Chapter 20
The next morning, no scintillating aromas wafted from the kitchen. Rylana looked all around the storeroom and the diner, but she knew in her gut even before checking that Jildarin hadn’t returned. He must have flown out of the city to find and speak with Loxvonla and…
And what? Had she lured him into a trap with her sister and attacked him? Or had they said something that had convinced him to mate with them?
Rylana found both scenarios distressing, but it was mostly thoughts of Jildarin, maimed and left to die on a rocky mountain ledge, that filled her mind.
Since he was such a strong warrior, she told herself that was unlikely.
She’d seen him successfully fight those sisters off—no, defeat them—before.
He wouldn’t have lost in a battle against them.
At least not in a fair battle. What if the sisters and the other females he’d rejected had been so indignant and furious at seeing him with a lowly human that they’d banded together? As strong as he was, even Jildarin couldn’t fight off multiple dragons at once.
Distracted by her thoughts and without the knowledge to cook a worthy breakfast, Rylana put out a sign that the diner wouldn’t open until the lunch hour.
Several customers who’d been lined up outside the door murmured in disappointment before wandering to the coffee shop.
Rylana wondered if Sylin might be over there, but what could her elven friend do to help if Jildarin was way out in the forest somewhere, wounded or embroiled in a trap?
“Nothing,” Rylana murmured. And there wasn’t anything she could do either.
That didn’t keep her from looking longingly at her bow and quiver of arrows as she paced around the diner, agitated and worried.
When she passed through the kitchen, she spotted a dwarven cookbook that Jildarin had left open, a rockball recipe selected.
In an attempt to keep herself busy, she wrote down the ingredients and headed to the market.
If nothing else, she could gather what he would need to prepare the dish.
Not knowing if it was the one he intended to serve the king, she picked up other staples that he used frequently.
When Rylana returned to the diner, the front door was open. She’d locked it before leaving to make sure patrons who didn’t notice the sign wouldn’t wander in.
Several steps away, grocery bags draped over her arms, she paused with unease knotting her gut.
“It’s probably Zalani,” she told herself.
Their half-elf server was usually the first to arrive to work the breakfast service, and she had a key. Rylana nodded to herself and continued inside, but the knot of unease refused to loosen. Someone strode down the hallway toward her, and she halted. Killaynia.
“Good morning,” Rylana said, feigning cheer. “If you’re here for breakfast, I’m afraid my chef is missing.”
Jildarin’s sister gazed coolly at her. “Where is my brother?”
“You don’t know? He left last night to speak with a female dragon. Loxvonla, I believe.”
“I have been away from the area, hunting and contemplating a conversation I had with Zilek.”
“Did he suggest you would feel better about life and yourself if you mated frequently and vigorously? Either as a dragon or as a human?” Rylana pointed at Killaynia’s shape-shifted form, the grocery bag weighing down her arm.
“I’m going to put these away, if you don’t mind.
Jildarin will need the ingredients when he returns. ”
She wouldn’t have explained the groceries at all, but Killaynia was blocking the way to the kitchen, and Rylana didn’t know her well enough to presume to brush past her. She did take a few steps in that direction and lift the bags to show her intent.
Killaynia’s eyes narrowed, but she stepped aside. “Zilek brought up recreational mating, yes. It occupies his mind a great deal. Jildarin and I believe he may have a biochemical imbalance that prompts such thoughts more frequently than in the minds of normal dragons.”
“Those female sisters seem to have mating thoughts pretty often.”
“Not recreational mating thoughts.” Killaynia followed Rylana into the kitchen. “They seek to bear young and have selected a suitable sire.”
“I think Zilek’s obsession with mating may have to do with the fact that so few female dragons want him to sire their young.
” Rylana stepped into the pantry to put ingredients on the shelves.
Being followed around by a dragon she barely knew and discussing mating felt surreal.
At least Killaynia wasn’t threatening her.
In fact, she chuckled. The sound was so surprising that Rylana dropped a jar of stewed tomatoes on the floor. Fortunately, it didn’t break.
