“Well, as someone who had to learn to play the lute growing up, I can tell you that you’re not missing out. But if you want to learn to read music, I would be happy to teach you sometime.”
“Do you think the local elves would be less concerned about me if I wandered the city, strumming a lute?”
“Absolutely. Nobody worries about chordophone players carrying out assassinations. But you don’t usuallystruma lute. You pluck it with a plectrum.” Rylana shifted her weight. She hadn’t, despite the invitation, planted her cheeks on the chair, and she looked toward the street, wondering if those elves were lurking in the area. “Are you going to stay in the city?”
“Do you think I should?”
“No. I’d miss you if you left, but I don’t want to come over here one day and find you dead under this table.”
“That would be an unappealing fate.” Sylin sipped again. Lamenting the idea of abandoning her new favorite coffee shop?
“Maybe you should at least leave until after the queen’s visit. If that’s the entire reason your people have been taking special note of you and worrying about your presence, they might forget about you after she’s gone.”
“That is possible,” Sylin mused. “They’ve probably known about her planned trip for weeks. And if I coincidentally showed up here at the same time, perhaps that’s why they’ve taken an interest in me.”
“And in your friends who know where you live, yes.”
“You don’t have any idea where I’m living,” Sylin said dryly. “I’ve made sure of that.”
“Tellthemthat.”
“I’m between domiciles currently, regardless. No dragons have offered me corners of their storerooms to sleep in.”
“I’d invite you to stay, but Jildarin considers that hislair.He’s uptight about who comes and goes, especially after dark.”
“But he doesn’t mind you.”
“No, he adores me.”
“It’s true that I haven’t heard him call youmy enemyfor weeks.”
“That’s because we’re business partners now, and he trusts me implicitly.”
“Implicitly?”
“Well, at least reasonably. I would offer you a room at my father’s castle, since he’s away on a business trip, butIdon’t even have a room there anymore. I’m not sure if the wards would still let me in.” Rylana turned to look across Lumi Lake toward the sprawling estates on the western shore. The elevated rooftop of the coffee shop provided a clear view. To her surprise, her family’s castle was glowing a soft blue.
“What in the two hells?” she muttered.
“I’m not sure I would care for a room in aglowingcastle,” Sylin said. “Is it haunted?”
“What? No. I… Did you notice that before? How long has it been glowing? Andwhat’sglowing?” Rylana squinted toward the distant shoreline, trying to tell if some strange luminescent creature might have wandered out of the lake—after all, the body of water was filled with glowing fish and plankton. But the castle itself seemed to be the source. Could her eyes be trusted? It was almost two miles to the other side of the lake and fully dark out.
“I’ve not noticed it on previous nights when I’ve been up here,” Sylin said.
“So, it just started glowing? While my father is out of town? That’s weird. No… that’ssuspicious.”
“Especially if the castle isn’t haunted.”
“It’snothaunted. Do elves even believe in ghosts?”
“Some elves do.”
“Well, the castle never glowed in all the years I lived there.”
“Why do you think it is now?”
“I don’t know.”
