“What? No. I was trying to get rid of him.”
“By suggesting he get randy from dragon spices?”
“That would distract him from looking for you.”
“It might prompt him to look foryouthough.”
“I’m sureI’mnot the one he’d seek out after eating the special soup. Really, Sylin, why are you still here? I value your friendship, even if I know you don’t needmein your life, and I’ll miss your company, but I don’t think Tranquility is the place for you. At least not while the elven queen is en route. Maybe in a couple of months, you could come back.”
Sylin sighed and closed the book in her lap, though she left a finger in place to bookmark a page. “A few days ago, Ididleave. I was nearly twenty miles from town and heading deep into the mountains, intending to live alone in the wilderness, where, if elven hunters sought me out to extinguish my life, I would put only myself in danger.”
“But the coffee drew you back?” Rylana asked.
Sylin snorted softly. “No. I bought several bags of beans and a hand grinder so I could make my own on the road, however crude the brews would be.”
“It must have been the croissants then.”
“Believe it or not, it was… I was…” Sylin flexed her hand in the air. Searching for a word? Or maybe she knew what she wanted to say but struggled to get it out.
“Were you lonely?” Rylana guessed.
Sylin lowered her hand. “I was something.” She shrugged. “It was just too quiet out there by myself. I don’t crave copious amounts of time among people, but I also… I don’t know. Sometimes, I liked coming back to the unit and sitting in a corner of the mess hall with the soldiers chattering around me. And then, after we left, there was always you to talk with if the mood took me.”
“There were a lot of days during our travels when you only spoke to me once or twice,” Rylana said, though she perfectly understood the need for companionship.
“I didn’t say the mood took meoften. Just that it was nice to have someone there when it did.”
“So, you realized you don’t want to live alone in the mountains and travel solo.”
“Apparently not.” Sylin shrugged again, as if the realization had surprised her and maybe befuddled her a bit. “I’m sure I could do it for a time, but… maybe I’ll just lie low in the city until the queen comes and goes.”
“You’d better lie low somewhere more than twenty feet fromthe coffee shop. I hate to break it to you, but the elves have figured out your addiction.”
“Maybe the baker would let me sleep up here.”
“Thisisn’tmore than twenty feet from the coffee shop.”
“No, but the elf captain’s mother won’t let him come in here.” Sylin smirked.
“She may not have as much sway on all therestof the elves.”
“We’ll see. In the meantime, you’ll be relieved that I came back to assist you in your quest.” Sylin opened the book again and held it up to the page she’d marked.
By the light of the lantern, Rylana readSacred Bread.
18
With the ancienttroll recipe book in her hands, the pages yellowed and threatening to fall from the creased binding, Rylana left the bakery. In the street, a wagon with a broken wheel lay tilted and unmoving on the cobblestones, its damaged cart spilling cans of beans, coconut milk, and other goods that she recognized from Jildarin’s shopping list. The deliveries didn’t usually come so late in the evening, but the curse was throwing off everything in the city.
The dwarven driver crouched by the wheel with an open toolbox, but he’d paused in his repairs to stare through the window of the diner. Shouts and thumps came from within, and Rylana groaned. What now? Rolf couldn’t have spiked the soup again, could he?
Wary, she inched closer to the building. Before she reached the door, it flew open, banging against the stop. A troll stumbled out, arms flailing for balance. Someone pushed him from behind, and he didn’t find it, instead landing with a thud on the sidewalk. An orc sprang out after him with a makeshift iron club gripped in his hands.
“That’s my tie rod!” the dwarf blurted.
Ignoring him, the orc leaped for the downed troll and started pummeling him. “This curse is your fault! Your foul gods destroyed my home!”
Another troll ran out of the diner and gripped the attacker from behind. Before he could stop the pummeling, two more orcs rushed out and grabbedhim.
