Chapter 2

Chapter

Two

CALLISTO

With gusto, I push through the door, wanting the best possible entrance to snag the attention of the tavern keeper I met yesterday. Clearly… I didn't need quite so much gusto because the door whips open so hard it slams into a chair that'd been crammed next to it, sending it absolutely careening across the floor, so now it looks like I'm just an asshole busting in.

Thankfully, no one is startled because there's absolutely no one inside to get startled. Only the tavern keeper who looks at me with quite the expression on his handsome face.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were closed," I say as I question what to do now. I quickly pick up the chair, but somehow, I'd fucked up one of the legs so that it no longer sits flat.

He looks around at the not-so-bustling establishment before going, "We're not."

"Oh… I see… Just opened, then?" I ask as I let go of the chair and watch it stand cockeyed.

"No."

"Ah…" Now I'm sweating a little as I try to discreetly kick the chair leg back into position. And that was all it needed to fall out and clatter onto the ground. Slowly, I give the tavern keeper a quick glance to see if he's watching. If he's not, I will simply scoot the chair leg out of the picture and return to looking sweet and innocent, but nope, his eyes are on me.

I snatch up the chair leg and try to cram it back in, but it's like stuffing a square peg into a round hole. How does this even happen? Am I really this incompetent?

"Just leave it."

"Ah! Of course. I saw some… horrible person had destroyed your chair and wanted to do a good deed, you know, but… I… uh… couldn't. Anyway , I would love something to eat and drink from this fine establishment," I say as I slide onto a stool opposite him. "What do you have?" And then I throw him my best smile.

He doesn't seem to be affected by it at all . "The special."

"Which is?" I ask.

"Something special."

"Wonderful. I will have that. That is what I've been hungering for all day."

"I see," he says, and with that, he disappears through a door, leaving me absolutely alone in the eerily quiet tavern during what should be the busiest time of day for him.

I tap a little tune on the countertop with my fingers as I patiently wait and question whether this is how I'm going to die. Maybe he's a killer who chops up all his patrons to make his special dish, and I'm the only idiot in town who doesn't know this fact.

He returns with a bowl and a cup, both of which he sets before me.

"Thank you," I tell him as he returns to fiddling with stuff on the countertop. "And thanks for all of your help yesterday, you know, with watching me get abducted. It made me feel seen."

"You're welcome. It was the highlight of my day, actually," he says.

He really looks human, which is a bit odd in these parts. This close to the Vermillion royal court, most inhabitants are fae, but it's not like it's unheard of after the civil war that led to more humans living in the capital. Not to say he's a regular human, but I really don't feel much magic from him. Is he hiding it? Or is he really just a human who has chosen to open the most unsuccessful tavern to ever exist right here in the busiest city of the Vermillion kingdom?

Noticing a vase of dying flowers, I slide them over between us and give him a smile as I run my fingers over them. Life immediately returns to them as their drooping heads stand up tall and their shriveled buds burst back to life. "For you," I tell him, and then I give him a wink.

"I actually liked them dead. Added to the atmosphere, you know?" he asks.

With a wave of my hand, they immediately shrivel back up and die.

"Not that dead," he says. "Just sort of dead."

I sigh and bring them half to life. "Better?"

He gives me an approving nod. "Yeah, much. Thank you," he responds, even though they look as dead as when I'd walked in.

"Glad to have pleased you," I say as I pick up the spoon and take a sip of the broth.

The taste hits me hard, such a unique flavor that I've never before experienced. It seems to permeate my taste buds, ripping through them with a vengeance. It nearly makes me gag as I swallow it down.

"Hells, someone poisoned me," I mutter as I look down at the bowl of the vilest poison I could ever imagine tasting.

"You haven't been poisoned; I was the only one who handled your food!" he protests with a scowl.

"Hells, you've poisoned me," I realize.

He gives me a look of disbelief, like he could possibly think that I'm being dramatic. "It's fine!" he says. "It's not poison."

I slide the bowl over to him. "I want to watch you taste it."

He gives me the most stubborn look as he dips the spoon in and takes a big mouthful. He swallows it down while staring me right in the eyes, but he can't hide the tiny tear that escapes his eye as he does so. It's like his whole body is rejecting it, but he has to fight on to prove me wrong. "It's delicious. Yum. Best thing I think I might have ever eaten."

"No wonder no one's here. You've poisoned them all!"

He waves me off, like that'll make it all better. Or maybe he's trying to wave the smell of his poisoned stew off. "I haven't poisoned them! It's fine! I just… maybe added a bit too much… stuff to it."

"Stuff? You don't even know what's in it?" I ask in horror.

"Things. Whatever is on sale."

I slide the bowl as far away from me as I can, no longer able to even stand the smell of it as I whip out my smile again. "Hi, I'm Callisto."

"Okay?"

"And your name is?"

He grimaces a little, like telling me his name would hurt him in any way. "Silas."

"Silas! What a strong name! Silas, I have heard rumors about a great and mighty wyvern who people say you know about. I would like to meet this wyvern."

"People think I'm hiding a wyvern somewhere? Is that why no one comes here?" he asks, looking perplexed.

"No one comes here because your food is toxic. Do you ever notice bodies littered around your establishment when you close for the night?"

"I just thought that was normal. You know how you get sleepy after a good meal? I thought that's what was happening," Silas says sarcastically.

"Is that how you're feeding the wyvern? You first knock them unconscious with your food and then drag their lifeless bodies out to it?"

"Why do you look excited?"

That makes me laugh. "No, no, I'm just excited about the prospect of you really knowing where the wyvern is."

"I'm not murdering people with my food. And beyond seeing the wyvern occasionally flying above, like yesterday, I don't know anything about it. The most important thing for you to understand is that I haven't killed anyone with my food… that I know of."

"Maybe because they're smart enough to stop eating it before you do," I mutter. "I mean… of course not! Now about this wyvern."

"What do you even want a wyvern for?" he asks.

"Reasons."

Silas cocks his head. "Callisto, you may dress in rags and rub some soot on your face, but there is absolutely no one out here believing you're anything but royalty."

I grimace a little.

"Did fantastical tales of wyvern riders from during the war pique your interest? Were you perched in your safe little haven in some royal household hearing the stories of warriors and decided your flashy mounts aren't enough?" he asks.

I run my finger around the rim of the mug, a bit too paranoid to drink it. I mean… who the hell knows what's in this. "My horse is old and would prefer to eat instead of move, so yes, a wyvern seems far more thrilling. Think of all the attention I'd get."

"I don't know where you got this idea that I could lead you to a wyvern."

"The lady with the bakery, you know, someone who sells actual edible food, said she saw it attacking a herd of sheep, and you were the only one who could get it to leave."

"Uh… my ability to scare it off made you think we're buddies?" he asks skeptically.

"I will pay you handsomely."

Silas hesitates.

"Definitely handsomely enough that you can buy something edible to feed people," I say as I pull my coin pouch off and flash him the money. "Or pay off your fines from the inadvertent murders you've caused."

The man's interest is piqued. "I really can't leave the tavern unattended. What if someone comes in?"

"Then they'll be happy I've saved them from an early death," I say. "Let's go!"

"So you'll pay me to walk you around the trees and show you that I have no damn idea where the wyvern lives?"

"Correct."

"Even if we don't find it?"

"Correct."

"Alright. Can I carry the money? That way if you get eaten, I don't have to pick through wyvern shit to access it."

"Be my guest," I say as I pass it off, pleased to be on my way.