Chapter 40: Chapter 40: A Little Heat Can’t Hurt, Right?

Chapter 40: A Little Heat Can’t Hurt, Right?

Compared with the other groups, which kept breaking into cheers every time someone managed to light a fire or flip something without dropping it, Cyrus’s group stayed almost too calm.

The cooking station had settled into a steady rhythm. Audra and Faye stood near the stove, speaking in low voices while they worked. Iris helped wherever she was needed, passing over clean vegetables, checking bowls, clearing scraps, and keeping the space from turning into the chaos happening at several nearby stations.

Cyrus understood almost none of what Audra and Faye were discussing.

A little more of this spice. A different amount of that seasoning. Let the heat sit for a while before adding the next thing. Their conversation sounded less like cooking and more like another set of formulas he had never learned.

Math class already made him want to sleep. Apparently, cooking could do the same thing if people explained it with enough precision.

Food smelled better than math, though.

At first, their group was not the one drawing the most attention. A few other stations had gotten food into their pans faster, so the air already carried the smell of frying onions, browned meat, and something sweet that might have been sauce or might have been a mistake.

The first wave of food smell drifted over and reached Cyrus before his own group’s pot gave him anything.

That felt unfair.

Then Faye stirred the pot, slow and patient, and the scent from their station deepened. It was warmer than the others, thicker too, with spices that curled into the air and made Cyrus sit up a little straighter despite himself.

His stomach reacted before his brain did.

Owen had been sitting beside him, pretending to rest after the firewood trip. Then Iris turned her head and looked at him from the stove.

She did not say anything. She only gave a small shake of her head toward the firebox.

Owen immediately stood. "I’ll add more wood."

Cyrus watched him go.

That tiny exchange had been smooth. Familiar. Owen did not need Iris to explain what she meant. Iris did not need to raise her voice. They moved around each other like people who had been doing that kind of thing since childhood.

Childhood friends really were different.

With Owen adding wood, Iris helping the cooks, and Audra and Faye handling the actual food, Cyrus became the most useless person in the group.

He accepted that role with dignity.

Sitting there with one hand propping up his cheek, he watched Faye take over at the pot. From behind, her posture did not lose to Audra’s at all. She stood straight without looking stiff, her movements clean and quiet. If she took off the heavy glasses and stopped hiding behind her hair, she would probably draw the same kind of attention Audra did.

Actually, Cyrus had already seen her without the disguise.

Faye and Audra were close enough in appearance that it would be hard to call either one clearly above the other. One chose to stand in the light. The other hid in plain sight.

Cyrus understood that choice.

The smell of the curry kept building, but somehow the food made him think of Faye’s younger siblings instead. Miles had been loud, direct, and very serious about video games. Lena had cried when they were lost, then immediately recovered once she was home. The game console in their living room had been far more impressive than Cyrus had expected.

If he won the Most Improved Student Award, could he buy one of those?

Probably not immediately.

Rent, food, and other annoying realities existed.

Still, thinking about it did not cost anything.

This off-campus activity was more fun than he had expected. He had carried wood, sat in the shade, watched other people do the hard parts, and would eventually get to eat. It almost reminded him of the black room in the worst possible way, since back then other people had also handled everything while he waited.

The difference was that no locked door waited behind him here.

No one had chained him to a schedule he did not choose. No one was forcing warmth, food, care, and rules onto him while calling it love. He could stand up and leave if he wanted.

That made all the difference.

A short distance away, Audra noticed that Cyrus had been watching Faye.

Her hands did not stop moving, but her brows tightened by a small degree that no one else at the station noticed.

Faye was still in her school disguise, with heavy glasses and long bangs. Even so, the apron had changed the outline of her body enough for anyone paying attention to notice.

And Cyrus was paying attention.

Audra lowered her eyes to the pot and stirred with slightly more care than necessary.

The fire gradually settled.

By the time the food was ready to rest, everyone gathered around the long outdoor table assigned to their group. The table could seat six, so they had enough room even with plates, bowls, utensils, napkins, water bottles, and the pot taking up space.

Iris brought over the rice pot first.

Owen started to rise. "I can help with that."

"I’ve got it handled," Iris said.

She did not let him take it.

Instead, she moved down the table and served rice into everyone’s bowl. The grains were plump and glossy, and the heat that rose from them looked almost gentle compared with the firebox.

Faye carried the curry pot over next. The lid was still on, trapping the smell inside.

Owen leaned forward. "Can we eat now?"

Faye turned her wrist and checked her watch. "We should wait five more minutes. It’ll taste better."

Owen sat back immediately. "I can respect that kind of authority."

Cyrus looked at the covered pot.

Five minutes sounded long.

At that moment, Daphne happened to pass their station after finishing a round of supervision. She had already checked several groups, corrected one student’s grip on a knife, and warned another group not to treat the fire like a competition.

Iris noticed her first. "Ms. Whitlock, do you want some curry? We made extra."

Daphne paused and turned back.

Their group was already seated, the rice was served, and the curry pot sat in the center of the table like the most important object in the area.

Daphne smiled. "If you’re offering, I won’t say no."

"Please sit," Iris said brightly. "There’s enough."

Daphne approached with the easy grace she always carried in class. Even out here, under the shade canopy with smoke, cooking tools, and students making a mess everywhere, she looked composed.

