“In a bedroom way.”
“Oh.” Zalani brightened instead of looking appalled. “He’s quite handsome, isn’t he? I wouldn’t mind a romp with him, pomposity aside, but I didn’t think— Well, the dragons, evenwhen shifted into human or elven form, always give you the impression that you’re so far beneath them that they couldn’timaginewanting to have sex.”
Rylana thought of Jildarin's stiff aloofness with her the night before. “Yeah.”
“And they certainly wouldn’t stick around for snuggling afterward if they did deignto unleash theirzergsticks in your presence, but I’d be intrigued to have sex with one of them at least once.” Zalani scratched her cheek as she looked toward the storeroom, though the dragons had departed. “Maybe I’ll wear my low-cut dress the next time Zilek comes by the diner. And accidentally drop a tray in front of him so I have a reason to bend over and pick it up.”
“I guess you didn’t need my warning to watch out for him,” Rylana said. “Hemay need to watch out for you.”
“Possibly so.” Zalani winked and returned to her duties.
As Rylana closed the book, a crash came from the front of the diner.
“What happened?” Zalani blurted as Gniknik cursed and said in dismay, “My dish collector!”
Rylana hurried to the front, spotting a broken window right away, glass shattered around one of Gniknik’s gnomish contraptions. Someone had thrown a large rock with a paper tied around it.
Drawing her utility knife, Rylana ran to the front door to peer outside. A few pedestrians were looking in a window down the street, and an orc with a grin on her broad face straightened after ducking to exit the doorway of the bakery. She strolled away with an oddly shaped cake box and gave no indication that she’d seen whoever had thrown the rock. Farther down the street, a golem walked through an intersection, its stone head swiveling left and right as it searched for trouble.
“Where was it when the rock was being thrown?” Rylanamuttered, thinking of the night before when peacemakers had beencoincidentallynearby when Jildarin had discovered the graffiti.
Back inside, Zalani and Gniknik were untying the paper from the rock. A note?
“Dragons can’t cook,” Zalani read. “It is only because you drug your customers that they think your food isn’t horrible. Go back to where you came from, and leave the city forever, or your diner will suffer a catastrophic accident.” She shook her head and looked at Rylana and Gniknik. “Who do you think did this?”
“Someone cowardly,” Rylana said.
“And crude.” Gniknik nudged the rock with his toe. “What an unsophisticated means of delivering a message.”
“Should we… tell Jildarin about this?” Zalani asked.
“No,” Rylana said, then looked in the direction of the lake. “I’m going to take care of it for him.”
“Is hunting down rock hurlers among your duties as a bookkeeper?” Zalani asked.
“No, but it’s… somewhat in line with my previous duties.”
Rylana nodded firmly and grabbed her belongings. She couldn’t put off a visit to the west side of the lake any longer. She had to get a list of Jildarin's rivals and find out who was trying to get him kicked out of the competition.
16
As the wheelat the back of the steam-powered ferry churned, Rylana leaned against one of the side railings in a passenger area that was separate from the horse-drawn wagons and magic- and steam-powered carriages and lorries loaded for the trip. Sylin stood at her side, her hood up and her hair pulled back so that its vibrant forest-green coloring wouldn’t be visible unless someone peered closely at her. Rylana had chanced across her coming out of the coffee shop and invited her along. Hopefully, the elves looking for Sylin wouldn’t realize what a magnetic pull that place had on her, or she would be easy to find.
The sun brightened the pale-blue sky, and, with only a slight breeze whispering across the lake, the water was calm, the movement of the ferry barely noticeable. Rylana could make out Lucky Island and the boardwalk stretching to shore and noted they were past the point that Jildarin had said marked a spot where a dragon might fly without setting off the city’s security pillars. She caught herself looking at the sky beyond the end of the lake, wondering if he and his brother had gone in that direction to hunt.
“At what point during this journey will you give me detailsabout the job you promised? Or isthisit?” Sylin waved at the ferry deck.
“I might very well have been moved to pay someone to come along for moral support,” Rylana said, “but, if you’ll recall, all I said when I invited you along was that if this trip didn’t lead to the answers I’m hoping for, I might need to hire you.”
“So, it was not a promise of work.”
“No. I was surprised you jumped in eagerness to accompany me.”
“The jumping had more to do with all the cups of fresh coffee that the waitress brought for me to sample. They have quite the stimulatory effect, something you’d be familiar with if you didn’t dilute yours so thoroughly with milk and chocolate.” Sylin sneered.
“Mochas and lattes sufficiently stimulate me. There’s someone leaving threatening messages at the diner, telling Jildarin to leave or else.”
“Or else what? EvenIwouldn’t attempt toelsea dragon. Not without a lot of allies.”
