“Acoupon?”
I kept my face blank. “Two dinners for the price of one. No free dessert.”
“A two-for?”
“But since you’re a pony, you can’t actually eat there. Maybe if you ask nicely, Jean will bring you takeout.”
“That’s not actually incentive, Delaney.”
“Well, if the information is good enough, I might consider an upgrade. Free sugar cubes and carrots for a month.”
She narrowed her eyes and flicked her tail. “You’re enjoying this.”
“Me?”
“You’re enjoying having the upper hand over me.”
That was not true at all. “I’m joking with you, Xtelle. Poking fun. It’s something humans do. And while I know demons don’t actually have a sense of humor…”
She made a growly sound that did not fit a pony at all.
“…I don’t want an upper hand over anyone. We’re all citizens. We’re all doing our jobs. I’m doing mine, too, trying to keep us all safe. If you have any info that would help, I’ll do what I can to see you get some kind of reward.”
“Why should I trust you to do that?”
“Because it’s part of living in and building a community. We do our best to live up to the jobs we’re responsible for. I don’t have any say over the funds in town. I will see if there is some kind of reward if you can help us keep everyone in town safe.
“By getting information on the page of spells, not by following Ryder and the monster hunter around,” I amended.
“I see,” she said like she didn’t believe a word of it. “Well, if we find any information, we’ll bring it to you.”
“Good enough. Now get out of my house, I need to take a shower.”
She huffed, Avnas rolled his eyes. They both tromped out of the room, though not before Xtelle “accidentally” punched a trinket box off my dresser.
I followed them down the stairs, shut and locked the door behind them, and turned to assess the house.
Dragon pig was ruling over the top of his toy hoard, his eyes glinting with fire, smoke curling out of his nostrils.
“Spud still out with Ryder?” I asked.
He grumbled, and I knew it was a yes. I was getting pretty good at talking dragon pig.
I wandered into the kitchen and found a note by the full coffee pot.
Meeting Vivian for breakfast.Am showing her “around” town. Plan to make it so boring she packs and leaves. Call if you need anything. Love you. —R
I smiledas Xtelle’s words came back to me. “My man is not stepping out on me,” I said, as I tucked the note into a drawer and poured a huge travel mug of coffee. “He’s stepping up to protect Ordinary.”
I took one heavenly gulp of coffee before jogging back upstairs to shower and change. While I knew I could count on Ryder to do his part, I needed to do mine. Which meant checking in with our local Valkyrie.
Chapter Eighteen
Bertie shouldn’t behard to track down. With the talent show being put on tomorrow, I knew she’d be at the stage, making sure every detail was attended to.
I finished off my coffee on the way to Dinghy Street. Myra left me a message that Crow’s amulet was stored away. Hatter and Shoe checked in to say they’d contacted all the citizens on their list, and Kelby asked me when Ryan and Than were going to be pulling shifts again.
I told her I’d get back to her on Ryder.