“That thought has occurred to me,” Killaynia said. “He is physically similar to Jildarin, but he didn’t seek out leadership roles during the war and didn’t fly into as many battles. Jildarin’s feats did not go unnoticed.”
“That’s what I heard. Uhm, can I help you with something? I don’t know where Jildarin is. I’m actually a little worried about him since he usually returns to his lair at night.”
Killaynia’s eyebrows lifted, and her voice cooled. “He returns to you.”
“Nope. Just the lair that I happen to be in.”
“I saw the human nesting material. It has his scent strongly on it.”
“That’s because he sleeps nearby.” Rylana kept her face toward the shelves as she put ingredients away, but her heartbeat may have quickened as she remembered Jildarin sitting with her on the bed and touching her.
This time, it was more fear than arousal that made her skin flush and her heart rate speed up.
If Killaynia could guess what they’d been up to…
“Before he left to see Loxvonla, did you tell him to mate with her?” Killaynia asked. “As I ordered?”
“I thought that was more of a suggestion than an order.”
“I was trying to advise you to act in a manner that would spare your life and thus my brother’s feelings. I care nothing about whether you live or die, but I nonetheless informed you of a course of action that might satisfy the female dragons.”
“I understand. It was good advice.”
“But you did not follow it.” Killaynia walked closer, blocking the way out of the pantry.
Rylana thought of her bow, but even if it had been nearby, a tranquility knot tied it and her arrows. “I should have.”
“Yes.”
“What did you say brought you here?”
“Jildarin suggested I try the food that he makes for the lesser species. He believed that his eggs-and-bacon breakfast dishes would be especially appealing to a natural carnivore and that when I am in this form, I might appreciate sauces and spices more.” Killaynia waved indifferently but also added, “I am the slightest bit curious about what my brother spends so much time doing in this city. With Zilek, I know. He is availing himself of the many docile females.”
“Yup.” Rylana faced her, wanting to step out of the pantry, but Killaynia, despite not being openly threatening, radiated the dangerous power of a predator. “Though I think he’s off to the south hunting something rare now.”
“Is he? Good. That is useful. He should bring meat back to the females who will soon be inseminated and laying eggs.”
“I know that topped the list of his motivations for taking on the task. Would you mind stepping aside?” Rylana pointed to indicate that she needed to put ingredients in the icebox.
“These are for Jildarin to make a meal for the dwarven king. We’re expecting him to visit soon.
Jildarin is looking forward to adding another V.I.P. to his plaque.”
“You’ve been purchasing groceries for him like a servant. And you do the accounting for his business. Also an act of a servant. It is strange that he values you so highly.”
“Yeah, I’m a lucky girl.”
Killaynia hadn’t moved, but Rylana risked squeezing past her to head to the icebox.
“Are your physical attributes especially appealing to a male of this species?” Killaynia asked.
“For sure. My curvy bits are exquisite. Look, Jildarin isn’t here to make a meal now, so maybe you can come back tomorrow.
I’m sure he’ll be back then.” As Rylana put away the rest of the groceries, she added in a mutter, “I hope he’ll be back then.
” Again, her imagination conjured an image of him wounded and maybe dying on a distant cliff.
“You believe he’s in danger? Loxvonla and her sister want to mate with him, not kill him. It is true that some male dragons are irked with him because they want the sisters for themselves, but—”
“Someone actually wants them?” Rylana couldn’t help but give her an incredulous look.
Killaynia snorted. “They can be abrasive, but they have striking beauty.” She looked at Rylana’s chest, perhaps contemplating if Rylana had been telling the truth about her exquisite bits. But what Killaynia asked was, “Why do you believe my brother might be in danger?”
“Like I said, he didn’t come back last night.”
“He didn’t come back to you.”
“He didn’t come back to his lair. He had the diner and that storeroom long before I showed up, and he almost always sleeps there.”
“If he decided to mate with them, it could be taking a while. Dragons have a great deal of stamina, and if he’s agreed to inseminate more than one, it could be a task of days.”
