Elian added, “Yeah, lots of planning to do, I’m sure,” wiggling his brows.
Hektor didn’t understand a word of whatever subtext they were implying, but Zara’s mortified “Please go away” told him enough. The siblings scampered off, snickering.
He sat in the seat across from her. Zara lifted her drink.
“I actually like this. Should we get another one?”
He nodded, and they did.
After a small sip, she leaned forward. “So…who were you talking to?”
“Talen,” Hektor said. “A friend. He works here in Alindale too—but for our leader.”
Zara nodded, curiosity flickering in her eyes as she took another drink. “So…what’s Drakkoria like? Is it anything like Alindale?”
Hektor huffed a quiet breath. “No. Not at all.”
He searched for the right words; humans always seemed to need more of them. “Drakkoria is in the mountains. Our homes are carved into them, built along ridges and cliffs. Everything is structured into the landscape. Not like here, where houses sit out in the open on flat ground.”
Zara’s eyes lit with interest. “So it looks like nature…but Drakkons live there?”
He blinked, slightly taken aback, most asked if it was dangerous, or cold, or some other obvious, boring question. Hers wasn’t like that.
“It looks like a town,” he said slowly, “just not the kind you’re used to. The stone, the carvings, the terraces…They blend with the mountain, not fight it.”
She smiled. “I guess I’ll just have to see it myself,” she said, taking another sip of her drink.
Hektor shook his head immediately. “That wouldn’t be a good idea.”
Zara blinked. “Why not?”
“A young woman going there alone?” He leaned back in his seat, arms crossing without thinking about it. “You’d be swarmed by every unwed male in the stronghold.”
Her brows shot up. “Swarmed?”
“Not like they’d hurt you,” he clarified, though the thought clearly irritated him. “They’d just want to know how they could be matched with you. Asking questions. Following you. Making offers.” He remembered how Talen had asked about her. “It wouldn’t be pleasant.”
She stared at him, wide-eyed. “…Seriously?”
“Yes,” he said flatly. “Drakkoria doesn’t get many outsiders. And an unmarried halfling with strong power?” He gave her a pointed look. “You’d cause a riot.”
Zara’s lips parted in surprise, half amusement, half something else he couldn’t name. “Huh,” she murmured. “Didn’t know I’d be such a hazard.”
Hektor did not let himself react to that. He caught the glint in her eyes, bright, playful, a little dangerous. Mischief. She leaned in just slightly, elbows on the table, lips curling.
“So,” Zara said lightly, “if I cause riots just by existing…should I be flattered?”
He froze.
“That’s not—don’t say things like that.” His voice came out sharper than intended.
She blinked, startled. “Like what?”
“Flirty things.” He frowned, heat prickling beneath his collar. “Girls shouldn’t act like that.”
Her eyebrows shot up so fast he thought they might fly off her face. “Girls?”
He knew instantly he’d said the wrong thing.
