“I brought extra bread,” I told them, setting the basket on the table too. I was in no way responsible for the fish stew, but I still wanted to make it up to them.
Fieran’s gaze caught me from across the pub, and I returned his intrusive look for a moment. Halli, the most beautiful mortal girl in our village, tried to talk to him, but he gave her a cursory answer before he turned back to me. I jerked my gaze back away to the table.
“Hendi was just telling us he saw a Nightwalker when he was in Bevest to sell wheat,” Curran told me, in a way that suggested that perhaps Hendi was chock-full of nonsense.
“I’ve heard you never see a Nightwalker unless they want to be seen.” I didn’t try to hide the fear I felt just thinking of encountering one, knowing Hendi would appreciate the drama. Old men adore drama.
“The Nightwalkers are the queen’s elite guard. What’s one doing inBevest?”Curran asked.
“Nightwalkers in Bevest, and monsters in Stonehaven? The entire kingdom’s falling apart,” Dredick pronounced.
“It is interesting.” Hendi glanced toward Fieran. “My kid used to collect dragon cards. He was over the moon when Fieran drew Shadowbane. They were all obsessed with who Shadowbane would choose for the years he was beyond.”
He glanced up at me. “Did you ever collect dragon cards?”
He asked it so brightly, and I felt a sudden ache, remembering how his son should be older than me now. Hendi had tried to get him Fae help after his accident, but they’d arrived too late. Still took payment from him, though.
“No.” I shook my head. “Other kids did in school. I couldn’t afford them.”
And I’d been afraid to touch the cards, afraid someone might ferret out my secrets, though it had been superstitious and silly.
“I still have them,” he muttered, and my heart twisted. “I can bring them tomorrow. I’m sure they all have the best dragons—some of them are less impressive.”
“Given how terrifying they were today, I find that hard to imagine,” I said with a smile.
“I want to hear your version of today’s story,” Dredick said suddenly.
I whistled. “Not much to tell. I got in the way of a wyrm by accident, really. Fear’s just trying to make me look good.”
Dredick’s eyes sharpened, as if he wanted to knowwhy,and for the second time that night, I pretended to hear Humbridge—and actually responded for once.
When I came back out, Fieran broke away from his crowd of admirers, and their laughter thinned in his wake. Halli, who’d been flirting with him with such wild ineffectiveness, glanced down at her drink, her smile flat and thin like the beer.
Fieran leaned against the bar as I began to fill more flagons, watching the crowd, not me, but I could still feel his attention. “You’re irritatingly modest.”
“And you’re irritatingly prone to eavesdropping. Why does it matter to you?” I didn’t understand why he’d made me out as a hero to the whole pub.
“You remind me of someone.”
My pulse climbed into my throat. My warning bells were chiming, just as loud as those for the monsters, but I tried to make my voice casual. “A mortal or a dragon shifter?”
“A dragon.” He didn’t turn to face me, which was good, because I doubted I had much control over my face in that split second.
He knew. He had to suspect.
“I have to get some supper for that table,” I told him before I dove into the kitchen behind the bar.
Brilliant. Just brilliant. The running-away would certainly convince him there was no need to be suspicious.
“I was thinking I might go home a little early tonight,” I said. “Now that Linny is here.”
Humbridge looked up from the stew he was doling into bowls. “That’s fine. Last night’s tips are on the shelf over there, by the way.” He nodded toward it.
Disbelief washed over me but didn’t stop me from pocketing the money. “Thank you.”
“Those shifters are good for business.” He sounded so pleased with himself, as if he had done something to bring them through those doors besides being the only pub in town. At least my favor with the shifters explained his sudden interest in being fair.
I tossed my apron into the bin to wash and made my way out into the night.
