Page 67 of Tusks, Tails & Teacakes
Sass’s mouth gaped. “So, he isn’t wrong about knowing there’s gold here?”
“He’s not wrong but he doesn’t know where it is. At least, I hopehe doesn’t. I need you to help me get it before the wyvern, or someone else, gets to it first.”
Sass’s expression hardened with determination. “I’ve never been on a heist crew before. Count me in.”
Thirty-Nine
Lira tooklong steps to keep up with Sass, even though she should have easily outpaced the dwarf. “Slow down, will you?”
“Not on your life.” Sass shot her a worried look as they hurried through the village. “Not after what you told me.”
Both women waved absently as they passed Pip’s bakery and Fenni’s cheese shop, even though Lira’s stomach protested that they weren’t stopping. She was more surprised that Sass didn’t want to stop.
“If you’re right about more mortar being loosened, then that means someone aside from you or me knows what’s behind the wall.”
“I’veonly told you and Iris.”
“That’s it? You’re sure?” Sass paused with her hand on the door to the apothecary shop.
That question didn’t take long thought. “Positive. The only thing I can think is that Rygor is behind the attempt.”
Sass frowned. “I would have noticed him in the tavern and so would you. He smells of brimstone.”
The dwarf had a point. Rygor was imposing, but he was not easy to miss.
Sass sniffed. “Maybe you don’t think you told anyone else, but I’m here to tell you that you talk in your sleep.”
Lira’s jaw dropped, and it took her a beat to follow Sass as she entered the dimly lit shop. She talked in her sleep? Why had no one ever mentioned this before?
By the time they were inside and wrapped in the myriad exotic scents of oils and potions, she’d regained her ability to speak without stammering. “Does that mean you heard me talking about hiding the book or the gold?”
Sass waited until the door glided shut behind them both and the jingling bell stopped. “No, but that doesn’t mean someone didn’t.”
Before Lira could stumble too far down the rabbit hole of who might have heard her talking in her sleep, Iris's head poked from between the velvet, brown curtains leading to the back. Her face relaxed into a smile when she saw who it was.
“Come on back, girls.” She waved a beckoning hand and then vanished behind the fabric wall.
Sass parted the curtains and held them open for Lira. The bookwyrms were fluttering inside the closed cage, and Cali sat in an overstuffed chair with an open book in one hand and one leg crossed over the other at the knee.
Sass stopped short and glanced at Lira, her expression questioning. She was clearly letting the rogue decide how much to tell and to whom.
The Tabaxi grinned over the top of the leather-bound book. “This is a nice surprise.”
“I’m the one who’s surprised.” Lira shouldn’t have been though. Cali had always loved books, and there was no one in Wayside who had as many as Iris.
“I found a pirate romance your friend hadn’t read,” Iris said with notable glee.
Sass shifted from one foot to the other, her impatience hard to miss.
Iris's expression clouded in an instant. “Everything okay, love?”
Lira took a breath and jumped in. “You haven’t been back to the cellar, have you?”
Iris frowned. “The cellar in the Tusk & Tail? Of course not. I assumed we’d take care of our project down there together.”
Lira had suspected as much. She flicked her gaze to Cali. “Have you been to the tavern’s cellar?”
The Tabaxi blinked in obvious surprise. “Why would I go into the cellar of the tavern?”
