Page 48 of Tusks, Tails & Teacakes
The book-lined room smelled of tea, and Lira noticed the teapotsitting on the table. Iris poured some of the steaming brown liquid into a cup that sat waiting and handed it to her with a raised brow.
“I was a rogue. My best friend was a mage. My life was nothing but secrets.” She made a clicking sound in the back of her throat, and the bookwyrms fluttered from their hiding spots. “My life is still filled with secrets.”
Lira set her basket on the floor and watched as the tiny, winged creatures circled them overhead. “I guess you’re right.”
Iris snorted. “And these fellows aren’t even really my secret to keep. Your gran was the one who made them.”
Lira had raised her cup to her lips but now she almost dropped it. “She what?”
Iris flapped a hand, and a gaggle of bangles clanged on her wrist. “She was the mage, love. Not me. I forget what she was trying to create, but it wasn’t these.” Iris giggled. “She couldn’t keep them when she took you in, so here we are.”
“My gran cast creation spells?” Even though Iris had said she’d been a mage and had run with a crew, Lira had imagined her doing spells to open doors or start fires. Creation spells were both complex and frowned upon.
“She created that flutter-stoat of yours, although that was less of an accident.”
Now Lira did set her teacup down so she wouldn’t drop it. “My gran made Crumpet?”
Iris shook her head. “Not made so much as enhanced. Why do you think he’s so comfortable in a kitchen—and with you?”
Lira’s head reeled at this, although she’d known there was something special about the little creature, aside from the fact that he had wings.
Iris's skirt rustled as she crossed to Lira and took her hand. “Why are you really here, love?”
Something snapped inside Lira as the woman held her gaze with her soft green eyes. She knew those eyes so well. If there was anyone she could trust it was her gran’s best friend, the woman she’d run with, thewoman who’d taken in a flock of enchanted bookwyrms to keep her gran’s secret safe.
“Her book.” The words burst from her as if they were the ones that had been trapped behind the stone wall. “The book where she kept all her recipes.”
Iris's dark brows rose slowly. “The leather one with the moonstone embedded in the cover?”
Lira bobbed her head up and down. “It was the only thing she left me that I wanted to keep safe, so I hid it before I left Wayside.”
Hurt flickered across Iris's face. “You could have left it with me.”
“There wasn’t time. I met up with my crew at The Tusk & Tail and it was either leave with them then or not go.” It was hard to think back to being so reckless, so impulsive, so wracked with grief that she couldn’t think straight. “I hid it where I thought no one would find it and where I could come back and retrieve it when I was ready.”
Iris's shoulder’s drooped. “You came back for your gran’s recipes.”
Lira shook her head. “That’s why I thought I returned, but I came back for more than that. I came back because I wanted to be where I was happy. But I wouldn’t have been happy if I’d stayed back then. I had to go away to become the version of me who can be happy here.” Lira took a breath and realized she was babbling. “Does that make sense?”
“Of course it does, love.”
It finally made sense to Lira too.
“So, you got the book? Your gran’s recipes?”
“That’s the problem. The place where I hid it in the tavern’s cellar is stoned over. That’s why I’m at The Tusk & Tail. I’m staying close until I can figure out a way to retrieve it.”
“Then you need some help.”
Lira started to wave her off, but Iris winked and steepled her fingers. “Two rogues are better than one.”
Twenty-Eight
When Lira left the apothecary,she wasn’t quite sure what had just happened. Had she inadvertently recruited Iris to help her break out her gran’s recipe book? They might both be rogues, but the fact remained that the book was behind a stone wall and there was a tavern on top of it. Not a busy tavern, but not an empty one either. Not to mention the wyvern who was convinced there was gold hidden somewhere on the premises and would be happy to claim the coins hidden with her gran’s recipe book.
It struck Lira that her desire to help The Tusk & Tail was working against her desire to retrieve what she’d hidden. The more patrons who came to sample the chai and nibble on her scones, the harder it wouldbe to do much of anything in the cellar without being detected. Not to mention Rygor, the tavernkeeper, Silas who seemed to suspect her of something, and…
“Lira!”
