“When dragons are vexed, they can lash out at all around. Should I sense my mother approaching, I will go out to meet her beyond the boundaries of the city.” Jildarin met her eyes, his emerald orbs striking, even in the dim light of the lanterns. “Do not be concerned about my brother’s comments. I will ensure that my mother does not target you.”
“Thank you.” It touched Rylana that he’d caught that part of the conversation and cared enough to offer reassurance. Sometimes, he was so focused on his work that he didn’t seem aware of anything going on around him. And, even if he wasn’t nearly as pompous and dismissive as his brother, he didn’t seem that concerned about the affairs of lesser species. She wasn’t even sure he knew the names of his employees since he so often referred to them as the half-elf, the goblin, and the gnome.
“I’m almost done here.” Rylana closed the cashbox and pulled out a piece of paper with a list of ingredients that she’d noted as low when she’d done a pantry inventory earlier.
“You will sleep here tonight.”
“Is that an order or a question?” she asked dryly.
“I do not know when my mother will arrive, or if she will truly come, but many elves are about, seeking your comrade, and they know that you are seen frequently in her wake.”
“So, you want me to sleep here for safety reasons? Not because you pined last night in my absence?”
“My new business partner with plans to expand the seating area must be kept alive for the good of the diner, and few dare step into the lair of a dragon at night.”
“So you pined alot.” Rylana grinned at him.
Jildarin squinted at her.
“I missed you too,” she offered. “I had to sleep in a bed with a mattress last night. It was dreadful.”
“You are being sarcastic.”
“I am. Sorry. It’s in my nature.” Rylana also didn’t want to be serious and admit that shehadthought of him the night before and had felt a twinge of loneliness. Besides, it had been a silly emotion. It wasn’t as if hespoketo her, either as a human or telepathically as a dragon, once they went back to the storeroom to sleep. He simply lay there in his great scaled form, barely fitting between the crates, kegs, and flour sacks, while she was tucked away in the corner, the floor hard under her back as she looked up at the high beamed ceiling in the darkness.
Jildarin leaned back, as if he would depart but instead rested a hand on the doorframe and watched as she wrote. She didn’t mind his presence but wondered what kept him. The running of water in the kitchen promised Zalani or one of the other employees was still cleaning up, and a few voices in the dining room meant that not all the guests had departed for the night. Rylana distinctly heard Rolf mentioninggoblin tips.
“I won the Golden Whisk,” Jildarin stated, “the contest that preoccupied my thoughts and kept me preparing for weeks—no, months.”
“Yes?” Rylana set down her pen and raised her eyebrows.
“I plan to enter again next year, but… at the moment, I am without a challenge. Preparing for the contest gave me a goal and purpose. Now, I am thinking with dread of my mother’s visit, which may not even happen. I would prefer to have another challenging culinary quest to embark on.”
“Are there any interim contests that would be worth entering and training for?” Rylana was pleased that he was confiding in her, speaking to her as if she were a friend instead of a former enemy—or, almost worse, aservant. She only wished she had useful advice to give him.
“Not of the same scale of importance as the Golden Whisk. Perhaps I will consider entering one.” Jildarin waved without commitment, no sparkle in his eyes at the prospect.
“How are you with carpentry?” Rylana smiled, knowing that wasn’t the kind of goal that would draw him but added, “I’ve never built outdoor dining structures, but I’ll wager it could be challenging.”
“I assumed you would hire a minion to renovate the rooftop.”
“We would save money by doing it ourselves.”
“Is coin still of concern?” Jildarin eyed the books. “You’ve sold all but three of the surplus gnomish commercial ovens and have done calculations to ensure menu prices properly reflect the cost of ingredients.” His eyelids drooped. “You aren’t going to bring up salaries again, are you? The employees are tipped most generously, especially now that the patronage is so much increased.”
“I suppose we could hirethemto build the seating area. Goblins are handy, after all. Or maybehandsy.”
“I believe you are teasing me.”
“Yeah. But I’ll keep my ears open in case I hear anyone discussing culinary opportunities that could present a dragon with a suitable challenge.”
“Good. Do so.” Jildarin turned but paused and didn’t leave the doorway. His gaze halfway between her and the hall, he said, “Do you believe I should succumb to my familial duties and mate with Loxvonla and Foxvonla?”
“No.”
“No?” Jildarin looked back at her, his head tilting. “Because you desire me yourself?”
“No, because those bitchy sisters tried to light me on fire.”
