Chapter 15 #2
On his way back toward the storeroom, Jildarin stopped in the doorway to the office and peered in at Rylana.
She wrote the totals for the day’s services thus far and didn’t look at him.
But as he remained, she turned warily toward the doorway.
Jildarin was looking her up and down with what she read as puzzled consideration.
There wasn’t anything sexual in the perusal—she had a feeling he was trying to see what Zilek had been talking about—but having his gaze pause at her chest made her think again of the night before.
Jildarin shook his head and flicked a hand in dismissal. “You will continue to sell ovens while I am gone. That has been a lucrative vein. I am pleased that the landlord no longer has a reason to visit and threaten my expulsion.” He nodded at her, then disappeared into the storeroom.
That nod of approval pleased her more than it probably should have, but she liked that he was starting to recognize that she had value.
While Jildarin was gone, she would take the ferry across the lake to visit Yerin’s estate.
Even if he wasn’t there and she didn’t learn anything about Jildarin's competitors, she would pitch an oven to whoever handled the cooking there.
The back doors thudded shut as the dragons departed, and Zalani poked her head into the office.
“Oh, there it is.” She pointed at the cashbox. “I wanted to make sure Rolf hadn’t figured out a way to abscond with that.”
“No. I’ll return it after I finish my tally for the day. Zalani, you may want to watch out for Jildarin's brother.”
“I always avoid him since he’s pompous and full of himself—like all dragons—but why?”
“He thinks you’re, uhm, interesting.”
“In what way? I didn’t think he knew I existed. He certainly doesn’t know my name.”
“In a bedroom way.”
“Oh.” Zalani brightened instead of looking appalled.
“He’s quite handsome, isn’t he? I wouldn’t mind a romp with him, pomposity aside, but I didn’t think— Well, the dragons, even when shifted into human or elven form, always give you the impression that you’re so far beneath them that they couldn’t imagine wanting to have sex. ”
Rylana thought of Jildarin's stiff aloofness with her the night before. “Yeah.”
“And they certainly wouldn’t stick around for snuggling afterward if they did deign to unleash their zerg sticks in your presence, but I’d be intrigued to have sex with one of them at least once.
” Zalani scratched her cheek as she looked toward the storeroom, though the dragons had departed.
“Maybe I’ll wear my low-cut dress the next time Zilek comes by the diner.
And accidentally drop a tray in front of him so I have a reason to bend over and pick it up. ”
“I guess you didn’t need my warning to watch out for him,” Rylana said. “He may need to watch out for you.”
“Possibly so.” Zalani winked and returned to her duties.
As Rylana closed the book, a crash came from the front of the diner.
“What happened?” Zalani blurted as Gniknik cursed and said in dismay, “My dish collector!”
Rylana hurried to the front, spotting a broken window right away, glass shattered around one of Gniknik’s gnomish contraptions. Someone had thrown a large rock with a paper tied around it.
Drawing her utility knife, Rylana ran to the front door to peer outside.
A few pedestrians were looking in a window down the street, and an orc with a grin on her broad face straightened after ducking to exit the doorway of the bakery.
She strolled away with an oddly shaped cake box and gave no indication that she’d seen whoever had thrown the rock.
Farther down the street, a golem walked through an intersection, its stone head swiveling left and right as it searched for trouble.
“Where was it when the rock was being thrown?” Rylana muttered, thinking of the night before when peacemakers had been coincidentally nearby when Jildarin had discovered the graffiti.
Back inside, Zalani and Gniknik were untying the paper from the rock. A note?
“Dragons can’t cook,” Zalani read. “It is only because you drug your customers that they think your food isn’t horrible.
Go back to where you came from, and leave the city forever, or your diner will suffer a catastrophic accident.
” She shook her head and looked at Rylana and Gniknik. “Who do you think did this?”
“Someone cowardly,” Rylana said.
“And crude.” Gniknik nudged the rock with his toe. “What an unsophisticated means of delivering a message.”
“Should we… tell Jildarin about this?” Zalani asked.
“No,” Rylana said, then looked in the direction of the lake. “I’m going to take care of it for him.”
“Is hunting down rock hurlers among your duties as a bookkeeper?” Zalani asked.
“No, but it’s… somewhat in line with my previous duties.”
Rylana nodded firmly and grabbed her belongings. She couldn’t put off a visit to the west side of the lake any longer. She had to get a list of Jildarin's rivals and find out who was trying to get him kicked out of the competition.