Putra was almost as excited as I was to be making a trip to town. As the three of us bunkered down into the carriage, he was alert, watching the roads as the two coachmen (Franz and Rozina, who also doubled as the butlers whose names I was slowly learning) expertly traversed the dense woods.

  I tapped his foot with mine, his gaze whipping from the trees to me. “Can you relax?”

  He shook his head. “It’s new territory, Hyran.” The novelty of calling me ‘my lady’ had already worn off and he was back to calling me by my name. “I have to be careful of anything that could hurt you and familiarize myself with the area. It’s not like Wisteria. This place has lots of hills and forests.”

  “Is that why you’ve been skulking around the manor is the freezing cold instead of being my second pair of eyes?” Ever since we’d arrived, I hadn’t seen much of him. Anhelina was with me for my walks and Jurek kept a steady eye on everything in the house. Normally he was always by my side, but these past few weeks he was only with me long enough to say goodnight and good morning.

  He shook his head, rolling that second set as he fixed his gaze outside the window. “Jurek and Anhelina do a fine job, wouldn’t you say?” He nudged Anhelina who looked between us, at a loss for what to say.

  “Anhelina does a great job, but I didn’t get excited to have you around only to have you skulking around all day.” I knew it was his job, and he never once failed to keep me safe, but it was hard being around people I didn’t know all the time. Everyone was nice, but it wasn’t the same.

  He softened a bit at that. “I’ll be right beside you all day today. You’re gonna be sick of me.”

  “Hardly.

  “I’ll give it my best shot. Now, if I may?”

  “Fine, sure. Go back to staring at trees.”

  “Don’t stare too hard the dryads will take offense,” Anhelina said. We looked to her as she leaned her head back. She looked like she was trying not to get sick. “They can be very territorial, but as long as we stick to the path they’ve given us, we’re fine.”

  “No exploring the woods, got it.”

  “There’s also—” She stopped, covering her mouth and squeezing her eyes shut.

  “Tell us when we get to town. I don’t want you to throw up everywhere.”

  She nodded, breathing steadily through her nose the rest of the trip.

  Datura was a small town compared to the sprawling bustle of Wisteria. Having expanded as much as the city was allowed, it was starting to build up and capitalize on the buildings that were already there. Datura was nothing like that.

  With a population of a few thousand people, there was no need for big, grand architecture. Everything was simple, practical, and well used. The homes we passed to get to the center of town were built with solid wood and finished with the lacquer I’d learned was a polish mixed with crushed dragon scales hunters rounded up from their monthly shedding. So not only did it give the homes a nice, shiny finish, the dragon scales helped insulate to keep the warm in. It was dangerous, of course, venturing so close to a dragon’s den, but so was living in such cold territory.

  There were two main roads: the one we came in on and the one that ran perpendicular to it through the town. It was at that intersection that our carriage rolled to a stop in front of a bakery. Putra exited first, helping me down before letting Anhelina hurry past us and to the nearest trashcan. Thankfully the street was lined with them.

  “I’m so sorry for my impropriety, my lady.” She looked ready to throw up again, but stood tall, covering her face with her sleeve.

  “I could not care less. What can we do to help?”

  “Some water would be good. And maybe some bread.” She looked mortified to be asking me for help, but I’d be damned if I was that type of marquess. The type to never give a shit about my employees and expect them to be prim perfect at all times. I wasn’t prim and perfect all the time. It’d be hypocritical to expect that from someone who had to do twice the work I did.

  “Good thing we’re at the bakery.” I took her hand and led her inside.

  The smell of fresh baked bread hit my nose, and I could feel my mouth start to water. We’d eaten only a few hours ago, but I was sure I could put away a few loafs by myself. Anhelina sat at one of the few tables while Putra and I approached the counter. From the ones they had on display behind the counter, I could see sourdough, brioche, rye, wheat, pretzels, and one more I couldn’t place.

  The woman behind the counter smiled as I looked over everything. Anhelina would either get a pretzel or a brioche sweet bun, but there was no deciding for me. Everything looked wonderful.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  “A pretzel, please,” I said. “And some water if you have any.”

  “Of course. Anything else?”

  “One of everything for me,” I said. Behind me, Putra sighed, and I knew without looking he was shaking his head. “The pretzel and water first, though, please. And what’s that flaky one? I’ve never seen it before.”

  “Oh, that?” She bagged up the pretzel and handed over the water to Putra as he traded it for the silver. “I’m not sure what to name it just yet. I only just now finished perfecting the recipe. Quite tedious, but I think the taste will be worth it. Give me a few minutes and I’ll bring that right over to you.”

  We joined Anhelina at the table who was looking a little better, though still worse for wear.

  “Do you always get sick like that in carriages?”

  She nodded, casting her gaze down and looking ashamed. “I should have mentioned it sooner, but I thought I could handle it this time. I usually have a cup of tea that helps settle my stomach when I have to go to town, but we’ve run out.”

