Page 10

Nine

Iris swung her head to Lira. “I thought you told me you weren’t with your companions.”

“I’m not. This is someone I met at the tavern.”

Furrows joined the worry lines on Iris's forehead. “The tavern? You went to The Tusk & Tail?”

“I did, but what in the hells happened to it?” Lira asked in lieu of an answer, hoping Iris wouldn’t think to question why she’d sought out the tavern before visiting her. “When I left, it was the heart of the village. And since when is a wyvern the village reeve?”

Iris gave her a sad smile. “You left a while ago.”

“Hello?” Sass bellowed, her voice getting closer. “Anyone here?”

Iris walked to the curtains, holding the two sides as she turned back to Lira. “Why is she looking for you?”

How had Lira been talking with Iris all this time and not thought to mention where she was staying or that she was roommates with a dwarf. “It’s a long story, but the crux of it is I convinced Durn that his tavern needed fixing, and I was the one to do it—along with a female dwarf named Sass.” She took a breath. “I’m staying at The Tusk & Tail, and she’s my roommate.”

Iris blinked at her and then a burst of laughter escaped her lips. “I see you’ve honed your skills of coercion.”

“It didn’t take much convincing.” Lira omitted telling her that both the tavernkeeper and the dwarf had been desperate.

Iris twitched one shoulder. “Spoken like a true rogue.” Then her smile faded. “Do you trust her?”

Well, that was the question, wasn’t it? Lira had learned not to trust anyone when she’d been tricking her way into castles, sweet-talking the keys off jailers, and convincing her marks to tell her their most precious secrets. She hadn’t been someone to trust, so she hadn’t dared trust. But now she was back home, and the rules were different. Weren’t they?

She’d met Sass in the middle of a robbery, but it had been a pitiful one. Like she’d told her, the dwarf was obviously not a trained thief, and it was clear she didn’t excel at deception. What dwarf could ever claim stealth? Lira’s gut told her that Sass was exactly who she claimed to be. Not only that, but the dwarf had proven to be a hard worker, which wasn’t nothing in Lira’s book.

“We can trust her,” she finally told Iris. “She’s traveled all the way from The Ice Lands looking for a different life than mining.”

Iris’s brow hitched higher on her forehead. “I see you still have a soft spot for outsiders.”

Lira thought of her crew, each member an outsider in their own way. Then she thought of herself straddling the elf and human worlds. “Is that so bad?”

“Not at all.” Iris reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze before she held open the curtains. “She’s in here, pet. Come on back.”

Lira couldn’t see Sass, but she could hear the dwarf’s tentative steps. Then she remembered how ominous the apothecary was in the front, all flickering candlelight and murky jars of strange concoctions. Did Iris still keep the scorpion eyeballs in a jar? She definitely had a jar of beetle husks.

“It’s okay,” Lira called out. “I really am back here.”

Sass appeared under Iris's arm, but she didn’t have to duck to enter. In response to the new arrival, the bookwyrms took to the air in a flurry of fluttering wings and excited chirps.

“What in the sweet, simmering cauldrons are those?”

“Bookwyrms,” Iris answered before Lira could. “They keep my books dust-free.” She held out a hand to Sass. “I’m Iris.”

Sass absently extended her own hand while she tipped back her head. “Sarsaparilla but everyone calls me Sass.” She blinked rapidly. “I’ve never heard of bookwyrms.”

“They’re my own creation.”

“Accidental creation,” Lira muttered.

“They don’t look much like worms,” Sass said. “Are you sure a dragon didn’t hump a pixie?”

“They started out as worms.” Iris gave the creatures a motherly smile. “That’s when I named them. Then they sprouted wings.”

“You’re the only one of us who’s probably seen a dragon,” Lira reminded Sass. “They’re only found in The Ice Lands.”

Sass didn’t take her eyes off the flying creatures. “I’ve only seen one dragon, and it was only the tail as it was flying away. They’re shy ones, dragons.”

