Page 18 of A Matter of Dragons

“Noble’s Hill,” I answered.

I finished my own glass and set it next to hers. My hand hovered above hers on the table. I let my fingers brush her wrist; sparks danced through my skin. She inhaled a soft, shallow gasp.

“You’re a noble?” she said.

“I am not,” I corrected. “But I happen to know a place where the owner is away, and the garden has a back entrance.”

Also, technically, it was my house. But that would just confuse the matter, not to mention make me seem much less exciting. I didn’t want her to think of me as a stodgy old man with a stodgy old shop and a stodgy old house to go with it. Much better if she thought I was the kind of adventurous shopkeeper who’d sneak a woman into a noble’s garden just for the view.

And it seemed to be working. Her sapphire eyes sparkled above her flushed cheeks.

“That sounds dangerous,” she said, and her voice made it sound like dangerous was one of her favorite adjectives.

“Oh, very,” I agreed. “The gate is made of wood. You could get a serious splinter.”

She leaned forward. Candlelight played across the curve of her chest and danced over the lace of her bodice. By the Mothers, this was perfect. If I played this right, I could have a liaison with a member of King Donovan’s court, and we’d all stand to benefit. I could show this woman more pleasure than she could imagine, all the erotic secrets I’d learned in my very long life, and I’d also be cracking open a door into Valgros’s royal court.

But, carefully. I’d have to play this well, to take things slowly. Perhaps a kiss tonight, another invitation to dinner in a day or two, a moonlight tour of the Spirit Wood—

“Really?” Rayne said. The husky edge of her lowered voice disrupted my thoughts entirely. “Well, in that case, I would love to see Cairncliff.”

The thick, honeyed scent of frost wine hung in the air between us. I ran my fingers across her wrist again, loving the way the brush of my hand across her skin made my entire body come alive. Damn, it had been so long I’d almost forgotten how pleasurable this was, this whole thing, from casual flirtation to open invitation to first caress.

“And I would love to show you,” I replied.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Rayne

I couldn’t believe I was doing this.

Sure, Doshir seemed sincere, and the man was objectively gorgeous. Still, allowing him to lead me through the darkened streets of Noble’s Hill was a straight-up bad idea. I was not coming across as a delicate, refined lady if I was letting a man of dubious standing escort me to a private overlook.

Oh, but fuck it! My skirts were heavy and scratchy, my toes screamed inside my stupid narrow boots and, even with all the frost wine, I could still feel each individual ribbon in my elaborate bodice cutting into my skin.

I was not a lady, and I was done pretending. I was a woman of the King’s Army, damn it, in every way but the official pronouncement. A lady would have much to fear from a strong, unfamiliar man in a dark street, but I had three knives hidden inside this ridiculous dress and twenty years of martial training. Doshir would have much to fear from me, should he try to get rough.

Not that I thought it would come to that. Doshir honestly didn’t seem the type, with his stammering answers to my questions and his almost sweet efforts not to stare at my cleavage. He’d told me more about dragons in an hour than I’d learned in thirty years in Valgros. And he’d been right about the Elven District. And the frost wine.

“Almost there,” Doshir whispered.

He was just ahead of me, leading the way up an elegant avenue dotted with delicate street lamps. We’d walked down the middle of the road since we’d left the elven inn, both of us still giggling about the hilarious hatching prophecy I was almost entirely convinced he’d made up for my benefit, but his gait had changed when we’d entered the iron gates, tall walls, and steep, winding streets of what must be Noble’s Hill. He’d hung to the shadows and spoken only in whispers, and I’d followed his lead. Together, we’d crept through Cairncliff’s nicest neighborhood like a pair of exceptionally well-dressed, tipsy criminals.

I was expecting a wooden fence, probably something run-down, the sort of estate that belonged to a noble family whose money had started to dry up but who hadn’t yet reached a level of desperation that would see them selling the family home to some upstart merchant. But all I saw at the moment was stone and iron, garden walls that looked more like fortresses.

“Here we are,” Doshir announced.

He was standing in front of a tiny gap between two monstrously tall walls, both made of solid granite blocks fitted so tightly together they barely left room for mortar. Still, a determined thief could probably scale them, given the right motivation and a moonless night. In Valgros, a wall like this would be topped with iron spikes. Here, I saw nothing but the broad, flat expanse of the wall.

“And this is—” I began.

Doshir grinned, then slipped into the shadows between the two walls. My throat tightened. I’d never liked tight, narrow spaces, even when I wasn’t being led into the darkness by a man I’d just met.

“You coming?” Doshir called, in a voice that made it sound like he was smiling.

I let my hand trail down the waist of my dress just far enough to feel the reassuring solidity of my knife’s hilt beneath my skirt’s waves of silk and velvet. Then I took a deep breath and turned into the narrow alleyway. It was paved with cobblestones, and the garden walls which had towered over the street tapered off as the alleyway sloped upward. The little passageway led to what appeared to be a sheer rock face. We must be getting close to the top of Noble’s Hill, nearing the enormous homes that towered over the entire town. I’d taken one look at those stately homes with their turrets and sparkling windows and thought: To be avoided.

Yet here I was. My gut tightened and my muscles tensed, dispelling some of the pleasant heat of the frost wine. Doshir stood about halfway down the narrow alley, one hand resting casually on the rock wall. Before him was a little wooden door.