Robert Asprin - Dragons Luck

Mai fell into step next to her and a little behind. She glanced at Val and cocked her head.

“If you say so.”

“What I meant was that there isn’t anything to discuss. Cold turkey,” Val said.

“Mmm, from what I hear it wasn’t too long ago you were seen knocking on Gris-gris’s door. And that sounded like anything but cold.”

Mai had to stop and turn around. Val had stopped in her tracks. Mai shrugged.

“It’s the Quarter. Word gets around.”

“Heard from who, Mai?” Val said.

“Not Gris-gris, if that’s what you mean. Doubt he told anyone who didn’t ask him directly. It was third-person by the time it got to me. Remember”—Mai darkened her expression and her tone—“the Lucky Dog vendors see all.”

Val shook her head and started walking again. Mai had expected at least a laugh from her but didn’t push it. After half a block of silence, Val spoke up.

“So what did it sound like, then?”

“What?”

“If not cold turkey, then…”

“Oh. Aggressive. That was the word I liked best. ‘Aggressive, ’ ” Mai said.

She could practically see Val rolling the word over her tongue, testing it out.

“Yeah, that sounds about right,” Val said finally.

“And since then?”

Mai watched Val weigh exactly how much to say. Val simply didn’t have enough practice at disguising her true feelings, and Mai had practiced reading people longer than Val had been alive. Though Mai wouldn’t kid herself; she knew her friend had more powerful blood. Still, experience beats power.

“Nothing… Well, not much. I sort of got invited to this masked ball,” Val said.

Mai grinned, that sounded promising.

“By who?”

“George.”

This time Mai stopped in her tracks, and for all her inscrutable behavior, felt her jaw drop. Val kept walking, and Mai realized belatedly that her friend had dropped that bombshell with expert precision. By the time she caught up, Val’s grin was wide enough to make the cat with a canary blush through his fur.

“Bitch,” Mai muttered.

“Yep. You had it coming,” Val said.

“How could I not hear about this?”

“You don’t know everything that is going on in the world? Gasp, shock, better turn in your junior decoder ring. You’re a has-been.”

Mai thought sourly that Val was definitely enjoying this far too much. Also, that her gibes were hitting a bit too close to home. Her face gave away too much, and she saw Val back-pedal a bit mentally.

“Relax. The only ones there were Griffen, George, and me. I doubted that George would be blabbing it about, and Griffen…”

“Has had his head up his ass lately,” Mai said.

“Well, up the conclave anyway, which smells about the same.”

By now the two had crossed Jackson Square and were settling into chairs at the Cafe. Unlike the shops, Café Du Monde was a wonderful place to talk semiprivately. The waiters were quick, and cash was collected as soon as the food arrived, and then they vanished to serve others and never appeared till it was time to clear dishes.

Mai was a coffee girl, Val hot chocolate. That said much about them. They both had an order of beignets, with an extra order to split.

“Okay, so talk to me, girlfriend. Why would you date George after he nearly killed your brother?”

Mai had to remind herself that other than rumor and the story of Griffen’s confrontation with the dragon hunter, she was not supposed to know George. Certainly not on any personal or professional level.

“Mainly I think he did it to get on Griffen’s nerves. I won’t flatter myself to think he really is doing it because he is interested in me or apologetic over bashing my head in at our last meeting.”

“Especially not after you emptied a shotgun into him,” Mai said innocently.

“Exactly.”

Val smiled slyly and sipped her hot chocolate. Maybe, Mai thought, she wasn’t so amateurish in controlling her expression after all.

“Of course, you stated why he might want to ask you along to the dance, not why you would accept,” Mai said, just as innocently.

“I have my reasons,” Val said.

Here was the real crux. Mai had been noticing changes in Val that could not be explained by her pregnancy. At least not in such early stages. Though it might cost what little she’d gained, she felt she had to press on.

“Reasons you don’t want to share, even with me. Come on, Big Butt. You’ve been stressing over something for a while now. Something that has you working out three times as hard as you ever have since I met you. Isn’t it about time you shared with someone?”

Mai waited on pins and needles. She had spent her arrow and had no idea whether it would hit its mark. As inconsequential as this conversation might be, she felt more exhilarated than she had in months.

“I was attacked,” Val said quietly.

Bull’s-eye.

Mai silently ran over possibilities in her mind.

“If you had simply been mugged, it wouldn’t have mattered. You would have wiped the floor with them. What do you mean, attacked?”

“Tell me, Mai. You obviously knew Nathaniel. Did… does he have any sisters?”

Pieces fell together with a clack . Mai didn’t like how they added up.

“A few, only one of whom I can think of who might do you harm.”

“Lizzy?”

Mai’s train of thought reached an exploding bridge of a conclusion. She almost shuddered thinking of Lizzy meeting Val. As composed as she was, she couldn’t help her reactions.

“God, you are lucky to be alive,” Mai said.

Val looked at her for a long moment, and whatever she saw seemed to reassure her. She nodded, and bit into another beignet.

“So,” Val said, “you see why I might want to accept the acquaintance of a professional dragon hunter.”

It was a statement, not a question. Still, Mai found herself trapped between two roles, two faces. She knew what she would do as a manipulator and what she would do as a friend. They were not the same course of action. And the conflict, as deep and sharp a conflict as she had felt in years, had only one resolution.

She had to try to be a friend.

“So call him, dummy,” Mai said, and hoped Val wouldn’t hear her reluctance.

“What do you mean?” Val said.

“Surely he gave you a way to contact him. You aren’t the type to let a man, any man, defend you. Why the hell aren’t you on the horn with him asking for advice. Tips. Training?”

Val looked at Mai for another long moment. Without responding, she reached down and pulled out her cell phone. A few numbers later, she was speaking into it.

“George?” Val said.

Mai focused on her ears, extending her senses in a way that few nondragons could.

“Ms. McCandles,” George said on the other end. “Called to make arrangements?”

“Perhaps, but not for the date. We need to meet, George. Someplace big, someplace open. Someplace without witnesses,” Val said.

There was a long pause on the other end of the phone.

“Is this a challenge? A fight?” George said.

“Something like that, only we should both walk away after. If you want a date, Georgey boy, you are going to damn well earn one,” Val said.

Mai could just make out George’s low chuckle on the other end of the line.

“Oh, really. Very well. I will call you back with a time and place. And soon, because you have intrigued me, Ms. McCandles.”

“Valerie,” Val said, as automatically as her brother would have said “Griffen,” “and good. I will expect your call.”

Valerie closed the phone, and when her eyes met Mai’s, they were filled with uncertainty. Uncertainty that grew when she saw a bit of answering insecurity in Mai’s eyes.