Page 34 of A Matter of Dragons

“Thank you, Mister Dragon, sir,” Eadberh said. “You’ll have to forgive us. You’re the first dragon we’ve met.”

Doshir nodded politely. “Of course.” His eyes flicked back to me, this time with a very shy smile that reminded me quite uncomfortably of last night.

“Rayne,” Doshir said in a low rumble, acknowledging my presence for the first time. “It’s nice to see you again.”

“Doshir,” I replied coolly. “How’s the wife?”

Doshir’s face fell. Guilt and a vicious, nasty thrill of pleasure twisted in my gut. Was his wife the dragon who’d streaked the skies with flames last night? The one we’d been sent to kill? I felt sick; the room was suddenly far too small for the four of us. Or the three of us, plus the monster.

Silently, Doshir pulled a white handkerchief from his pocket and began rubbing the soot from his hand. Eadberh turned to me.

“Whoa,” Eadberh said. “You’ve met this guy?”

“Yesterday,” I replied, trying to keep my voice as level as possible. “He was in an antiquities shop I visited looking for a way to heal my scar. He did not introduce himself as a dragon.”

“Huh.” Eadberh snorted in an amused way. “Dragon with an antiquities shop. Yup, that checks out.”

Eadberh dragged a chair loudly over the floorboards, then settled into it and rested his arms on the table. Doshir folded himself into a chair on the opposite side of the table, his gaze resting for an uneasy moment on Vil and then skating over me completely.

“So,” Doshir began as he laced his fingers on the table before him. “What is it you wanted to know?”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Doshir

“Well, no offense to you, sir, but we’re a bit worried about your town’s dragon problem,” the enormous man who was most assuredly not Rayne's brother said.

I raised an eyebrow and tried to keep myself from looking at Rayne. By the Mothers, that red dress she was wearing was enough to kill someone. The fact that the muscular man sitting across from me hadn’t even glanced at Rayne's generous cleavage left me feeling only somewhat mollified.

“Dragon problem?” I asked.

Rayne's red dress swirled along the edges of my vision. A chair scraped across the floorboards, and then she sat down beside her huge male companion, and dear Mothers, I’d have to be dead to ignore that chest.

“They’re talking about the red dragon,” the blond chirped in from the doorway. “The one who flew around last night shooting fire.”

I narrowed my eyes as he also pulled a chair up to the table. His name was Vil if I remembered correctly. I’d had half a dozen run-ins with him over the years, and they’d all been unpleasant. He struck me as the kind of man who’d double-cross his own mother if there was gold to be had. It was unsettling that he’d come here with Rayne.

It was unsettling that Rayne had come here at all. My gut tightened. I’d hoped to see her again, of course, but not under these circumstances. Under literally any other circumstances, actually.

“If you know anything at all about that red dragon,” Rayne said in an icy tone.

I tried to give her a friendly smile. Great. Now Rayne thought I was married, and she thought I’d lied to her about being a dragon. By the Mothers, there had to be a way out of this fine mess I’d created, but stars help me if I could see one.

“Of course,” I replied. “I know about the red dragon. I spoke with her last night, actually.”

The big man’s eyes widened. I didn’t dare look at Rayne, but she had to be putting the pieces together. Why I’d forced her to leave my garden last night. Where I’d gone. Perhaps, I thought with the faintest stirrings of hope, she’ll even start to imagine giving me another chance to explain.

I glanced up. Rayne looked like she wanted to call a thunderclap down and destroy the entire town of Cairncliff. Well, then. I swallowed hard and continued.

“I, well, I informed her that those antics are not appreciated this close to Cairncliff,” I said. “I can see why you’re concerned, of course, but really, the situation is under control.”

Rayne and her enormous companion watched me with identical incredulous expressions.

“So, forgive my asking, Mister Dragon,” the man said, “but how exactly does the town handle something like this? Is there a king, or—”

“Oh, no, no,” I said. “This town is run by a council, with elected members from each guild and neighborhood. They meet triennially, and the next meeting’s two days from now, actually. If the dragon is determined to be a threat—”

“Determined to be a threat?” Rayne interrupted. “She was shooting fire at the town last night. Someone could have been killed.”