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The people in front of the desk left, leaving Da to get our room, and me to stare back into the rooms. I stepped forward, needing to be closer, at least until Da yanked me back to his side.
“You’re lucky. I’ve got one left,” I heard the innkeeper say as I kept looking around. “It’s a dragon room, but you can use it. Five gold coins.”
“Five?” So much for the party. We needed to get out of here. I was halfway to a shriek when Da slapped his hand over my mouth.
“Great,” he said between clenched teeth. It wasn’t great and we both knew it. Five gold coins would feed Ma and Elodie for a month. I would rather sleep in the street. Da wouldn’t even let me get a word in, though. He was already counting coins.
I recognized the bag he had at once. The money he had saved for Elodie and I to get married. It was all of our savings, all of our dowry. He was giving it all up, for me.
“What’s going on tonight?” Da pushed, motioning toward the restaurant with all the dancing people.
The innkeeper laughed again as Da slid the money over the counter.
“One of ours shifted into a dragon last night. The whole town be celebrating.”
“A dragon?” My eyes widened. Oh god. There was a Dragon here. Of course there was. I knew I had felt something. My heart instantly went into overdrive, my head spinning around as I tried to catch sight of him. Or her.
The man chuckled. “Yes. I’m sure he’s around here somewhere. Other newly shifted dragons were coming through, as well. I think they’ve been hanging around each other.”
More dragons? My eyes widened, all of that fluttering buzzing that was igniting in my chest going into overdrive.
“I see you’re a fan,” the innkeeper said, winking as he handed over keys to Da. “You guys are on the third floor. Have a good night.”
“Come on, Rayna. Let’s get settled in.” Da thanked the innkeeper and led me the rest of the way through the crowd and to stairs that were almost as wide as our house.
In fact, everything about this place was big, too big. The third floor hallways were oversized, same as the doors that led to the rooms.
The room itself had two massive beds, and a bathroom off to the side that could easily fit three of me in it.
“I’m pretty sure we could fit our cabin in here,” I said as I dropped our bags. I was surprised my voice didn't echo against the polish stone floors and dark wood. “Or buy a whole new one with just the cost of the furniture.”
Everything was dark wood and china, and there were real beds. Massive, real beds. How many did they expect to sleep in here?
No wonder the room cost my entire dowry.
“Let’s get to sleep,” Da said, dropping our bags just as the band picked up and the music buzzed and screamed through the hall.
Yeah, there was no way I was sleeping through that.
“Da, can I look around tonight?” I asked, already knowing I wasn’t going to take no for an answer. By the goddess, I was an adult, and there were dragon’s three floors below me. I could see one…
“No, Rayna.” Da was firm, his arms folded over his chest as he stood between me and the door.
I stared him down, he knew as well as I did the way this was going to go.
“We can go down and get some food,” he said after a minute, although he didn’t move. “But then right back up here. It isn’t worth the risk.”
“The risk?”
“Fix your hair, then we’ll go down,” he said in answer.
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. He was acting like my hair was going to explode off my head and strangle someone. I couldn’t be too upset though, not if I was getting out of here, and down to the party.
I did as he said, making sure my hair was pulled back, and the hood up. When I checked in the mirror, none of my white hair was noticeable thanks to the way the hood draped over my face, covering everything from the nose up. I could barely see.
“I look like I’m about to rob someone.” I really didn’t know if I should laugh or not.
Da shrugged. “It’s perfect. There are always travelers who keep themselves hidden like this. People tend to leave them alone, which is exactly what we need.”