  “Anhelina, I don’t want you to have to push yourself to do something that will make you sick. If riding the carriage is too much for you, you can stay back. If you insist on coming, we can have Fedir or Kasi make you that tea.” I grabbed her hands, holding firm. “I value your health far more than I value a guide. Is there any way we can find that tea for the trip back?”

  Anhelina looked close to tears. From what Jurek told me, her last job was to a stuck-up man as his secretary, though she didn’t get into more detail other than that Anhelina quit and came to work with Lord Muin shortly after. It seemed like a touchy subject, so I decided not to ask Anhelina directly.

  “There should be some at the apothecary down the road.” She made a move to stand. “I’ll go get some right now.”

  “The foods on its way,” Putra said. He smiled, gesturing to a small boy carrying a tray our way. “Be a shame if you were to miss out on any of it since Hyran doesn’t know what portion sizes are.”

  I leaned back as the boy carefully sat the tray down, trying not to disturb any of the bread. “Enjoy,” he said, bowing his head and making a quick exit.

  “I know exactly what portion sizes are,” I said, grabbing the sweet bun. “They just don’t apply to bread.” I turned back to Anhelina who was nibbling on her pretzel. “If getting the tea now would make you feel better, then we can do that right now.”

  “No,” she said. “The apothecary won’t close until after dark and we’ll have to be on the road before then. I already feel a lot better.” She turned her head away, taking a deep breath, before turning to face me. “I truly do appreciate this, my lady. My last employer insisted I was faking and always made me ride in carriages in the hopes he’d catch me. All he got instead were several carriages that needed to be reupholstered.”

  “Sounds like he needs his ass kicked.”

  She laughed. “Lord Muin said the same thing.”

  “Did he, now?”

  She nodded, tearing up the pretzel and venturing bigger bites. “Oh, yes. He’s reserved and not much will get him riled up, but when something does, he goes out of his way to fix it.”

  That wasn’t something I remembered hearing about him before. Reserved, definitely, but seeking justice…no. It made me wonder how he reacted when he found out we were going to be married and how he planned on fixing it. Whatever he had in mind, it must have fallen through since I was here, a marquess and sporting his last name. It was a real shame he had a higher status than me. I would have loved to stay a Notti.

  “What was it that you wanted to tell us?” Putra asked, taking some rye bread. “In the carriage before you got sick?”

  “Right. Yes, I wanted to mention the dragon.” I could feel every muscle in Putra go taut as Anhelina took another bite of her pretzel. Dragons were Legendary Creatures, generally unseen unless destruction was being wrought. They liked to keep to themselves and generally only came out of their dens when hunting or seeking revenge. Putra and I had never seen a dragon and judging from the look on his face, we both wanted to keep it that way.

  “More details, please.” Putra put down the bread and stared at her with an intensity unbroken even by my kick to the shins. “Now.”

  “I-It’s fine, really.” She looked ready to throw up again. “There’s a dragon with a den a few miles away from here. We don’t see her very often, just every few months or so she’ll fly overhead on her way somewhere. She never attacks, just shows herself. From what we can tell, she doesn’t seem to care what we do, as long as we aren’t bothering her. And I promise, no one is bothering her. When hunter gather her scales, they only take the ones far enough away from her den to not draw her attention.”

  He seemed to relax a smidgen. “A few miles in what direction?”

  “Don’t tell me you’re stupid enough to try and fight a dragon?” I said, kicking him again. This time he turned his glare to me, but I was far too used to it to care. “You’re strong, but not that strong.”

  “I don’t want to fight the dragon,” he said, picking up his bread. “I want to know which direction not to go when I’m out.”

  “Northeast,” Anhelina said. “No one knows the exact location, but you can hear her cry sometimes and it always come from there.”

  “Any other Legendary Creatures we need to worry about?”

  “No just the normal ones. Aside from the dryads, there are some nymphs, but they don’t come down from the mountains often. Usually just to see the dryads in the spring.”

  That was more familiar. In Wisteria, there were a few dryads that lived in the trees and vines and the big lake was off limits unless we got one of the nymphs’ permission to use the water. They were pretty integrated in our society, but from how she talked about the Creatures here, they might not interact with people often.

  “Is that everything?” Putra asked. “Nothing else you can think of?”

  “If there’s anything I’m forgetting, Jurek knows. She grew up here and knows everything about everything. I thought she might have told you this already, but I suppose she thought I might have.”

  I sighed, leaning back in my chair before Anhelina shot me a glance and I sat up again. Even if I hadn’t been introduced just yet, I couldn’t be caught slacking. The carriage we arrived in said it all, even though we had remained silent. “Well, now that we’ve had a good scare, we should eat and Anhelina can show us around.”

  “Of course, my lady. I’m familiar with all the ins and outs of Datura. I’ll show you everything.”