#elshona

Tate buys presents for Cymbeline’s kids for all of their moth holidays, Cym and Thessa organize a party for the joint Clover/Pixie staffs, Ains and Elshona drag Tate out to the bars with them on Solstice Eve, and the very instant the Holly Queen assumes her throne, displacing the Queen of Autumn, his mood improves palpably until the vernal equinox. No matter the weather, he and Elshona will wind up on a roof somewhere together. The addition of new people in their lives might change some things, but others will always stay the same.

“Looks like you’ve been left behind.”

Elshona scowled at his back. It used to aggravate her that he was better with the baked goods. After all, she was the one who’d attended culinary school, not him, working in an endless amount of kitchens, in every position on the line. By his own admission, Tate had not a single second of formal training beyond standing at his nan’s side as a boy, yet his souffles never fell, the domed tops of his cakes were always uniform and perfectly rounded, his delicate little viola-topped sugar cookies always perfectly crisp. Eventually, she’d come to accept that it was simply one less thing on her own plate to worry over. Baking required precision and meticulousness, and the rigid stick up his arse was far better suited to it than her own a little of this, a dash of that-cooking style.

Lol, he's a *very* good bartender. He flirts with both men and women and definitely knows how to turn on the charm! This story is going to dip into how they met, which necessitates a look back into both of their pasts.

“Of course, she’d never spent as much time in any other kitchen, had never before had Executive Chef stitched beneath her name, had been specifically told by one of the instructors at culinary school she’d never be able to boast such an accomplishment...but fate had done her a good jam keeping Tate within her circle of friends, giving her the chance to prove that squidgy old cunt wrong, and thus she’d spent more time in Clover’s gleaming kitchen than she’d done in any other place on earth, her own bedroom included.” 

You might get whiplash at how quickly their relationship devolves into a bickering sibling dynamic so enjoy these golden moments while they last, lol!