

"Just kidding, Evie," he said with a chuckle, "see you in a bit."

Evelyn went down the stairs and was lured, by a heavenly smell, into the kitchen. Caine's chicken was in the oven - how he'd heated it so quickly was a mystery - and he was busy preparing vegetables on a roasting pan.

"Can I help with anything?" she asked.

"You can toss the salad if you like," he said, "then you can go fetch Tara."

"Tara?"

"My raven."

"Why the hell did you call her Tara?"

"Because she responds to that name."

Evelyn tossed the salad and headed upstairs. She went into the guest bedroom and found 'Tara' in her cage. She squawked loudly when Evelyn opened the cage. She realised she had no idea how to handle a raven. She reached in and attempted to get her out like a budgy but she was having non of that. She cawed loudly and retreated backwards into the cage.