Page 23 of Roll for Romance
“I most certainly do,” Donati says, and Jaylie notices for the first time a slender leather folder tucked under his arm.
He opens the folder and dives into a thorough description of Lady Shira Soros’s tower, several days’ ride outside of the city. Her teleportation magic makes it easy for her to travel to and from the city as she likes, he explains, but she prefers the peace of life outside of it. Jaylie focuses as much as she can on the details about the travel route, the tower’s defenses, and other bits of information about his rival.
Magic can do quite a bit to keep someone out. But if she and her party can get as close to Lady Shira as she is to Donati in this moment, well. Between Kain’s axe, Jaylie’s spells, Morgana’s daggers, and Loren’s charm…with Marlana’s luck, they might have a chance.
Chapter
Nine
My phone buzzes, stirring me from my daydreams.
It’s a wild Saturday night: I’m curled in bed with my tablet propped on a pillow, anime on my laptop, and a purring Howard pressed against my side, his orange eyes slitted in blissful half sleep.
Noah:
what are you up to tonight?
It’s not the first time Noah has texted me since I sent him my website. That text came through shortly after our last D&D session, a stealthy pic of Liam scowling at a handful of poor dice rolls. Noah had captioned itthe wizard ponders his orbs.
Since then, we’ve eased into a casual daily cadence of exchanging links to funny videos, theorizing D&D plot twists, and curioushow’s your day going?s. Perfectly friendly, I tell myself. Our conversations have been a nice distraction throughout the ups and downs of a fairly slow week, so I’ve avoided thinking about whatever intentions might be behind them—mine or Noah’s. On the good days, when I was bolstered by the hope of receiving news on the mural front soon, I had enough energy to carry me through commission work, more sunny runs, and handling errands for Liambefore he even had to ask. And though the bad days didn’t come as often, I still had them—days where I lay in bed until lunchtime, scrolling idly through my phone until my eyes bled.
Today I find myself somewhere in the middle.
Watching anime, drawing cartoons, you know the drill. You?
Brandon took my shift tonight, said he wanted some extra hours, so I’ve got nothin to do now
take me somewhere? :)
where? do you need a ride?
lol no
i mean let’s hang out, let’s do something
we’re both new here, let’s explore!
Oho.
Whatever distraction-free promises I made to myself dissolve like clouds in the sun. I scrub a hand across my mouth as if to wipe away the smile already curling there. I start to type back, and—
And I take a breath, pausing first to wrestle down my expectations to something more manageable.
My phone vibrates again.
what do people do for fun around Heller?
Allow me to poll the room.
I’m lucky Liam hasn’t left yet. He’s also got a date tonight—not a date,I correct myself,I amnotgoing on a date—but when I openmy bedroom door, I can still hear him crooning along with his playlist as he gets ready. I pad downstairs, through his room, and into the master bathroom. Again I’m startled by all of the fake fish mounted to the walls, as horrified as I was when Liam gave me the first house tour. I can’t imagine what possessed his grandfather to decorate like this. People don’t usually take nautical bathroom themes so literally.
“This is heinous, Liam,” I remind him.
“I know.”
“You have to take them down. They watch you while you shower.”
“I know.” He sounds resigned.
