The Beast of Frostrun (The Kingdom of Dragons Book 2)

V - Chief Instinct

Rhenor had assumed he would have to spend time looking for the woman, which was why he'd decided to just head directly to her house. However, due to the fact that he exited the forest in a different place than he'd entered it, he had to walk around half the village to get there, and before he made it, he ran into her.

Lucky him.

"A certain someone told me you may have solved our problem," she said, smiling a bit too widely for Rhenor's liking. He tried not to make it too obvious that he wanted to do practically anything other than make small talk with her, but all he managed was an unconvincing smile.

"So it seems," Rhen replied as pleasantly as he could manage, sighing internally as she smiled and touched his shoulder. People who insisted on breaching the sacred rule of personal space were high on his list of his dislikes.

"I already talked to my husband about your reward, but he says he wants to see some proof," she continued, looking far too sorry about it as she put her hand away. Rhenor had almost forgotten that he'd been promised money for dealing with the druid. His priorities concerning that had drastically changed since yesterday.

"I'm certain that if the cat doesn't reappear tonight, that will be enough to convince him."

Rhenor shrugged. Even though he wouldn't mind getting a few coins from this, right now he couldn't bring himself to care. He needed to save Kaz.

"Understandable."

The woman looked relieved, as if she had been expecting Rhenor to get angry. It might still come to that but definitely not for the reasons she was thinking.

"So anyway," the woman said, making Rhen bite back another exasperated sigh. He wasn't sure why he was so annoyed since he had been planning on talking with her, but he definitely was. "I was thinking I could invite you and your partner for tea. Or something stronger if you are so inclined."

The woman winked as Rhenor tried to figure out what she'd meant by partner. He realized there were better things to focus on right now, but it was hard not to. And he wasn't sure which he wanted her to mean, either.

"Where is he, anyway?" she continued. Rhenor tried not to grimace.

"He...wanted to study the nearby woods." Good enough, though the fact that Kaz was currently trapped in those woods only served to worsen Rhen's mood.

"Oh. I see."

Rhenor highly doubted that. "But if the offer still stands, I wouldn't mind some tea."

The woman's eyes lit up again as she clasped her hands together. "Oh, wonderful. Follow me then, please."

And so Rhenor did, walking behind her towards the house he almost hated by now. Unsurprisingly, the door was still scratched up, though it was shocking how great the damage was now that he saw it from such a close distance. Rhenor would freely admit that he hadn't bothered paying this much attention before.

As the woman pushed the door open with a creak, Rhenor was hit with warm air coming from the house, and as he walked in and looked around, he could easily see why. With the two rooms he could see—separated by a staircase—there were two fireplaces. Two.

"You must tell me of other adventures you've been on," the woman said as she led him to an ornate, shiny table. The chairs were equally as shiny, which really made Rhenor wonder just how often the wood was polished.

He sat down, even though it felt very wrong to sit in an as needlessly expensive chair as this one, and sighed. Even if he had adventures to talk about, he wouldn't want to. He wasn't one to boast about anything, and he certainly wasn't one to talk about himself, or whatever he'd done. To be fair, he hadn't done much worth talking about for most of his life, but he doubted he'd think differently even if he had.