Dragon Witch ✔️

32 - Dinner Bomb

I couldn't stop staring at Rose. This had to be a joke, or some trick of glamour. Not only was she a stout supporter of everything Rothworth, but I'd figured out since Monday that she was also the daughter of Rothworth's director. She wouldn't be caught dead in an Otherworlder cafe.

Rose slapped the leg of her black slacks. "What do we have here? Lilly Hemlock, chumming it up at the Off World Cafe. Ethan's going to be a very happy guy. He bet you wouldn't make it through the first week. I thought you would at least last until next Tuesday. Well, good riddance either way." She uncapped her pen with a flourish. "What would you like to drink?" 

Had they really been betting on me? I hadn't noticed anyone paying me much attention. And why was she being so calm? She had to be planning something. I scanned over all the humans in the restaurant, looking for familiar faces from Rothworth's. Charlie from English waited on a nearby table. Ed from History sat chatting in a booth. Mark from Anti-Magic Protection stepped into the men's room.

I jumped to my feet. A bolt of pain shot through my temple. "What's going on? What are you doing here?"

"A girl's got to have a hobby." Rose's expression morphed from fake pout to curled disgust. "At least mine's not screwing filthy sprites."

My fist flew before I knew what I was doing. I slammed it into her face with a bone-splitting crack. She collapsed to the floor, blood pouring from her nose. The closest tables went deathly quiet. Had I seriously injured Rose? Maybe. Did I care? Not particularly.

I plopped back down in my seat. My stomach sloshed painfully.

A roan centaur waiter trotted over, horsey ears flicked back. He whinnied angrily at Kyton.

"I'll have to ask you to remove your human from the premises." He said the word 'human' like he was talking about an untrained house pet that had just piddled on the floor. "We don't permit violence from customers or their guests."

A second centaur--this one a white-blond female--came to haul Rose off.

"I-I don't think we'll leave." Kyton stood. Even though the booth was a step up from the floor of the restaurant, he still didn't even reach the centaur's shoulder. "Lilly, my human, was defending me. Your waitress was being specist. We'd like to stay."

"Is that so?" The centaur leaned down so he was face-to-face with Kyton. "I vetted that waitress myself. She's a good woman." He grabbed Kyton by the collar. "Get out, or I'll throw you and your human out."

Kyton looked like he was about to argue, so I forced myself to my feet. Coming here had distracted me from my discomfort for a few minutes, but it was all rushing back now. It was like a family of daggers had moved into my head, stomach, and every other sensitive part of my body. It'd been bad in the car, but not this bad. There was iron nearby. A lot of it.

"Ky, we have to get out of there." Leaning on the table, I stumbled to his side.

His already huge eyes widened until they looked enormous. "We just got here. You didn't do anything wrong."

"Trust me, we should leave." I grabbed his arm, both to pull him away from the centaur and to use him as a crutch.

The centaur huffed, releasing Kyton's collar. "I trust you can find your way out?"

"We can." I tugged at Kyton's arm. "Come on."

"But-"

An explosion shook the restaurant. Black smoke billowed from a distant corner as screams echoed off the mirror-covered walls. The centaur and half a dozen other waiters rushed toward it. Customers fled for the front door. Grabbing my shoulders, Kyton dragged me along with them.