Page 71 of No Ordinary Drakeling
Chapter 23
Tiri smoothed a hand over his new tunic as he trailed slightly behind Zane. It was their second date, but it appeared his other half had yet to understand that his legs weren’t long enough to keep up with his lengthy stride. It didn’t bother Tiri much; he kept up the pace as best he could as he wondered over where they were headed. Zane hadn’t offered any details about their plans for the evening, and Tiri was so excited that the dragon wanted to go out with him again that he didn’t bother with questions.
They made their way down a sidewalk and when they turned, a giant building came into view. It was a brightly colored castle and Tiri liked it immediately, so he was elated when Zane led them up to the entrance and ushered him inside. A wall of noise hit his ears, and he marveled at all the flashing lights. He’d learned enough to know he was in a casino, and though he would never waste a penny of the money the dragons gave him, he was tempted to play the noisy machines.
He didn’t have to fight with his conscience over his desires though, because Zane kept right on walking. They went down a flight of stairs, and Tiri glanced up toward a sign that told him he’d arrived at something called an arcade.
“Do you want to start playing right away or grab some food first?”
“I’m not sure,” Tiri revealed as he took in his surroundings. “I don’t know how to play any of these machines.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll help you. If you don’t like it, we can go back upstairs to the casino and you can try the slot machines.”
“I’m not that hungry yet,” Tiri confided as he crept toward a long machine with an inclined ramp where people were rolling balls upward.
“Did you want to try Skee-Ball first?”
“Is that what it’s called? It does look like fun.”
“It’s tons of fun. Come on, I’ll show you.”
“Is it very expensive?” Tiri asked as he followed Zane closer to the Skee-Ball machines.
“We’re on a date—there will be no discussion of money.”
“But you always have to provide for me. It doesn’t seem fair.”
“I’m not going to allow you to use your fabric money on arcade games.”
Tiri’s brows drew together in consternation. “And I don’t want you to have to pay for everything. You paid for everything on our last date.”
“How about this? Let’s choose to argue about money later and just have fun tonight, okay?”
“As long as you promise we’ll discuss it.”
“You have my oath.”
“Good, because I know you are a man of honor. Now…will you teach me the rules of this game?”
Zane leaned down and inserted his identification card, which was also used for payment, into the machine and after a few moments, a bunch of balls rolled out. “It’s simple. You have nine balls and you roll them up the lane, trying to launch them toward the holes. The higher the score you get, the more tickets you receive. You turn them in for little prizes.”
“Okay,” Tiri replied. He bent over and grabbed the first ball. He slung his bag so the weight of it was behind him, and it connected with something solid. Whipping his body around, he found a small elf scowling up at him. “I’m terribly sorry. I didn’t mean to hit you.”
The child smiled brightly. “You’re pretty, so I forgive you. I like your hair. It’s so white.”
“Sorlana, get over here this instant,” a woman snapped as she stalked over to them.
“Momma, I’m sorry, but I was coming over to you, and I got hit with this strange man’s purse. Why would a man have a purse? Is his hair not so very pretty?”
“Oh, Your Grace, I apologize,” the mother said to Zane. “We’ll just get right out of your way. Sorlana is right though, your mate is gorgeous.”
“Thank you very much. I agree,” Zane responded as the pair strode away. His grin was huge.
“I can’t believe I hit that poor girl.”
“With your purse.”
“It’s abag, not a purse.”
