It only took me a few minutes to shower and change, letting me dress in more comfortable, loose-fitting clothing. I managed to hide several weapons on my person in places that wouldn’t be noticeable to Stesa. Despite Iska’s promise, I fully expected to not be left alone today as my restaurant came together with the help of a small army of workers moving in and out of the restaurant. I paused at the mirror one last time and ran my fingers through my short black hair that still cut like a soldier.

  I’d expected to find the designer in the living room, but Stesa was nowhere to be found. Concern gripped me, making me feel that I’d accidentally crossed a line earlier. Just before the icy hand of fear fully grabbed my heart, I noticed the note left on the table’s corner. The yellow paper was folded carefully to make a small flower with the message on one of its four petals.

  Sorry that I couldn’t wait for you. I’m down in the restaurant getting started.

  A breath of relief pushed free as I raised the flower to my lips, freezing me there for a moment. I put the paper back where I found it and made my way to the lift. As the doors closed in front of me, the reality of what I’d just done sank in, and the panic returned for an entirely different reason. Had I just swooned for someone?

  In the seconds that the elevator took to descend to the main floor, my mind replayed the moment dozens of times. I’d done something I’d only done for one person. Surprisingly, it felt right, despite only having known her for a few days.

  As these thoughts crossed my mind, I felt the shame and regret pushing them away. The idea of another woman replacing Brencia seemed to be the ultimate betrayal of our love before the end. I tried to fight down the war of emotions that pushed into my mind clouding my thoughts as I stepped out into the kitchen.

  I took a moment to collect myself as I stopped at the prep table in the center of the large industrial kitchen. That effort was lost as I looked out the narrow kitchen window to see Stesa hard at work. She was directing traffic as they rearranged the tables and chairs while another group had begun hanging the lights and wall decorations. I felt the draw that Zoxjia had always described as I saw Stesa’s passion emerge. For several moments I watched her as she moved through the room, checking the placement of every piece of furniture.

  When I finally regained control, I walked out into the dining room. After a quick lap of the floor to see what Stesa had done, I joined the convoy. I carried one of the tables she’d sent to resurfaced in the alley back into the room. For several minutes I worked in silence, never hinting to anyone about who I really was as I waited for Stesa to notice.

  As I carried one of the smaller decorative tables by myself, I finally broke through her focus and drew her attention. She moved quickly to intercept me and put herself on the path I was supposed to take. I couldn’t see her face because the table was pressed across my chest, but the body language I could see wasn’t happy as she whispered to not draw too much attention.

  “What in the faded stars are you doing? You know that union requirements are two people on a table that size. Put that down and give me your name. We’ll call this a warning, but if I catch you showboating again, I will have to report you.”

  Caught off guard by being treated like one of the employees, I took a moment to collect myself before setting the table down, giving my best repentant look as I met her gaze. Blinks of confusion were all I got in return for my attempt before she finally managed to speak.

  “Everrune, I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize you’d joined the team to help carry the furniture. How about we get out of my team’s way, and I’ll walk you through what we have so far?”

  A smile broke through my apologetic act as she scrambled to recover. I stepped out of the way and motioned for two returning laborers to take my table the rest of the way before turning back to her.

  “I’m sorry for not letting you know I was here, but I enjoyed watching your team work so much that I decided to join. If you can spare a moment, I’d love a walk-through of what you’ve come up with.”

  A relieved smile crept across her face as she led me into the section already set up as a demonstration area. We started from the serving station behind a wall near the door that led into the kitchen and moved slowly as she spoke, pointing out different things with every step.

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  “I know most people won’t see the serving station, but this space seriously needed some life. I used your color scheme to pick out a few trays and plants to bring them a little life back here. We even changed up the signs on the doors to still say the same things, but instead of the usual painted steel, we used wood that matches the tables.”

  Knowing I needed to give her work the proper attention, I walked through the short corridor that kept the potentially messy area out of sight of the dining floor. I let my hands brush the trays and leaves of the plants before turning to run my fingers over the raised white writing on the plaque’s swirling red and black wood. When I felt I’d focused enough on the design elements, I turned back to her and let her continue, leading me to one of the knee-high tables.