Audra caught the brief way Daphne’s attention touched Cyrus before settling on the food.

It was not obvious enough for anyone else to care.

It was obvious enough for Audra to remember.

Cyrus shifted aside to make room, and Daphne sat on one side of him. Faye sat on his other side, closer to the end of the bench. Across from them sat Owen, Iris, and Audra, with Audra diagonally opposite Cyrus.

The five minutes ended at last.

Faye removed the lid.

The curry’s smell rushed out all at once, thick, savory, and rich with spice. It rolled over the rice bowls and filled the space around the table. Cyrus’s attention locked onto it completely.

Nothing else mattered for a few seconds.

Not Daphne sitting beside him. Not Faye quietly serving from his other side. Not Audra watching from across the table. Not the students at nearby stations laughing and arguing over burnt food.

Food came first.

Faye poured curry over the rice. The sauce slid over the white grains in a glossy layer, carrying pieces of vegetables and meat with it. The color looked deep and inviting, and the faint sharpness in the smell promised heat without looking too aggressive.

Owen inhaled dramatically. "Waiting actually made it smell better. Is that a secret trick?"

Faye smiled faintly but did not explain.

Iris clapped her hands once, looking pleased with herself despite not being the main cook. "All right, everyone should try it. This is mostly Faye and Audra’s work, so appreciate it properly."

Everyone picked up their utensils.

Cyrus took his first bite.

The flavor hit first. It was rich, warm, and better than he had expected. The rice softened the sauce, the vegetables carried the seasoning well, and the meat had taken in enough flavor that he understood why people could get attached to cooking.

Then the heat followed.

It was not violent at first. It did not burn his mouth immediately or make him want to cough. It slipped in after the flavor, spreading through his tongue and throat with a slow pressure that made his body pause.

Cyrus glanced at the others.

No one looked troubled.

Daphne took a bite and nodded. "This is genuinely good."

Iris looked proud. Owen gave a very serious thumbs-up with his spoon still in hand. Audra’s expression stayed calm, like the heat barely existed. Faye ate quietly and watched the table from behind her glasses.

Cyrus followed them and nodded too.

The curry was edible, and more than that, it was delicious.

Then Faye noticed that his spoon had stopped after only one bite.

She turned slightly toward him and lowered her voice. "Is something wrong?"

Cyrus looked at the curry, then at Faye.

"This is the best curry I’ve ever had," he said. "I was taking a second to appreciate it."

Faye seemed to think about that. Then she nodded as if accepting the explanation.

Technically, it was true.

He had never eaten curry before, so it was automatically the best curry he had ever had.

After saying that, Cyrus resumed eating to prove nothing was wrong.

The heat was still there, but he refused to let it defeat him after one bite. He had faced worse things than spice. He had escaped a village full of women who would happily drag him back into captivity if they found him. He had handled Rhea’s questions, Daphne’s neighborly feeding, Audra’s tutoring, and a glamourkin trying to walk him into a hotel.

A little heat in food could not possibly be the thing that brought him down.

Besides, he had seen Audra eat spicy food before. She had sat there with her expression unchanged and acted like it was normal.

He could not lose to that.

Cyrus continued eating.

The curry became easier for a while. Or maybe the taste was good enough that he wanted to believe it was easier. Every bite made the warmth inside him grow stronger, but the rice and sauce were too good to waste.

He had never understood people who left food behind.

Food was food.

If someone gave it to him, and it tasted this good, refusing it felt wrong on a level deeper than manners.

Audra noticed that he had not stopped eating. Her posture eased by a fraction.

So the taste was fine.

If Cyrus kept eating like that, then the curry counted as successful. Since she had helped make it, that meant he was also praising her cooking, whether he said it clearly or not.

That conclusion pleased her more than it should have.

Cyrus was no longer thinking about praise.

The warmth in his body had grown from a small pressure into something harder to ignore. It spread through his chest and stomach, then pushed outward under his skin. The shaded canopy, the open air, and the distance from the fire did not matter enough.

His fingers tightened around the spoon.

He was not sweating.

His body should have been letting the heat out in a normal human way, but his body had never been that cooperative. A human body could sweat and release heat like a proper machine. His body had other methods, and most of them were inconvenient in public.

The last few bites remained in his bowl. He stared at them for half a breath, unwilling to leave them, then forced himself to set the spoon down.

He could not keep eating where everyone could see him.

His voice stayed calm only because panic would draw more attention.

"Sorry," Cyrus said as he stood. "I just remembered I dropped something in the woods earlier. I’m going to check before we leave."

Owen looked over with his spoon in his mouth. "Do you need help?"

"I can find it faster alone."

Faye shifted aside to let him out. "Be careful near the trees."

"I’ll be careful."

She opened her mouth again, then stopped when Cyrus left without looking back.

His steps stayed measured until he passed the nearest group. Then they quickened.

The woods were close enough that he reached the tree line before anyone could think too hard about it. The shade swallowed him in pieces, first his shoes, then his uniform, then the lowered hair that hid most of his face.

Faye watched the direction he had gone.

After a brief hesitation, she stood and followed quietly.

Cyrus had only made it a short distance into the trees when the first thread of white vapor slipped from his collar.

The heat inside him twisted sharply.

His clothes loosened all at once, the sleeves sliding past his wrists as his body shrank beneath the fabric.