Star Crossed Liars ✔

Chapter Twenty Nine

"-And that's just it. As I say it, it seems like nothing but that's the story." I finally finished.

There was no point in lying. If I just made something up, then it would end up coming back and biting me in the ass. I wanted to keep it brief, just not to ruin the environment that we had created. All I said was that we had met early in the tournament, and had chosen to keep it a secret due to me wanting to maintain my studies, saying that it was against my own personal morals to change courses.

Orion had said nothing, only nodding his head and encouraging me on as I talked, listening on to any word that came out of my mouth.

I had kept cooking the entire time, chopping up vegetables and placing them in the boiling water before moving on and starting to make the garlic white sauce, politely declining the recipe that Gloria had offered over. 

"That's interesting," Daniel mused. "And the Luna position, is that something you feel prepared for?"

There was nothing rude about what he said, asking it simply out of curiosity, the mischievous look in his eye not fading even in the slightest.

I didn't stop cooking, "Yes, but no. I obviously don't know the logistics of it, nor the smaller details, but I've worked in a kitchen my whole life, and I've just come off being the highest scoring medical student in the tournament. Both of those things have taught me skills that I can almost guarantee will be helpful. I also know that no matter what, in the beginning, this sort of position is a learning experience. No matter how prepared you think you are, you can never be fully ready until your in the position about to start,"

"That's interesting," He said, "Completely true, but interesting."

I didn't know how to reply, so I didn't, grabbing the piece of garlic and dicing it up and throwing it into the pan, letting it marinate in the cream while grabbing some cayenne and throwing it.

I turned to Gloria, "I'm sorry, but do you have any wine? It would make anyone drunk or anything, just for flavour,"

She nodded, leaning forward and grabbing a bottle from a locked cabinet, "You seem very comfortable in the kitchen, Althea."

I shrugged, "I would have thought that Orion would've mentioned... both my parents are chefs, and I grew up in Aliments-"

"Aliments?" A smaller voice said, "That's not from here, is it?"

I nodded slowly, "Yeah, I grew up in France." 

Florence's eyes widened, and then a sort of smitten look came over her face. "Isn't that the pack of love?"

"Sadly no," I shook my head, "Aliments is the pack of food. I visited the L'amour pack once, very beautiful."

She leaned against the bottom cabinets, "I want to go to the L'amour pack,"

I rested the spoon on the pan, letting the mixture boil. I then leaned down, "How about I take you? I go home and visit every year,"

She looked at me, wide eyes, "Really?"

I nodded, "But you can't tell anyone, we'll keep it a secret until we leave, okay?"

She nodded, giving off a gappy smile, "I can definitely do that."

I raised a finger to my lips before standing back up straight and kept stirring the pan. I caught Orion smiling, and though I didn't say anything, I just smiled back. We weren't cooking for too much longer, finishing everything in record time simply due to how much we were able to get done. The others set the table, placing the plates around the table and bowls full of salad, pasta and everything else that we had prepared.