Dash was here for the same reason she was.
Vengeance.
Her father had always called her an impetuous daydreamer. It was why he’d blamed her for running into the snare that had cost her two years of her life.
Get your head out of your ass, Tanis. Just because you can fly doesn’t mean you can keep your head in the clouds. You need to pay attention to what’s right in front of you!
But there had been nothing to pay attention to.
To this day, her father blamed her for everything that had happened. Blamed her for being taken against her will.
Don’t think about it.
And don’t think about Dash.He was definitely off limits.He slowed his pace as they neared a building with a white shieldhanging outside. It had a red hand holding a gold cup painted on it.
To her surprise, he opened the door and allowed her to enter first.
Then, he took her arm.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Keeping you safe.”
Her first instinct was to be offended and to tell him that she could take care of herself. But as she noticed the attention on her from the building’s occupants, she was very grateful for his consideration. “Thank you.”
This was a den of thieves and cutthroats who made their living preying on others. There was no mistaking the nasty, barbaric clientele. As a fellow predator, she easily recognized their breed, and she wasn’t really looking for a bar fight with them.
They would have gladly challenged her, thinking they could overpower her and prove themselves at her expense. Some she could have taken in a fight.
Several, she’d have to work for.
But there were a number of them that would be very iffy and some she’d definitely lose to.
And that wasn’t counting the two in back who could quash her like a bug.
That being said, Dash was easily the deadliest creature here, and they all knew it, too. So, they stepped aside as he walked through them and gave him space, and her deference because she was with him.
He headed to the bar where the keeper stood with a nasty glower on his face. Even when they approached, he offered no greeting. Just a grim sneer that acknowledged their presence.
Dash pulled out a gold coin and placed it on the counter. “I’m looking for a man with a distinct spiral gold wand. I was told hewas heading this way, and I’m hoping he came in here to run his mouth and brag.”
The keeper took the coin and examined it before he slid it into the pocket of his tunic. “Not a man. You’re looking for the Imp Peddler.”
Dash narrowed his gaze. “Pardon?”
“That’s the name he goes by. He was in here saying he was planning to auction off all kinds of items in a sennight. Wanted us to know where to go if we were interested. Told me to let my clients know about the auction. More the merrier, he said. He’s hoping to get enough money to be richer than a dragon in a gold mine.”
Tanis felt her heart race at something she hadn’t considered before. It sickened her to think about someone holding an auction to bid for her brother. “Did he have a dragon’s skull, too?”
He pointed to a hand-drawn poster on the wall beside the bar that had information written on it. “The so-called dragon slayer with him said he had one. But if you ask me, the boy looked more like a peasant farmer.”
The keeper wiped at his nose. “’Course, I think it’s all fake shite they either made or found. But if you want to waste your fool money on what they’re selling, be my guest. They’re holding their auction at the Sester castle in Pagos.”
There was a strange light in Dash’s emerald eyes as he looked at the list on the poster. Tanis moved closer to read it while the keeper kept talking.
“I don’t remember everything the drunkard was rambling on about. Golden wand stood out ’cause the imp was showing it off, threatening to use it. Said he could turn us into crickets or maggots. The boy braggart said he’d cleaved the skull from a dragon prince in a fierce battle when he’d gone to Indara to visit. As if anyone with sense would ever venture there.” He pausedto think for a moment. “Seems like the imp said he had red fairy tears, supposedly from a queen what was in love with one of them. Penis from a virgin troll. Twelve feathers from a gray battle gryphon. Flayed skin of a murderer what was hanged on a rainy night. Crazy shite such as that. Other than the magic wand, I have no idea why anyone would want any of the rest of it.”
A man to the right of her started laughing. “I do. The imp swore you could combine the lot of them into a spell that he was selling with it.”