Lira had never thought of dragons being shy, but Sass was the only one of them with firsthand knowledge. Even though she’d traveled beyond the long wall to go to The Wild Reach and even ventured into a dwarf mine, she’d never come close to spotting a dragon.

“Would you like some tea as you admire my bookwyrms?” Iris moved past Sass, her skirts flouncing .

Sass dragged her gaze to the apothecary. “Thank you.”

Iris plucked another teacup from a shelf and poured tea into it from the kettle. She handed it to the dwarf. “Lira tells me you’re her new roommate.”

Sass took the cup but shifted under Iris's gaze, cutting her eyes to Lira. “What else did she tell you?”

Lira took a sip of her cooled tea. “Only that we’re both helping Durn get the tavern back on its feet.”

Sass’s shoulders lowered a touch. “That’s about the long and short of it. She’s taking the kitchen, and I’m taking the great room.”

Lira glanced at Sass’s burgeoning net bag. “Did you find what you needed next door?”

Sass gave the bag a gentle shake. “The shopkeeper had some fabric he was trying to move, so I got us a deal.”

“It sounds like Durn got the best deal when he found you two.” Iris shot Lira a pointed look, which she ignored.

Sass slurped her tea, and one of the bookwyrms glided down and landed tentatively on her shoulder.

Iris gave Sass an appreciative nod. “He likes you, pet.”

“They took forever to warm up to me.” Lira crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at the tiny creature.

“You were a child,” Iris said. “And children are too unpredictable and brash for tiny creatures.”

Before Lira could argue that there was hardly anyone as brash and unpredictable as a dwarf, Sass cleared her throat. “How do you know each other, aside from being from the same village?”

Lira didn’t need to exchange a look with Iris to know what to say. “Iris was my gran’s best friend, so in a way, she helped raise me.”

Iris's cheeks colored. “An apothecary is a wondrous place for a child.”

“Especially one that has a whole bunch of these guys flying around,” Sass said as she stroked one finger down the bookwyrm’s green neck .

Lira took another sip of tea. “Speaking of winged creatures, tell me about Wayside’s new reeve.”

Iris’s expression darkened. “I can’t tell you how he did it, but Rygor showed up at the castle, wormed his way into the laird’s good graces, and then convinced the old man that he was the best one to collect taxes from villagers who’d been holding onto more than their share.”

Irritation flared inside Lira. “People in Wayside have never withheld coin from the laird.”

Iris shrugged. “What better way to be sure than appoint a wyvern who can sniff out gold?”

“He thinks Durn is holding out on him,” Sass said. “He said that he can smell the gold in the tavern.”

Iris laughed. “If Durn had gold, the tavern wouldn’t be crumbling around him.”

Lira’s cheeks heated as she thought of the wyvern's accusation. “Is Rygor as scary as he looks?”

“I wouldn’t cross him. Not even the guardsmen can challenge his authority.”

Iris met Lira’s gaze, and for a moment, Lira wondered if her mentor suspected her secret. Then she brushed the idea from her mind. Iris was an apothecary, not a seer.

She put her teacup in its saucer with a clatter. “We should probably get going. We still need to get some supplies at the marketplace.”

Iris made a clicking sound in the back of her throat and all the bookwyrms fluttered in a wide arc around the high ceiling and through the beams of sunlight before swirling down like a tightly spinning wind and swooping into the cage. She clicked the door closed and smiled at Sass.

“Lira says you’re to be trusted, so I will trust you not to mention what you saw here.”

Sass inclined her head. “I didn’t see a thing but a lot of glass jars that smell funny. ”

Iris grinned before she shooed them both out, but it was only when she and Sass were standing outside the shop that Lira realized she’d forgotten to ask Iris the question that had been consuming her since she’d left Wayside. How had an apothecary learned all those rogue skills she’d taught her so many years ago?