Page 30 of A Matter of Dragons

Vil gave me a smug little grin. “There is a dragon right here, living in Cairncliff. And I happen to know him.”

“I think we would have noticed a dragon,” I said.

“Oh, no, no, no,” Vil replied, raising his hands defensively in front of his chest.

“Dragons can take human form,” Eadberh said from behind his massive mug of black tea.

“Yes, thank you,” I snapped. “I did know that.”

“This particular dragon has been living in Cairncliff for ages,” Vil continued. “He’s kind of an arrogant prick, actually, but I think I could organize a meeting with him.”

Vil’s bright blue eyes danced as he glanced from me to Eadberh.

“Yeah,” Eadberh said. “Please. Do it.”

Eadberh reached into his pocket and pushed a few coins across the table to Vil. More coins than I would have considered necessary for arranging a meeting, but I held my tongue. Eadberh had technically done more to further our cause last night than me.

Vil swept the coins off the table and came to his feet. Eadberh thanked him with another one of those smiles that made me feel slightly nauseous, and then Vil was off, sweeping out the Master and Mistress’ front door with much more drama than the occasion warranted.

“How about you?” Eadberh asked. “Did you find anything?”

I shrugged. The mere thought of talking about Doshir made the jam-smeared biscuit in my gut shift uneasily.

“There’s a healer we should visit,” I offered. “Her name’s Ailen. She’s by the greengrocer’s market. She has a crutch on her sign.”

Eadberh yawned, then nodded. “Let’s do it.”

I drummed my fingers on the table, thinking. Cairncliff seemed almost absurdly safe, especially compared to Valgros. Still, there had been a dragon in the sky last night. I’d feel better leaving the Master and Mistress with my daggers under this stupid red dress.

“I’ll be right back,” I said, pushing out from the table and coming to my feet. “Do you need anything upstairs?”

Eadberh shook his head. I climbed the stairs, unlocked our door, and dug my daggers out of the pack I’d slung over the foot of the bed. As I fastened them into the secret holsters sewn into the stupid bodice of my stupid elegant dress, a flash of blue caught my eye. I stepped closer to the window and peered out.

The streets outside the inn bustled with knots of people. A few vendors were setting up carts. A man in a sleek black cape was riding a white horse slowly through the crowds and gazing at the people in the street with an expression of general disdain. Behind him, that flash of blue vanished behind a vendor’s cart and then reappeared a moment later.

A blue cape. A blond man wearing a blue cape. I narrowed my eyes. Vil. Unmistakably, that was Eadberh’s one-night stand Vil skulking around the alley across the street from our inn. But what in the nine hells could he be doing? Wasn’t he supposed to be off arranging a meeting with a dragon?

I bit my lip, trying to convince myself to let it go. I was just jealous that Eadberh got to have a fun one-night stand while I was being literally and figuratively screwed over, and I was being petty about it. Maybe skulking around in alleyways is how you arrange a meeting with a dragon. And maybe I should stop being such an asshole.

I sighed, turned, and hesitated. Someone else had just started walking toward the alley. This figure was wearing a cloak and a hood; I couldn’t even tell if it was a man or a woman. As I watched, the man on horseback rounded a corner and the cloaked figure stepped behind the vendor’s cart.

My chest felt tight. I crossed to the other side of the window. From this angle, I could see both Vil and the cloaked figure. Vil looked across the street, then raised his hand, beckoning. The cloaked figure pushed back the dark hood, revealing a man’s face.

Fear trickled down the back of my neck. That face. I knew that face, damn it. Dark hair, an aquiline nose, and eyes that I knew would be ice blue. I could even remember that man’s voice, high and arrogant and casually cruel. The man in the hood talking to Vil was a top-notch asshole.

And why did I know that?

I pulled back from the window and sank my teeth into my lower lip as I searched my memory. Mind racing, I left our room, locked the door behind me, and descended the stairs. I was almost down the staircase when the memory surfaced. I froze, one foot hovering above the bottom stair.

Niglan Olovan. Captain Niglan Olovan, to be exact. He was a captain in His Majesty’s Royal Army, and he never let anyone forget it. Especially me. Especially after I’d beaten him three times in a row in the training ring, in front of his men. He’d spent the next few weeks making my life as miserable as possible until he’d finally been reassigned to a garrison further up the coast.

Captain Niglan. What an asshole.

But what in the king’s wide world was he doing here in Cairncliff? I ran my fingers through the loose curls brushing the back of my neck and tried to remember the last time I’d heard anyone say anything about Captain Niglan Olovan. As far as I could recall, he hadn’t made any particular waves. He certainly hadn’t left the Royal Army, or been discharged, or had any other reason to leave Valgros and end up here.

Eadberh was standing next to our table rocking back and forth slightly on the balls of his feet and giving every indication of being both still painfully hungover and ready to leave.

“You ready?” Eadberh asked when I entered the common room.