“I’m an educated woman of taste and distinction,” she said loftily, “and I appreciate the finest things in the world, which obviously includes fluffalo.” She petted her—Cat. It was so good at staying still and looking ornamental that Logan had honestly forgotten it was an air-snake and not just a bracelet. “And you, of course,” she added to Cat. “And Nathaniel.”
Their server came over, and Logan asked Iz to choose the wine. He liked it, but he’d never developed a real palate—he was unadventurous enough drinking-wise to just always stick with the same kind of red and the same kind of white, both of which were affordable enough that a dragon would probably be appalled by them. Besides, if he ever wanted to impress Iz’s mom, he probably needed to start learning about these kinds of things now.
He said as much to her after their server left, and Iz laughed.
“I think the fact that you saved me from a psychopath will probably more than make up for the fact that you’re not a wine expert.”
“We saved each other from a psychopath,” Logan corrected.
She gave him a quick, tense smile.
Actually, now that he thought about it, this wasn’t the first time she’d minimized her role in their great escape, even though she had burned their way out, carving a fiery tunnel through solid rock. It was like she inexplicably felt that he’d done it all.
She had said he made her feel capable of anything, but if that was true, he wasn’t doing a very good job of it right now.
“You know,” he said slowly, “the only reason you were assigned to track Sebastian down in the first place is because I already messed it up.”
Iz’s eyes flashed dragon-gold. “You didn’t mess anything up. Sebastian has money and magic and a horrible amount of secrecy on his side, and I don’t just meanhissecrets. A lot of dragons don’t like talking to non-dragons, at least not when it comes to giving away our own kind. What were you supposed to do?Guessthat he had a basilisk-wyvern fang? I’d never even heard of that kind of hybrid before, had you?”
“Never. He probably created it, Dr. Moreau-style. But Iz—if it’s not my fault that Sebastian took me, it’s not your fault that he tookyou.”
“Oh, yes, it is,” she said grimly. “Because I did something I bet you never would have done. I went into the woods in the middle of the night, without any backup. I texted Vin and Evie where I was going, but I knew they were asleep. I was just so restless that I had to do something, and so Sebastian got me.”
“Anybody could have done that, Iz.”
“Maybe. But it was still a mistake.”
She held up the menu to shield her face, and he reached across the table and skimmed one finger along her knuckles, dipping into each silky little hollow. Slowly, the tension bled out of her, and she lowered it enough to look at him again. Her eyes were a little sparkly with emotion, but she looked more composed than before.
“Wedoneed to order. I refuse to come this close to a decent meal and then get too neurotic to enjoy it properly.”
Logan took the hint and let it go, at least for now. But no matter what Iz said, he couldn’t believe there was any part of her that was careless or incompetent. She was green, that was all, and he was still willing to trust her instincts more than he’d trust most seasoned veterans. Besides, even if she had wound up being collateral damage in the process, she hadfoundRandolph Sebastian. She had tracked him down to his home woods. That wasn’t something you could do without being damn good at your job.
Still, he understood her point. They’d both spent so much time fantasizing about what their first real meal on the other side of captivity would be like. They needed this.
He scanned the menu.
Butternut squash ravioli, braised pork ragu, eggplant parmesan, linguini and clams, spaghetti carbonara, gnocchi with prosciutto and peas and cherry tomatoes .... And those were just the dishes he’d had before and knew he liked.
Yes,his hellhound said.That.
Which?
It wagged its tail.All of it.
“I’m having trouble choosing,” Iz said.
“Me too. I know it wouldn’t have been as fancy, but maybe we should have gone to an all-you-can-eat buffet and really gorged ourselves until they had to kick us out.”
Iz considered that prospect and then raised her eyebrows. “I wasn’t going to bring this up, because I know it doesn’t matter to you, and I don’t want to be gauche, but my, ah,ancestrymeans that I’m ‘well-off.’ ‘Comfortable.’”
“Rich,” Logan translated, amused. “Rolling in it.”
“I don’t roll in it,” Iz said with a little moue of distaste. “I know it’s just an expression, but Idohave a cousin, Alistair the Undying, who keeps all his hoard in gold and takes that very literally. He’s such an embarrassment. I don’t understand that side of the family at all.”
Logan had gotten hung up on the first half of that. “You have a cousin named Alistair the Undying?”
“Unfortunately.”