Page 36 of A Matter of Dragons

“I’m so glad you agreed to meet with us,” he continued. “Rayne, Eadberh. Aren’t you just so glad you got to meet a real dragon?”

Eadberh watched me with a deeply skeptical expression. “Yes,” he said in a tone that suggested he meant the opposite. “Thank you.”

Rayne's red dress swirled as she stood and then angrily shoved her chair against the table. “So kind of you to meet with us,” she said through an expression that may have been a smile or may have been gritted teeth.

“Yes, well, if there’s anything else I can do—” I offered.

But Rayne had already swept from the room, leaving me with nothing but the view of the way her red dress clung to the elegant arch of her back.

Her companion Eadberh at least had the decency to shake my hand, although it felt more like a test of strength, and Vil gave me another oily grin before shutting the door in his wake. I sank back into my chair, feeling utterly exhausted. What in the nine hells were two young, strong, wealthy Valgrosians doing in Cairncliff? Looking for a way to cure Rayne’s scars, those marks on her hand and arm that I’d first taken to be a curse, was one reason, but that didn’t explain their interest in dragons. Or the fact that Vil had somehow attached himself to them.

Or, they could just be tourists who happen to be interested in dragons, and I could be massively overthinking this whole thing. I sighed. Damn, it was only mid-morning and I was already thinking about my evening glass of wine.

I stood, paced to the windows, and rubbed the back of my neck. Rayne and her red dress flitted through my mind, making me ache in a way I hadn’t for a very long time. She was an especially spectacular woman. And I’d fucked things up between us in an especially spectacular way.

I ground my teeth together as a half dozen scenarios spilled through my mind, each more wildly improbable than the next. No, inviting her and Eadberh to my house to show off my distinct lack of a wife was not going to work; she’d just think I’d bundled off my poor, fictional spouse to try to impress her. Going to her inn with flowers and a bottle of frost wine would probably end with me getting the bottle smashed over my head. And deserving it.

But there was something, I realized as I watched the fishing boats far below drift lazily around the breakwater. There was Vil. I didn’t know him well, but the man didn’t exactly have a sterling reputation around Cairncliff.

Surely that was something Rayne would want to know.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Rayne

“Tonight,” I said. “It’s got to be tonight.”

I turned to Eadberh, expecting some kind of confirmation for my brilliant tactical reasoning. He was sitting in the rickety chair by the window with his enormous feet resting on his bed while I paced back and forth like a caged animal. He raised an eyebrow. So help me, if he said he already had plans for tonight I’d bite his damned head off.

“We’ve got to make our move against that monster,” I continued. “Before word gets out.”

“To the dragon?” Eadberh asked.

“Yes, to the fucking dragon!” I gestured wildly out the window where, in case Eadberh had forgotten, there was a maniacal monster waiting in the mountains just above this defenseless little town.

Eadberh frowned. “I think our situation’s just gotten a bit more complicated.”

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I snapped. “Our situation has been crystal clear since the moment the king gave us our orders. We’re here to kill that damned dragon and protect this stupid town. I mean, you heard Doshir—” I spat his name. “The town doesn’t have any other defenses! They have a fucking Council!”

Eadberh’s eyebrow inched higher. I wanted to smack him.

“That dragon,” Eadberh said. “The one we just met. He wasn’t what I expected.”

I let out an exasperated sigh. I saw absolutely no connection between our mission to kill the damned Cairncliff dragon and a conversation about Eadberh’s disappointed expectations.

“When were you going to tell me you’d met a dragon?” Eadberh asked.

“Oh, fuck off.” I collapsed onto my bed. “He didn’t tell me he was a dragon.”

“And you, what?” Eadberh pushed. “Had a little chat on the street corner with him?”

I rolled my eyes. “I went to his stupid antiquities shop. It looked like a good place to gather information.” I cleared my throat. “And then we had a drink together. Last night, after you kicked me out. A... few drinks.”

Eadberh made a sort of purr deep in his throat, cupped his chin with his palm, and leaned forward.

“I was getting information out of him,” I insisted. My cheeks burned.

“Do you think the dragon in the mountains is his wife?” Eadberh asked.