“You should not have been so ferocious and deadly during the war. You know such competence and savagery bestirs the female libido.” Zilek looked at Rylana.
Her cheeks flushed as the previous night’s memories came to mind. It had been Jildarin'ssoupthat had bestirred her libido, not his savagery.
“This is a private conversation,” she said. “I’ll go record the totals from the breakfast and lunch services in the books. By my calculations, this diner is on the verge of turning a profit for the first time. From the food and service, not only from selling surplus equipment.”
As if he knew exactly why she was rushing away, Zilek chuckled.Was it possible Jildarin had spoken to him about her… antics before she’d arrived? Rylana hoped not and grabbed the cashbox from the diner and ducked into the office and opened the accounting book she’d purchased. Only as she sat down did she realize she could still hear the brothers speaking.
“As a dragon, I would see her only as an enemy,” Zilek was saying, “especially since she fought against our kind in the war, but when I am in my human form, I find her somewhat… Well, let us just say that her sternness has some appeal. And the outline and contours of her body, yes?”
Rylana's cheeks warmed again as she stared at the page of numbers. He wasn’t talking about her having sex appeal, was he?
“I do not know of what you are speaking,” Jildarin said.
“Her feminine attributes, my brother.”
“Her what?”
“Oh, she is not as strikingly appealing as that female elf who was with her the day she spied upon us, but her face is without blemishes or scars, and her lips are full and her breasts an ample size to draw the eye. As a former soldier, she presumably has a degree of lithe athleticism as well.”
Rylana's cheeks didmorethan heat, and she glanced at the door of the small office, wanting to shut it and not hear any more. But there wasn’t a window in the little room, so it would be harder to see the pages, and a crate also propped the door open. If she moved it, she would make noise, and the dragons might realize that if they could hear her, she could hear them. Though Zilek probably didn’tcareif his musings were overheard. He wasn’t doing anything to keep his voice from carrying.
“The half-elf who serves you is softer with more luscious hair, which is a somewhat intriguing mammalian attribute,” Zilek continued, “but I think she might be overly amenable. Even if a dragon doesn’t want to be slain by his partner, he does enjoy a challenge. Still, I’ve considered commanding her to serve me morethan steaks. I see from your ongoing blank expression that you’ve not considered ordering the females around you to do more than carry trays.”
“I do not even know whatconsiderationis on your mind.”
“Why sex, of course. Have you never engaged in it while in the form of another species? It is quite pleasurable, and when it comes to the two-legs, you hardly ever have to worry about their females thrashing about and biting your neck in the throes of passion. Not enough tokillyou anyway. The last half-elf who entered my bedchamber was prone to nips.”
“Why would you want to have coitus while in this form? There can be no offspring produced during such a union. Only the species that are closely related to each other phylogenetically may create young.”
“For humans, elves, dwarves, and many of the other two-legs, sex is not always about creating young.”
“There is no logical reason to have coitus if that is not the goal.”
Zilek chuckled. “Have you not had any urges in this form that suggestpleasuremight be a logical reason to engage? You must let yourself leave this cave and experience more of the world, my brother.”
“You have convinced me that I would enjoy experiencing a hunt. Nothing more.”
“That is a start, I suppose.”
Footsteps sounded in the hallway, and Rylana grabbed a pen and bent low over the accounting book, pretending she had been too engrossed in the work to hear the second half of the conversation. Jildarin walked past without slowing, and she heard him ask Zalani to watch over the diner, saying he had started dinner preparations and would return in time to finish them.
On his way back toward the storeroom, Jildarin stopped in the doorway to the office and peered in at Rylana. She wrote the totalsfor the day’s services thus far and didn’t look at him. But as he remained, she turned warily toward the doorway. Jildarin was looking her up and down with what she read as puzzled consideration. There wasn’t anything sexual in the perusal—she had a feeling he was trying to see what Zilek had been talking about—but having his gaze pause at her chest made herthink again of the night before.
Jildarin shook his head and flicked a hand in dismissal. “You will continue to sell ovens while I am gone. That has been a lucrative vein. I am pleased that the landlord no longer has a reason to visit and threaten my expulsion.” He nodded at her, then disappeared into the storeroom.
That nod of approval pleased her more than it probably should have, but she liked that he was starting to recognize that she had value. While Jildarin was gone, she would take the ferry across the lake to visit Yerin’s estate. Even if he wasn’t there and she didn’t learn anything about Jildarin's competitors, she would pitch an oven to whoever handled the cooking there.
The back doors thudded shut as the dragons departed, and Zalani poked her head into the office.
“Oh, there it is.” She pointed at the cashbox. “I wanted to make sure Rolf hadn’t figured out a way to abscond with that.”
“No. I’ll return it after I finish my tally for the day. Zalani, you may want to watch out for Jildarin's brother.”
“I always avoid him since he’s pompous and full of himself—like all dragons—but why?”
“He thinks you’re, uhm, interesting.”
“In what way? I didn’t think he knew I existed. He certainly doesn’t know my name.”
