Taming Demons for Beginners (The Guild Codex: Demonized, #1)

by Annette Marie

I wiped my hands on my apron, let out a weary breath, and picked up the platter. Balancing it carefully, I set it on the counter. Zylas, perched on the stool across from me, stared at the dish. “My best recipes,” I told him, gesturing at its contents. “Chocolate-dipped toffee butter cookies, salted caramel pretzel pecan cookies, red velvet and white chocolate cookies, raspberry almond shortbread cookies, and my personal favorite, marshmallow-stuffed s’more cookies.” He blinked slowly at the heaps of fresh-from-the-oven deliciousness. Behind me, the tiny apartment kitchen was a disaster of batter-coated dishes. Flour dusted my apron and a chocolate smear had dried on my arm. Amalia and I had moved into the small two-bedroom apartment yesterday, and my first act as a renter had been to buy all the baking ingredients I needed, plus an entire bakery’s worth of bowls, trays, utensils, and measuring cups. Our cramped kitchen could barely hold it all. “Don’t you want to try them?” I asked Zylas, uncertain why he was just sitting there. “This is part of our contract. You don’t need to trade for them.”