“Days?” Rylana stared at her. “That’s a lot of stamina.”
“Dragons are superior beings.”
“Oh, I don’t doubt that, but Jildarin is pretty dedicated to the diner.
Putting his lair—and me—aside, I think he would have come back to make breakfast unless something untoward happened.
I’ve been trying to talk him into hiring and training an assistant chef, but he’s resisted that so far.
He likes to do the cooking. This is his passion. ”
“Yes… I have observed that he is oddly dedicated to this pursuit.” Killaynia tapped a long fingernail reminiscent of a talon against her jaw. “Did he threaten Loxvonla or do something else that makes you believe he’s in danger?”
“No threats, but, uhm.” Rylana stopped herself before admitting that Loxvonla may have seen her and Jildarin kissing in the street. Killaynia had already guessed too much correctly about their relationship. She didn’t need any real details.
But the dragon’s eyes narrowed, and Rylana experienced the same crawling sensation under her skull that she’d felt before in the presence of Jildarin’s mother. Was his sister trying to read her mind? Could she? Rylana tried to still her thoughts in case Killaynia also had that power.
“You were engaged in precoital activities when Loxvonla flew overhead,” Killaynia said with certainly.
So much for not giving anything away.
“Just a hug and a kiss.”
“That will have incensed Loxvonla.” Killaynia shook her head. “You are a very foolish human.”
“That’s sometimes true, but he kissed me.”
“Because you are following him around, buying his groceries, and holding his tail for him. Whenever he grows aroused, you are there. Foolish. Do you not value your life?”
“I care for him. Instead of lecturing me, why don’t you offer to fly me off into the woods so we can look for him?
” Rylana hadn’t intended to suggest that—she didn’t want to fly anywhere with Killaynia—but couldn’t bring herself to retract the request. On a dragon’s back, she would have much better luck finding Jildarin.
Besides, if Killaynia cared about her brother, maybe she would help if the sisters had done something to him.
Killaynia’s jaw descended. “Your audacity is unbelievable. You think I would let you ride on my back?”
“I wasn’t going to suggest harnesses or do anything offensive.”
“You are offensive.”
“Incredibly so, yes, but I’m loyal too. Fly me off to find him, and I’ll take my bow and pepper those sisters with arrows again if they’ve hurt Jildarin.”
Killaynia stared at Rylana as if she’d sprouted a unicorn horn.
“It’s just a feeling I have, all right?” Rylana said. “I think he’s in danger.”
“You are more likely in danger than he. The sisters want him. You are an impediment.”
“Don’t I know it.”
Killaynia’s gaze shifted from disbelief to something else. Speculation? “What will you do if I take you into the mountains to find him, and we see that he is not in danger but is instead mating with the sisters?”
“Uh, I guess I’ll be relieved. As long as it’s voluntary, and they’re not forcing him to do it, that’s better than being dead.”
Killaynia scoffed. “No female, not even another of our kind, could force a powerful dragon like Jildarin to mate with her against his wishes.”
Rylana shrugged, less certain as she thought of dragon spices and other magical concoctions that could affect even their kind.
“I believe,” Killaynia continued, “that you will feel betrayed if you see him mating with another. Perhaps you will then leave him, for his good and yours.”
“We can only find out if you give me a ride and help me find him.”
“A ride.”
“I could rent a horse, but I wouldn’t be able to keep up with you. Best is if you carry me on your back.” Rylana smiled at Killaynia.
“I could agree to take you and then fly wildly so that you fall to your death.”
Rylana blew out a slow breath. More than once, she’d been afraid of falling even when flying on Jildarin’s back, and he cared about her. His sister might well do exactly what she was suggesting, but…
“You were concerned about Jildarin’s feelings,” Rylana reasoned, “and tried to offer me a way to stay alive so that he wouldn’t be upset. I don’t think you’ll deliberately kill me.”
“You’re presumptuous.”
“Yes, I am. I’ll get my bow and arrows.”