by T. R. Graves
Chapter 20
Sous-chefs
Carlie
"Rorie," I heard Thorne whisper somewhere in my dreams.
I curved into a tighter ball and tried to fall back into the deep sleep I'd just been enjoying.
"Rorie, it's time to get up, sweetie," Thorne whispered.
My eyes popped open, and I saw Thorne wiping the hair from her face. He leaned over and kissed her forehead.
"Rorie," he sang. "It's time to get up."
"Thorne, I'm still sleepy." She smiled up at him, stretching and yawning.
"Shh!" he cautioned.
I sat up and stretched just like she had. "No need to be quiet. I'm up."
"You barely slept. You need to get more rest," Thorne insisted.
"I'm fine. Besides, I'm Rorie's sous-chef until I go to the academy," I said, grinning over to Rorie.
Rorie jumped up and bounced while clapping her hands. "Carles, you're going to help me in the kitchen. That'll be so much fun."
Rorie's exuberance, her trust, her affections for her brother were nothing short of contagious. When I caught a glance of Thorne, he was standing with his mouth open, staring at me.
"What?" I asked.
"No one has ever offered to help her. Everyone here has let her work her fingers to the bone, and not one person has thanked her or offered to help her," he explained.
"Well, I'm going to lead by example. Maybe if others see me helping, they'll realize how rude they've been," I said, shrugging. "If not. It won't matter. Working together, Rorie and I can run circles around these people around here. We don't need their help."
Rorie was bobbing her head vehemently.
She wrapped her hand around mine and said, "Come on, Carles. This is going to be so much fun."
I wanted to laugh. The last thing I would ever consider fun was kitchen duty, but I wasn't about to tell Rorie that. She loved it too much for me to put it down.
Thorne followed when we walked toward the door. I turned around and said, "Where are you going?"
He looked shy. "I thought I'd come and help."
I eyed him like he'd eyed me earlier and regurgitated his own words. "You barely slept. You need to get more rest."
He chuckled. "I got all I needed. Now let's go. These people'll be up soon. There'll be riots if there's no coffee and breakfast."
"Whatever. Suit yourself," I said, letting Rorie pull me toward the galley.