Page 85 of What Do You Knead for a Dragon?
A thin, cold-eyed lawyer exited the limo, looking like a vulture in a tailored suit surrounded by towering bodyguards. “This is your eviction notice,” he said, holding up a folder and handing it over to Rhavor as if he were delivering a death sentence.
“He isn’t going anywhere,” Sylvie said, stepping forward before Rhavor could growl and do something that would require a bail bondsman.
“The law is the law, ma’am.”
“This should cover whatever remains owed,” she interrupted, pulling the papers from her bag. Her heart was hammering, but her voice stayed steady. “I’ve put my bakery up as collateral. Here’s the valuation. It’s a guaranteed asset.”
Julian went pale. Rhavor turned on her, a mixture of horror and raw, agonizing fury blazing in his eyes. “No. Sylvie, I won’t allow it.”
“It’s not your decision,” she said, her voice steady even as her heart hammered. She looked him dead in the eye, trying to ignore the way his wings snapped open in a display of pure, painful dominance.
“I don't care about the farm or the seed,” Rhavor said, his voice dropping into a register that made the very air in the field vibrate. He stepped toward her, his eyes locked on hers with a raw, agonizing intensity. “All I care about is you. You’re the one who gives me strength, Sylvie. You are the only thing that matters to me, and I’m not going to let you sacrifice your dreams for my sake.”
He growled the last words, the sound thick with a desperate, stubborn heat.
“What if I want to?” she challenged.
“It won't be necessary,” Vera boomed, stepping forward. “No one is giving up anything. I won’t let the best baker in town throw away her apron—not even for my nephew.”
“Unless you have a stash of gold under your bed,” the lawyer sneered, “I’m afraid this changes nothing.”
“If you want to nose around my bed, honey, then put yourself in line,” Vera smirked, giving him a look that could have wilted a stone. “I’ve got something a lot more than a stash of gold. I’ve got the whole town behind these two.”
“That’s very noble,” the lawyer drawled, “but it’s not solving the situation.”
“No,” Vera said, her voice dropping into a register of pure triumph. “But I think this will.”
She pulled a small wooden box from behind her back. When she opened the lid, a deep, sapphire light spilled out, reflecting in the stunned eyes of everyone watching. There, on a bed of velvet, lay a fully developed Drakoryte gem.
Julian gasped. “I saw it shatter!”
“That was another,” Vera said calmly. She turned toward Sylvie. “After you left the bakery, I got the phone call I was waiting for. It turns out one person in town actually had one stashed under their bed.”
The silence was absolute.
“Where did you get it?” Rhavor asked, his voice breathless.
“Well, it looks like the Mayor, during all his adventures, got more than just good stories,” Vera smiled.
The Mayor stepped forward with a pleased smirk, leaning on his walking stick. “Picked it up in an oddities shop back in eighteen ninety... or was it ninety-one? I don’t have much use for souvenirs these days. I didn’t even know it was worth anything. I prefer clotted cream on my scones to staring at shiny rocks, anyway.”
Sylvie watched the lawyer inspect the gem. “It looks authentic. Very well then. Boys, we’re out of here.” He sounded significantly relieved that the situation had solved itself without a dragon rampage.
“Yeah, and if I ever see you around my boy again,” the Mayor shouted, waving his stick at the retreating limo, “you will regret it!”
The limo retreated, kicking up a plume of dust. Rhavor looked at the Mayor, then back at Sylvie, the tension finally bleeding out of his massive frame. “You have my eternal gratitude.”
“Just keep the clotted cream coming,” the Mayor winked.
“And the scones,” he added, looking at Sylvie.
“And the scones,” she smiled, the weight that had settled in her chest this morning finally lifting.
“Well!” Julian clapped, his flair for the dramatic returning in full force. “This calls for fireworks!”
And as the first rocket whistled into the Honeybay sky, Sylvie leaned into Rhavor’s heat. She thought it was the perfect time for something to finally explode in a good way.
