Maddugh allowed Kailigh to lead. It gave him the opportunity to observe how she handled herself, the way she moved and communicated with the townspeople. The balance between command and ease, the questions she asked and of whom. He had to ensure she would, in fact, make him a good queen. He wasn’t inclined to take a queen in name only—marriage didn’t work like that. A wife would be privy to his thoughts and actions, would have to be trusted, by dint of her constant proximity, with his secrets and matters of states. Granted the ‘state’ wasn’t what it had once been. But his first step in forcing his people to dip their toes back into the human world would be to take a woman as queen who was from it.

Maddugh sighed. Times had changed. They must also change, or be washed away. She was Dwyrkin enough not to activate his instinct to dine. It was why he stayed away from the mines—Amnan was less troubled by his belly when among the mortals. Maybe because he’d been raised here. But Maddugh? The urge to chomp still occasionally troubled him.

Kailigh led him to a darker section of the bar. “Stay here,” she said, voice short. “I go to talk to one of the girls—they won’t say anything if you’re with me.”

Her autocratic nature amused him—since he’d already decided to wed her. If she’d been anyone else, she would have found herself on the wrong end of his flame. He planned to temper her fire, thoroughly, as soon as she was done with this courting business.

Maddugh sat, ordered the bartender to bring him something strong, and inspected the glass with a critical eye when it was brought to him.

“We wash the dishes,” the man said, sour.

“I’m sure that you do,” he replied, eyeing the glass.

“You’re not a Domer, are ya?”

“No, indeed.” Maddugh smiled pleasantly. “I’m simply here to escort my lady.”

The bartender’s eyes followed his nod towards Kailigh. He snorted. “That harpy? She’d just as soon cut off your balls than lick em.”

“That may be, but you will be respectful.”

The man looked at him sideways, then sidled off. Good. Maddugh’s face was not instantly recognized in the human town—he came here rarely, and mostly in flight and at night. There was no point to disturb Kailigh’s research over what she’d consider a trifle.

“You’re with Kai?”

Maddugh glanced at the human who slid onto a stool next to him. An overly friendly smile and nails that were far too clean for the job Maddugh paid him to do.

“Yes,” Maddugh said. “I am.”

“That’s odd.” Gaston took a sip of his beer and angled himself towards Maddugh. “I’ve never seen you here before, and Kai isn’t the relationship type.”

He was beginning to tire of other men speculating on the characterizes of his woman. Maddugh drew a silver coin from his inner vest pocket and placed it on the counter.

“I don’t pay you to indulge in sordid speculation regarding my queen,” he said.

Gaston held up his hands. “Apologies. I’ve known her—and the girls—since she first came here, years ago.” He smiled. “We go all the way back. Some good times.”

Maddugh stared at Gaston, considered how the man would taste with a creamy garlic sauce. When he spoke again, his voice was very, very gentle. “You want something.”

Gaston’s smile faded. Maybe the man wasn’t as stupid as he seemed. “I was hoping you’d had time to reconsider the proposal. I spoke to Kailigh—”

Maddugh’s hand lashed out, grabbing the human by the cloth at his neck. “If I hear her name on your lips one more time, I will snack on your brains.”

The foreman’s face turned a sickly shade. “I didn’t mean any harm.”

Maddugh’s head snapped towards the bartender as the click of a rifle sounded. “Put that away before you hurt yourself.”

Distantly, he heard a familiar feminine voice snarl. Wonderful—now he was in trouble with his wife.

“Put that away, you shit for brains,” Gaston snapped at the bartender. “Do you know who this is?”

“Don’t care. Won’t be havin’ no excitement in my place tonight.”

Maddugh respected a man’s right to keep peace in his domicile… but didn’t he own the lease on the land this building was sitting on? He eyed the man, setting Gaston back onto his stool, then held out his hand.

“I am Maddugh. My apologies for my temper.”

Bartender’s eyes narrowed, flicked to Gaston, then back to Maddugh. “Huh. Well, we got rules here. So’s to keep the customers safe. Per terms of the lease.”

“I understand. I’ll behave.”

The bartender put the rifle away, wiped his hand on a cloth, and shook Maddugh’s hand. “‘preciate it.”

“Can I leave you alone for a—oh.”

Maddugh glanced at Kai, then took her hand, lifting it to his lips. “Excuse me, my darling. Just a bit of discussion between men gone awry. I haven’t had dinner yet and was feeling a bit peckish.”

Gaston made a gagging sound. The bartender snatched a plate of something that smelled like burned chicken covered in spicy sauce from a passing server and placed it in front of Maddugh.

“On the house,” the bartender said.

Kailigh glared at him, glared at Gaston, then snatched her hand back and stomped away. Maddugh sighed. If she had a tail, it would be knocking glasses off tables, left and right.

She would look magnificent with a tail.

Gaston eyed the plate in front of Maddugh “The steaks here are decent.”

Maddugh bared his teeth. “You wanted to discuss something with me.”

“Ah… yes. The proposal. To expand operations—”

“I already said no.” His dragon roused, focusing on the male who had suddenly become prey. “Do you understand that if you follow the plans you gave me, then you will risk a collapse of several of the main tunnels? I don’t care how well you shore them up.”

The humans pushed their workers too far into the mountains and had set off more than one cave in during the last fifty years. But if Maddugh didn’t lease them the rights to mine, they would do it illegally, costing him the revenue stream and the ability to exert some kind of safety and quality controls. So, humans crawling through his mountains were a necessary annoyance, liked fleas.

“Profits are declining. We won’t be able to support the town on the current production schedules.”

