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I was poking the bear again, but boredom made me do stupid things. Maybe I really was a brat.

“Raelynn, get your ass in the kitchen or so help me—”

“Blah blah blah. Fine.” I swung my legs off the couch and stood. “Don’t get your panties in a bunch.”

His mouth dropped open, his face screwing up at my audacity as I walked around the sofa and headed for the kitchen. “I don’t wear panties,” he muttered, following me.

I stopped short when I entered the kitchen. Bowls, muffin pans, eggs, and other ingredients covered the countertop of the center island. I turned to Cyn as he entered behind me.

“Zeke wants cupcakes.”

“Okaaay.”

He moved past me. “They’re his favorite dessert that I make. I’m going to teach you how to make them so he has something to snack on after patrol.”

“I know how to make cupcakes.”

“You don’t know how to make mine.” He turned to the oven and set the dial.

I rolled my eyes and looked at the ingredients available. He didn’t even know if Zeke would like mine. “Where’s the cake mix?”

He turned to me, and his natural scowl deepened. “No.”

“No?”

“We’re making them from scratch.”

“Oh. I’ve never done that before.”

He set his hand on top of a bag of flour I hadn’t noticed before. “And that’s why I’m teaching you. Come here.”

I wasn’t sure why Cyn wanted to involve me in making cupcakes for Zeke, but I wanted to get better at cooking. Between the ball and what happened in Feranzis, Ash hadn’t had a chance to arrange lessons with the palace chefs.

When Zeke first suggested teaching me, Cyn had flat-out refused back on Earth. I wondered what had caused his change of heart.

“I’ve already set everything up, so all we need to do is prep.” He opened a drawer and pulled out a hairband, passing it to me. “For your hair.”

“You keep hairbands in the kitchen?”

“For whenever Ash helps. I don’t want hair in my food.” He turned and opened the refrigerator, pulling out a carton of milk while I put my hair up into a messy bun.

“Wait. I thought you didn’t have Earth animals here. How do you have cow’s milk?”

He held the carton up. “Niphi milk. Tastes the same—maybe a little sweeter than cow’s milk.”

They really did replace cows with niphis. I wondered what a niphi looked like.

He detailed the ingredients we needed to make Zeke’s favorite cupcakes and directed me to whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl while he placed liners in the cupcake pans.

The way he moved around and handled everything in his space made it clear that the kitchen was Cyn’s domain.

“You’re gonna mix these wet ingredients into this bowl.” He placed another bowl in front of me, taking the large bowl of dry ingredients. “I wrote down all the measurements and put them in the drawer next to the stove so you have them for next time.”

I took the bowl and dropped in the three gornak egg whites he’d already portioned. “Next time?”

“Yeah.” He poured the milk into a measuring cup and passed it to me. “You’re going to make them without my help next time.”

“Am I now?”