Twisted Love

Chapter 11

Cinder

The next day, Scarlet came knocking on Cinder's door in the afternoon. Iko answered it, bowing respectfully to the Selection participant.

"Sorry to bother, but is Cinder here?" she questioned. Iko's bright, blue head bobbed.

"I'm sorry, your name?"

"Benoit. Scarlet Benoit."

Craning her head behind the door, she called, "Miss Linh! Miss Benoit is here to see you." Iko stepped aside and made way for Cinder.

"Scarlet!" Cinder exclaimed. "Do you need me for anything?" Scarlet shrugged.

"Just thought we should go do something fun together today," Scarlet answered vaguely, knowing that this would probably be her last day before she would get dismissed. Luckily, Cinder seemed entirely clueless. She nodded and turned to Iko, "If anybody comes while I'm gone, just tell them I'm out."

Iko dipped her head in a respectful nod. "Alright. Have fun, miss!"

Grinning widely, Cinder stepped out of her room and immediately looped her arm through Scarlet's. "So, where are we going today?" she chirped giddily. They walked down the hallway and turned a corner.

"I just thought we could do some baking. It relieves stress, you know."

"Really?"

"I have no idea." They giggled like the were little girls again, and stepped into the kitchen. A blast of hot air shot towards them, courtesy of the ovens and stoves. However, nobody was inside the kitchen. It was just empty.

Scarlet bustled towards the cupboards and opened all of them to find the correct kitchen appliances. It seemed like she would have a hard time finding the right ones, since there were at least two dozen cabinets, drawers, and cupboards inside the royal kitchen.

"Today, we will be baking French macaroons," Scarlet announced, grabbing a roll of parchment paper, a baking tray, a giant sifter, and a piping bag, setting them next to the huge fancy stand mixer that Scarlet had always wished for. To Cinder, however, all of these things were foreign to her. She stared at them in wonder.

Scarlet shot a glance at Cinder, who was still gaping at the tools. "Do you know how to bake?" She shook her head. "Well, I guess I'll just have to teach you, then." Scarlet was just like a bee. She bustled around the kitchen busily, grabbing different ingredients needed.

Finally, she laid them out neatly on the table, helping Cinder tie an apron around her waist. Grabbing the sifter, she set it on a piece of parchment paper. "Here, hold this," she ordered, thumping the heavy bag of sugar into Cinder's arms. She almost fell over from how heavy it was.

As Scarlet measured the amount of sugar needed for the recipe, she asked, "So. How was your date with Kai?" Cinder sighed heavily.

"Well, I don't know. It was okay I guess. I talked a lot about how difficult life was at home, and I was probably just making him listen to all of my useless ramblings. But we became friends and picked flowers-specifically peonies- for Peony." Scarlet stifled a giggle and handed her the bag of finely ground almonds, helping her measure that, too.

"What about your date?" Cinder said.

Scarlet shrugged, letting Cinder dump the almonds in a processor. After letting the almonds go around a few times, Cinder sifted all the mashed almonds into the mixture with the sugar. "We went to the palace grounds to practice archery. Our date didn't really end that well, with all the rebels attacking and stuff." At the mention of the attacks, they grew silent for a while. "I learned something in that date, though." Scarlet said, breaking their short hushed moment.