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A disgusted sigh escaped him. This was a stupid idea. Even if he could manage to make a decent plate of pancakes, it was still a stupid idea.
Sofia had been right last night. He’d fucked up beyond redemption. Giving her up was the hardest thing he’d ever done. He’d never thought of his actions as throwing her away, but she clearly did. When he thought of it from her perspective, she had a point.
And making her pancakes wasn’t going to fix that. Though he wanted to make things better, he couldn’t fix whatwas really wrong. He was a warlock. A real relationship was out of the question. After everything he’d done to her…
Just the thought of her tears last night tore a hole in his chest. Gods, he’d been a bastard. When had he turned into this?
And if these pancakes were any indication, he didn’t know how to claw his way back to worthiness. Sofia didn’t deserve someone like him.
The only problem was, he didn’t know how he’d give her up.
“What are you doing?” Sofia’s sleep-roughened voice sounded from behind him.
He turned. “Making you burned pancakes.”
Her brows rose. “Why?”
“Because I’m trying to not be an asshole.”
“This is sort of like giving someone a band aid for an amputation.” She walked to a cupboard near the dining nook and pulled down a coffee cup and some coffee. “But if you turn this into something drinkable, I’ll consider eating your pancakes.”
Jesus, she was going to make him suffer. But he deserved it. And she was right. His pancakes were barely a band aid. He made her coffee, then returned to the pancakes.
“You don’t just want to use magic?” she asked as he poured more batter.
He looked at her. “I feel like I ought to do this the real way, even if it takes a little longer.”
“Those look terrible, and even if they weren’t, it wouldn’t make any difference.”
“Maybe it will.” He was quicker with the spatula this time and the pancakes turned out all right. He plated them and brought them to her, along with maple syrup.
“For me?” she asked.
He nodded, then set them on the table.
She didn’t say anything as she sat, but she did eat the pancakes.
It’d still been a stupid idea, but the sight of her eating what he’d made filled one of the many small holes in his heart. He returned to the counter and waved a hand over the ingredients, making a quick plate for himself.
He sat at the table and began to eat.
“How will we get a boat?” Sofia asked. Her eyes looked tired, as if she hadn’t slept well, and he wanted to punch himself. He was a bastard. He’d always known it, but now that he was actually seeing the results of it…
He didn’t like it.
“I’ll go up, see if we can rent one,” he said. “If not, I can conjure one. Though that’s a bit more complicated. It’d take quite a bit of magic to make something that large and complex and would leave me drained. I’d need to refill my power from my aether room, and that’s not convenient.”
“All right. When do you want to leave?”
“An hour or two shall be fine.”
“I’ll go with you.” She turned back to her food. He waited for her to mention last night, but when she didn’t, his shoulders relaxed. Actions over words. He’d just have to prove to her that he valued her. That he was sorry.
But how he would do that, he had no idea.
Two hours later, he aetherwalked them to the harbor in Salem. The day was clear and bright. Even the boats weredecorated for Halloween. These American mortals couldn’t get enough of the holiday. It took them an hour, but they found a Mythean captain who was willing to rent out his boat for the night.
When it came time to pay, Sofia just looked at him. He paid the exorbitant fee gladly. He wouldn’t get off so lightly as to be able to buy back her affection, but he’d have happily paid for everything anyway. Money was not an issue. It was everything else that was the problem.
