“We’re only musing at this point. I can run any ideas by you before we?—”
“You willnotalter my roof. Not in any way.”
“Anything we did would be tasteful and add value to the building.” Rylana glanced toward the bakery and groped for a way to end the conversation. Didn’t the guy know the city was cursed and they all had more important things to worry about? “And we’d pay for it, of course.”
“You’llnotpay to alter my building. And tasteful! Dragons don’t know anything about tasteful renovations. They live incaves. And you—” He pointed at her nose while glancing at her clothes and boots. “You look like a soldier.”
“I was a mercenary.”
“Mercenaries don’t know anything about tasteful renovations either.”
“We would hire a designer,” Rylana said, doing her best not to feel insulted.
“You’ll hirenobodybecause there will be no changes.” Aztorthrust the scroll at her again, putting it in her face and forcing her to take it. “Read that.Thoroughly. If you’re a partner in the business now, you’ll want to familiarize yourself with the lease, especially what is and isnotallowed insofar as alterations go.”
“It sounds like nothing is allowed.”
“Exactly.” Aztor stomped off down the street, waving in irritation at a cloud of incense.
“You’re welcome for ensuring the back rent has been paid,” she called after him.
He didn’t so much as glance over his shoulder.
“Ass,” Rylana muttered and continued across the street.
After entering the bakery, wondrous sweet and herbaceous scents mingling in the air, she stepped past a couple of round tables and up to a clear case. It was filled with innocuous-looking raisin rolls, dragon buns, frosted orc bread, and deep-fried elf-ear pastries dusted with cinnamon and sugar. Surprisingly, nothing about the items hinted of the adult goods available for purchase. Maybe those were kept in the back. Mya had mentioned that she was a grandmother and also made treats for children, so notallof the clientele could want more salacious goods. They were just, apparently, profitable.
The handful of tables were empty, but a solitary figure in a cloak with the hood up leaned in a corner near the case, holding a cup of espresso that looked like it had come from the coffee shop, and munching on a croissant in the shape of— ah,therewas one of the adult treats.
“Sylin?” Rylana asked in surprise, noticing a hint of dark-green hair under the hood. “This isn’t your usual haunt.”
“The elves keep checking the coffee shop.” Sylin nibbled the tip off the croissant, not commenting on what it looked like. “I’m pleased that you survived your trip to the enclave. Did you learn anything from them? Did they learn anything fromyou?”
“Probably scads, but nobody interrogated me about yourundisclosed location. You know, when you mentioned that, I didn’t envision it being directly adjacent to the coffee shop.”
“I was elsewhere earlier—” Sylin waved her croissant vaguely, “—doing work for the beleaguered peacekeepers, but I wanted to come by and give you a warning.”
“Oh, good. I haven’t had enough warnings lately. Did you feel the earthquakes earlier?”
“I did, yes. My warning is only tangentially related to the curse. From what the gnome peacekeeper captain, Laridon, told me, a lot of people noticed and reported the strange blue glow emanating from your castle the other night.”
Clanks and scrubbing sounds came from the kitchen along with cheerful whistling. Rylana glimpsed Rolf walking past the doorway leading back there, his arms full of sudsy cookie sheets and muffin pans.
“The peacekeepers visited it to ask your father about the glow,” Sylin continued, “but nobody answered the door, and a neighbor told them he’s out of town.”
“I wonder where Zames went. He should have answered.”
“Maybe he realized your castle is even more cursed than Tranquility and also departed. Wisely. Regardless, the captain has made it clear there would be a financial reward should I be able to figure out what’s going on in the city and who’s responsible. He said it’s against the law to trespass but also insinuated that if I happened to wander along the shoreline over there on a refreshing midnight walk, perhaps I could investigate the castle and see if it’s tied in with the curse in any way.”
“Why would you be qualified to visit? There’s nobody there to assassinate.”
“I mentioned that I can get into most places without too much trouble, even those guarded by wards.”
“You got into the castle because I told the wards toletyou in.”
“Yes, that was convenient. I know what’s over there, so I haven’tbeen inclined to visit your castle again. Ididcheck the Timberport estate to see if your wayward archaeologist had returned. He wasn’t there.”
“Thanks for checking. I was debating if I should go over there myself.”
