Page 38 of Accounting for Drakes

She smiled. “We will leave you to it, Mal. Would you like me to send you some food?”

He looked at her and checked the time. “My wife is on her way with something. Thanks to your orders, we are planning a new house.”

“Well, I will likely be leaving soon, but Abilatha will be using you as her jeweller as she develops. That should change things up.”

Mal smiled. “So, I am gathering that you are going to be travelling again?”

“Yes. You could say that.” She didn’t look at Orwon, but she could feel him smiling.

Nanny walked around the space while Orwon seemed to memorize her collection. He glanced at her. “You don’t consume these?”

“No, I have trained myself to avoid opals and platinum. None of my forms eat them.”

Mal blinked. “Wait. You eat them?”

“No, I just said I didn’t.” She smiled. “I haven’t needed to eat jewels in years.”

Mal stared. “So, you are actually a drake.”

“Yes. I am surprised it took you this long to figure it out.” She grinned. “I brought the next empress to you, and she obviously is one. The designs please the drake, and the work is only absorbed if necessary.”

He blinked. “Well, thank you for coming to me.”

She grinned. “You are welcome. I am very happy to have brought her here. You are very personable.”

Mal smiled.

“And your wife is amazing.”

He laughed. “She is, and here she is.”

The door opened, and the lovely woman with a ponytail of dark brown hair that reached her middle back stood there. “Mal, you are chatting?”

“Just conversing with the patron, Leena.”

Leena looked over and blinked. She curtsied deeply. “Lady, it is good to see you walking the city.”

“Don’t curtsy, Leena. You know it makes me feel icky.” She held out her arms. “Come in for a hug, if you will.”

The thud as the woman hugged her reverberated in the room. “Hey, Lee. You look prosperous. Mal, take the basket; it is digging in.”

Mal smiled and pulled the dinner basket away from his wife’s grip, and Leena held Nanny tightly.

Nanny stroked her back and neck. “Hey, little one. It has been a few years since I saw you.”

Orwon smiled. “You have been collecting strays?”

“No, just guarding those without shelter. There was a broken long-range vessel that sent some of its unattached children to Yorath’s care, and I opened an orphanage and raised them as best I could.”

Orwon frowned. “Unattached?”

Leena mumbled, “We were born outside of a confirmed union; they had no use for us. They were building a new society, and we were proof that impulses won out.”

“Ah. How old were you when you arrived?”

“Twelve. There were fourteen of us, but I was the youngest. Lady Nanitha set us up and bought us a house and educated us so we could introduce ourselves to local society. Most of us are in the service sector, but we have small shops and businesses that are well attended.”

Orwon handed the list back to Mal. “What is your business?”

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