Erian had been cleaning vegetables for over an hour without actually seeing what he was holding in his hands. The temple kitchen was full of activity: boiling pots, hurried footsteps, ladles clattering against pots, the humid heat clinging to everything.
Tessa and Mira moved in and out of his hearing with their usual frantic energy, whispering, sighing, and laughing together every time they got too close to him.
"Gods, he even looks handsome peeling vegetables," Mira whispered, thinking he couldn't hear her.
"That's why the God of War must have fallen for him," Tessa replied with a barely contained squeal. "Imagine the God of War looking at him like that up close…"
"Are you two going to work or not?" Erian cut in, without lifting his head.
They jumped apart as if he were about to throw a knife at them, though they kept giggling nervously as they returned to stirring pots with a clumsiness that made everything sound louder than necessary.
But he wasn't truly annoyed.