“Find a way,” Maddugh said. “The portion of the mountain I needed is big enough if you aren’t greedy. There are years left in the territory you have.”

He’d done a detailed analysis at the beginning to make sure he didn’t have to go through all the paperwork more than once every century. It had only been twenty-five years since the last expansion—they had another seventy-five before they should be coming to him bleating about needing more area.

Maybe it was time he found a new business venture. Nuaddan needed something to take his mind off his troubles. He’d have his eldest son come out of the forest and take an interest in living again.

“My business partners are willing to pay premium for the privilege, and assume the insurance costs that come with increased risk.” Gaston said, his voice even.

Maddugh eyed the way the man’s hand wrapped around his beer. Like he wanted to strangle it. “I don’t need more money. The mountain is stable—it will remain stable and the current contract has seventy-five years before it’s up for renegotiation.”

Gaston’s smile was tight. “There’s an increased demand from the cities. Their energy needs—”

Maddugh snorted. “They’re fools. They’ve allowed a petty human war to degrade them from clean energy back to coal. Stupid. And lazy, but I can’t decide which is worse.”

Gaston stood. “I can see I’m wasting your time. Have a good evening.”

Maddugh watched as the man made his way through the crowd, paused briefly to speak to Kailigh, and then left the establishment. He’d have to keep an eye on that one. The dissatisfied humans were always the most dangerous.

* * *

“Trouble incoming,” Melissa said.

Kailigh turned her head as Gaston approached. “Gaston.”

“Talk to him, Kai. This town will be nothing but ghosts in five years if he doesn’t expand production.”

Her brow arched. “I’ve never known you to be concerned about the ghosts in any pockets but your own.”

His expression darkened. “We’ll talk, Kailigh. Your flying worm will want to cooperate with our expansion plans.”

“Or else what?” she asked, but he’d already turned away.

“Rumors they’re trying to dig new tunnels,” Melissa said after he’d closed the front door behind him. Kai heard the crack of thunder outside and sighed, irritated. Great.

“New tunnels? The Lord doesn’t allow that but once a century.”

Everyone in the town had a general idea of the contract between the mining company and Lord Maddugh. Too many of their husbands, lovers, sons worked the digs. It was odd, in a way. Maddugh was the ultimate source of the economy around here—the side business had sprung up to support the workers. But he wasn’t technically their Lord.

“One of my regulars is a development scout from the city. They’re looking to expand. Something about… suburbs?” Melissa looked baffled for a minute. “What the hell is a suburb?”

The word sounded familiar. Kailigh frowned, making a mental note. But that wasn’t why she was here.

“Look, Mel, I appreciate about confidentiality, but Ruthus is a danger to all the women in town. What if he decides to make quota by trying to pass a professional off as fresh meat?”

Melissa’s expression closed down. “If it gets out I ratted about clients, I’d be dead in a week. These traffickers don’t play that shit, Kai. You know that.”

She sighed, frustrated. “Give me anything. Something.”

The woman hesitated. “Try Anga’s place. Tomorrow night. Their group has been coming in once a week regular, and that’s their favorite spot. Sometimes we get the overflow here.”

“Thanks, Mel. I’ll leave you a tip at the bar.” So no one would see Kai and Melissa exchange money and wonder why.

“Thanks,” Mel said, and slid away, her hips swaying as she worked the room again.

Kailigh made her way back to Maddugh. “Got a lead,” she said, coming close so no one would hear. “Leave the bartender an extra silver piece. I need to pay Mel for her info.”

He nodded, rising from his seat a moment later. “Time to go?”

Once they’d opened the front door though, Kailigh stopped short. Outside the awning along the walkway, rain fell so hard it bounced off the packed dirt roads, creating a muddy dredge.

She swore. Her boots would be hell to scrape clean, and she hadn’t brought an umbrella.

“We’ll get soaked,” she said, and started to step out when Maddugh grabbed her arm. She glanced at him, irritated.

“I’m not walking you home in this weather,” he said, voice barely discernible over the crack of lightning and pounding of the rain. “Let’s wait it out.”

“It will go all night!”

He shook his head, and pulled her back into the bar. The pound of music and conversation wasn’t nearly as loud as the weather. “They have rooms here? We can wait it out in one. Is the food safe?”

“One of the best cooks in town,” she replied, automatically. “But wait a minute—I’m not sitting around in a room with you all night. My girls—”

“Are fine,” he growled. “My sons won’t let anything happen to their future sisters.”

Kai’s jaw loosened. “Are you mad?”

He took her hand, pulling her through the crowd. “Quite probably. Where do we book?”

An attendant at a desk manned the staircase that led to paying rooms.

“Ignore the woman,” Maddugh said loftily. “She has been ill—and it’s storming outside.”

“Maddugh—”

“It’s raining. I haven’t had my dinner and I’m hungry. I don’t feel like a hunt. We will go upstairs, wait out the rain for the night, enjoy a hot meal, and if you wish to sleep, you may do so. I am Dwyrkin. I do not need to sleep.”

“Pot roast on special,” the attendant murmured. “And fresh bread. Might want to take him up on that offer.”

Kailigh sighed, aggravated and wanting to get back to her daughters, but the truth was she must be getting old. The thought of traipsing through the storm—rather than sitting in a dry room tucking into a hot meal—had little appeal.

She fixed him with a stare. “You will behave yourself.”

His expression was bland. “Of course, mistress.”

The attendant settled them into a plain, but serviceable room. Kailigh prowled it from end to end, inspecting for signs of bugs or rodents. She pulled the white bedding from the mattress and checked for tiny crawling things. She couldn’t abide insects.