Page 4 of The Tea Witch’s Secret

I nodded as I poured myself a cup of tea. "Sure am."

"You are?" Lian checked, sounding disproportionately surprised.

"Yes. Have you never met one before?" I asked, wondering if that was why she was staring at me with a strange look in her eyes.

"I'm a tea witch myself," she answered.

That was curious. I didn't know enough about weather witches to be sure, but I did wonder what she was considering that they were always born as twins. But it felt rude to ask, even if I was curious about the answer.

"What are you doing in the kitchens?" she asked.

"Cooking." I grabbed another cup. "Would you like some tea then? If you're also a tea witch."

"No, I have my own tea. But why are you cooking? I thought Purple Oak was renowned for their tea witch infirmary. Why don't you work there?" Lian asked, sounding genuinely confused. Baffled even.

"I love baking and food," I replied, blowing on the surface of the tea before I dared a sip. It was scalding hot but just about tolerable, mostly thanks to my magic humming to life. It spread through me like a warm glow, easing away the pain in my finger. It closed the cut's surface but I knew I'd have to remain careful because the wound underneath wasn't healed yet. My magic wasn't that powerful.

Lian watched me in fascinated silence, and a tingle climbed up my spine. It had been a while since someone had observed me with such intent, especially a beautiful woman like her. I was sure it was just curiosity rather than attraction, but it had been a while, and I liked it either way.

A loud meow cut through my thoughts and gave me a good excuse to focus on something else.

"Hello, Snowie," I said, clicking my tongue to lure the white kitchen cat towards me. She sauntered inside with a proud expression on her face that could easily mean that she'd brought a mouse into my storeroom again.

Snowie jogged across the floor and pressed herself against my legs, purring loudly. She visited me every day without fail for her breakfast and a cuddle, and it was always time that I cherished.

I wrapped my finger in some cloth, so I didn't contaminate anything else and gave Snowie kisses on her head before I served her a saucer with meat scraps and an egg. She devoured it right away, purring while I stroked her back.

"Is that your cat?" Lian asked, her voice still sounding a little confused.

"Sort of? She doesn't belong to anyone, so I look after her. I don't know if that makes her my cat, but we're certainly buddies, aren't we?" I asked Snowie, getting an agreeable meow in return. I wasn't a cat ward, but I was going to take that as a yes. "Most of the time she catches mice rather than bringing them in too." I smiled at the thought, even if I had just been worrying about her doing the latter.

Lian frowned. "A tea witch who cooks and bakes and has a cat. You're strange."

I chuckled, wondering whether she was being blunt on purpose, or if it was a result of her speaking in a language she wasn't used to using. "Am I?"

"Yes, that's very unlike a tea witch," she said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"I don't believe in following anyone else's path but my own," I responded as I set down Snowie. I went over to the sink to wash my hands before going back to cut the rest of the black pudding with a new knife. "I might have some inborn aptitude for healing, but I like baking more. Why shouldn't I choose a life of baking?"

Lian didn't respond to that, but I could tell from her expression that she found it weird. It made me wonder if she came from a place where people only picked jobs based on what type of magic they were born with. Or maybe she simply found that the most logical path.

I certainly didn't see things like that. Life was meant to be enjoyed, and I wasn't going to let my genetics get in the way of that.

Chapter 4

Lian

I carefully carried my tray of tea up the stairs, trying to make sure that I went the right way as I was still getting used to the layout of our temporary home. It was a lot to take in while also adjusting to a new life and new routines. It wasn't even that the residents of Purple Oak had been bad or demanding, far from it. But that was concerning in its own way. Was there something coming that I didn't know about? There were so many things that could go wrong, particularly in a relaxed environment that could often make people complacent.

I couldn't let that happen to me. If I didn't look properly after Eva and Max, then what was the point of me coming with them here? It wouldn't matter that our parents were in a different country, I would be able to feel their disappointment from across the sea. I doubted they'd come and collect me, but if Eva and Max sent me away for being useless, then there was nowhere that I could go other than our parents' home, and I'd have to return full of shame.

I pushed those thoughts aside. If I focused on making sure that Eva and Max got what they needed, then it wouldn't be a problem. I used my elbow to knock on the door to Eva's room and entered when she called, not surprised to see her behind her desk with a stack of papers and reports.

She perked up when she saw me, instantly abandoning her tasks to sit on the bed instead. "Oh, you're here. And you've brought tea. Thank the sky for that."

I couldn't help but chuckle at her dramatics. "That bad?"

She placed her hand over her abdomen, making it clear exactly what the problem was, even if I'd already guessed from where we were in the month. My clock might have been out of sync with the Purple Oak bell tower, but I still knew how to count the days.