A Thousand Recipes for Revenge

ALSO BY BETH CATOThe Clockwork Dagger SeriesThe Clockwork DaggerThe Clockwork CrownDeep RootsThe Blood of Earth TrilogyBreath of EarthCall of FireRoar of Sky This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Otherwise, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.Text copyright © 2023 by Beth CatoAll rights reserved.No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.Published by 47North, Seattlewww.apub.comAmazon, the Amazon logo, and 47North are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc., or its affiliates.ISBN-13: 9781662510281 (paperback)ISBN-13: 9781662510298 (digital)Cover design by Philip PascuzzoCover image: © Steven Puetzer / Getty; © zoom-zoom / Getty; © mxtama / Getty; © valeo5 / Getty; © DrPixel / Getty; © Difydave / Getty With much gratitude for my agent, Rebecca Strauss CONTENTSMAPMAGIC AND THE FIVE GODSCHAPTER ONE ADACHAPTER TWO ADACHAPTER THREE SOLENNCHAPTER FOUR SOLENNCHAPTER FIVE ADACHAPTER SIX ADACHAPTER SEVEN SOLENNCHAPTER EIGHT ADACHAPTER NINE ADACHAPTER TEN SOLENNCHAPTER ELEVEN SOLENNCHAPTER TWELVE ADACHAPTER THIRTEEN SOLENNCHAPTER FOURTEEN ADACHAPTER FIFTEEN ADACHAPTER SIXTEEN SOLENNCHAPTER SEVENTEEN ADACHAPTER EIGHTEEN SOLENNCHAPTER NINETEEN ADACHAPTER TWENTY SOLENNCHAPTER TWENTY-ONE ADACHAPTER TWENTY-TWO SOLENNCHAPTER TWENTY-THREE ADACHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR SOLENNCHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE SOLENNCHAPTER TWENTY-SIX ADACHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN SOLENNCHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT ADACHAPTER TWENTY-NINE ADACHAPTER THIRTY SOLENNCHAPTER THIRTY-ONE SOLENNCHAPTER THIRTY-TWO ADACHAPTER THIRTY-THREE ADACHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR SOLENNCHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE ADACHAPTER THIRTY-SIX SOLENNCHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN ADACHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT SOLENNCHAPTER THIRTY-NINE ADACHAPTER FORTY SOLENNCHAPTER FORTY-ONE ADAACKNOWLEDGMENTSABOUT THE AUTHOR MAGIC AND THE FIVE GODSThe Five Gods have graced people with dominion over land and sea, and designated that which we may eat and be empowered by. Magical powers are imbued through food alone. To scorn what the Five have granted us is to be a guest insulting the host.Rare family lines are blessed through their tongues with the ability to sense and understand food in ways that no others can. In Verdania, these people are called Chefs, trained from their youngest years to master cuisine through their heightened perception. Chefs take ingredients derived of divinely blessed flora and fauna and call upon the Gods to awaken the magical potential in the foods they prepare. In this, they serve the Gods and Gods-ordained rulers.Among Chefs, a select few have empathetic talents; they can perceive food as others would taste it and customize dishes to their preferences, whether they work with ingredients common or magical. They can maximize flavor and magic to a degree beyond that of other Chefs and talented cooks.Gyst, God of the Unseen and Unknown Overseer of fermentation, yeast, molds, even infections—things that often begin as or remain invisible or strangely small yet are powerful. Gyst feeds on secrets. Caves, cellars, and bakers’ kitchens are his favored domains, as are any places shadowed and private, where privy details may be whispered for Gyst’s ever-listening ears.Hester, CHAPTER ONEADACommoners believe that a Chef is best identified by their distinct uniform dress, but in all truth, the best way to recognize one is by how they dress a chicken.—Excerpt from Manual for Tour ChefsAdamantine Garland, in her sixteen years as a deserter from both Verdania’s Chef Guild and army, had observed that rogue Chefs such as herself were usually caught after committing at least one of three critical errors: they either revealed their Chef skills to untrustworthy people, displayed kitchen intuition beyond the ability of mundane cooks, or were entrapped while utilizing illicit magical ingredients.On the first count, she remained safe. Grand-mère was her only immediate confidante, and her continued mental degradation worried Ada like nothing else.As to the second point, Ada had learned to grit her teeth and undersalt, overcook, and otherwise make food edible but unworthy of note. Even though she’d been a deserter for more than a decade, to perceive perfection and consciously keep beneath it irritated her like sand in a boot.As to the third point, well, a full table of gendarmes currently sat in the dining room of the small inn where she labored. The police seemed to be more interested in the kitchen than their wine. Not a good sign. Ada, at least, hadn’t forgotten the rigorous military training of her youth. She warily watched them through the serving