Chapter 11
“Okay. I think – I think – I’ve finally done it.”
Gathered at Sylvie’s bakery the next morning, Caleb, Kira and Gale crowded around the table, looking down at the cupcake as Sylvie placed it down in front of them.
“Uh, how will we know if it’s safe to eat now?” Kira asked, gazing down at it. It wasn’t quite like any kind of cupcake she’d seen before. Sure, the icing was white and frothy, as per usual. But instead of a cherry or a little piece of chocolate on top, there was a little piece of rosemary, charred at the edges of its leaves. And the cupcake itself had little chunks of dark yellow in it – clearly pieces of the flambéed aurum lacunosa. But the cake itself looked pale – like it was vanilla-flavored.
“I should be able to tell,” Gale said. He reached out, closing his eyes.
“Were you up all night doing this?” Kira whispered to Sylvie, not wanting to interrupt whatever trance Gale appeared to have gone into. To be honest, she was still reeling from the whole revelation that she’d been living alongside a unicorn this whole time, and had never known it.
She understood why Sylvie hadn’t told her, but Kira was going to have a hard time trusting any animal – or person! – she saw from now on!
Was that squirrel I saw looking at me the other day really a squirrel? she thought, recalling the way it had regarded her with its beady little eyes, as if sizing her up. Or was it a shifter in disguise?
She was pretty confident though that if she ever saw a unicorn in the wild, she’d know it was something a little out of the ordinary.
“Um. Only half the night,” Sylvie said sheepishly. “I had it all figured out… mostly… by about two a.m., but my own handwriting was getting pretty hard to read by that time. So I went to bed, got a couple of hours of sleep, and then came back to finish the job.”
“Oh my God, Sylvie – I wouldn’t ever have wanted you to –” Kira began, feeling guilty, before Sylvie cut her off with a wave of her hand.
“Please, Kira, like I said – it’s fun for me! It’s been a while since I really had to work hard on a recipe. And don’t worry – I didn’t taste-test anything. I did what Gale suggested, and then I waited until this morning to get his opinion on whether it was safe to eat. So I can’t really vouch for whether it’s edible or not – but I thought I’d try to bake it into a sweet cupcake to try to cover the flavor a little. Whatever that flavor might turn out to be.”
Kira had never heard of a sweet mushroom cupcake before, but if there was anyone who could pull it off, she was sure it was Sylvie.
“Hmm,” Gale said at last, opening his eyes again. “I… think this is safe to eat. My unicorn isn’t really detecting any poison in the mushroom now. But I guess it’s also never encountered a baked version before. It does seem pretty indifferent to it, though – it’s not warning me off it, or worried that it’ll kill me if I eat it. That’s about the best I can do, though.”
“Well, I suppose there’s really only one way to find out,” Caleb said, his voice a little grim. He sat down in front of the cupcake, staring at it.
All at once, Kira felt a flood of fear within her, making her stomach clench. “What if it’s not safe?” she said, reaching out and clutching at Caleb’s shoulder. “What if –”
Reaching up, Caleb covered her fingers with his own, smiling up at her. “Kira, I know why you’re frightened – and believe me, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t just the slightest bit worried myself. But I trust Gale’s assessment – unicorn powers really are pretty incredible when it comes to nature. I’m sure he’d know if there was a problem. And right now, I’d be willing to eat about ten of these cupcakes even if there was only half a chance it would mean I could live a normal, peaceful life with you.”
Kira swallowed. Caleb was looking up at her with eyes filled with hope, affection – and love. Her heart thudded in her chest, and she squeezed his hand with hers, biting her lip.
“I know,” she said. “And I know that this weird mushroom was the whole reason you came here. But… but just know, even if it doesn’t work, I still want to be with you. Bad luck curse or not, I’m your – your mate.”
It was surprising to her, how right the word felt in her mouth. But that was what they were to each other, and Kira knew she’d stick by Caleb from now on, no matter what.
Caleb took a deep breath, a soft smile passing over his lips. “Okay,” he said, slowly sliding his hand out from beneath hers. “Well, I guess – here goes nothing.”
Kira held her breath as Caleb reached down, picking up the cupcake. He brought it up to his lips, giving it a small sniff.
“Well, it certainly smells edible,” he said, glancing up at Sylvie with a small smile. “In fact, it smells great.”
Sylvie laughed, though Kira couldn’t help but hear the slight apprehension in her voice. “Well, unicorn-grown vanilla will do that for a cake!”
“I suppose all that’s left to do is actually taste it,” Caleb murmured. He hesitated for only a second, before he opened his mouth and took a big bite.
Kira held her breath as Caleb chewed. She wasn’t sure how long a poisonous mushroom took to take effect – not that she didn’t trust Gale, but who could blame her for being just a little frightened? Watching her mate take a bite out of a potentially deadly cupcake was something she was sure would cause anyone just the tiniest bit of anxiety, no matter what reassurances they’d had.
“Mmm. Well, it sure does taste fine,” Caleb said, as he swallowed. “Better than fine – if those mushrooms were supposed to taste rancid, I can’t tell at all. It just tastes like vanilla, with a little bit of a nutty aftertaste. It’s delicious, actually.”
Sylvie laughed lightly. “Well, that’s good to know! Still, I’m not sure I’ll be putting this particular product on my shelves anytime soon.”
“How do you feel?” Gale asked. “No sore stomach? No double vision?”
Caleb laughed. “Not yet. But I guess I should eat some more, either way.”