  “As you can see, we wanted to make these beautiful tables visible to your diners, so we decided not to use the table clothes for now. We did our best to keep as much nature in this world design, so you’ll see various plants on the tables and the plants we’ve placed in these custom-built lights. When I found a pendant light with planters with hanging vines on its four sides, I knew they needed to be in this room over the larger tables.”

  This time she managed to surprise me. I hadn’t seen these lights going in, so she must have been working before we returned from the exchange. I studied these strange lights for several moments, a diamond-shaped fixture with four small planters with crystalline pots shooting off the crystal’s four points. This peculiar shape glowed in a strange ethereal way that seemed unnatural and holy simultaneously

  Breaking my gaze from the lights, I turned my attention to the table, letting her walk me through the entire table setup.

  “The tables are some of the best parts of the setup, in my opinion. We used the black deathwood plates as the core of our table layout, and we used the snow wood cup and charger to give some relief to the dark colors of the table and plate. Then we paired all this with bronze utensils and forest orange napkins.”

  I smiled as I studied the perfectly placed tableware and the ornate details of the small touches, like the blooming blue flower in the center of the full-sized rectangular table. After a few moments, I stood and moved closer to her as I spoke.

  “This is amazing, Stesa! It's far better than I ever could have imagined. How can I help you keep this moving forward?”

  Turning to face me, her smile was almost glowing as she moved closer, her hand reaching out to touch my arm as she spoke.

  “I’m glad you love it. Restaurants aren’t normally in my wheelhouse, so I’m glad you like it. There’s one thing that would be super helpful, though. Could you please grab your business partner and maybe the goddesses so we can get all the approvals for this before we get everything completely set up?”

  Heat washed across my cheeks as I realized I hadn’t even thought about bringing Oclorth to see the restaurant. To keep her from seeing more of my embarrassment, I gave her a slight bow and turned on my heels to go find the three other people that she’d requested. Stepping back into the kitchen, I found my friend hard at work with our pastry chef, testing the desserts we would serve on opening day.

  “So I might have something that will help with the inspiration. Stesa’s set up a demo area so that we can see what it’ll look like when it’s completely set up. How about you two head out for a quick tour while I grab the goddess?”

  Surprised by my request, I received a nod as they moved everything off the heat and stepped through the door to the dining area. Left alone in the kitchen, I quickly double-checked the oven to ensure nothing would burn before heading back up the lift to the docking platform. My mind still raced with the frustrating war of emotions I’d felt, but I kept the task at hand at the center of my focus to keep my feelings at bay on the ride up.

  As the doors slid open, I finally managed to get some more control. I took a few deep breaths to help me prepare myself to deal with my two adopted divine sisters. Unfortunately, they waited for me as the doors slid open, not allowing me to step out and collect my thoughts before they pushed their way in to join me. Zoxjia led the way, her excitement bubbling up as she pressed the button to take us back to the main floor.

  “The flow of passion has been pulling at me for a while now, and it made it hard to finish your armory, but I managed to get it ready. Hopefully, you’re proud enough of me to let me find out what’s happening downstairs. Please, can we go see?”

  The statuesque goddess put on her best pout, jutting out her already well-shaped lips and batting her eyelashes as she hung from my shoulder. An eye roll was a natural response to her excitement, but the smile broke up the faux frustration.

  “I was planning on finding more things to keep you busy on the ship or maybe rushing you out the back door to run some errands for me. But luckily for you, Stesa wants your opinion on the design. She set up a display area to show you what the final product will look like, and maybe you can help Oclorth decide what desserts we want to serve on opening night.”

  I finished with a wink as I pressed the button to take us to the kitchen, feeling Zoxjia vibrating with excitement as we descended. Uraura had moved to my other side, watching her cousin and best friend carefully to ensure she didn’t lose control of the power that people living their passions gave her. Stepping out of the lift, I led them to the demo area, bracing for their explosion of excitement. Instead, the two goddesses rounded the corner ahead of me. They froze, their mouths dropping as they took in the sight.