Chương 28: An Unexpected Guest

A couple of days passed, and we hadn't heard a word about the rum-running sailors or the Black Ship Raiders following them. I'd started to put them out of mind altogether. There were other important things that needed tending to. And no, I'm not just talking about my relationship with Wynnie. We were still taking things slow. But we were on a mission to make the Breakwater Inn the best inn in town. I was dead set on improving the bar. We were running out of space on the menu.

I'd added a few things that I thought would go over well. Namely, not only was the ginger bug finally mature, but my first batch of ginger beer was almost ready. At least, I suspected it was. Fliptop glass bottles lined the back bar. They were cloudy and almost yellow-green, which didn't inspire much confidence. I was pretty sure they'd do one of two things. Option one, they'd get me lightly buzzed and make a great mixer for cocktails. Option two, they'd make me sick enough to die.

There was only one way to find out. I was just building up my bravery to see which it was.

"All those bottles look great up there!" Wynnie came in. She was wearing her new dress again, and she looked radiant. There was a skip in her step as she walked behind the bar and placed a kiss on my cheek.

"I have no idea how to price any of these drinks, but I'm going to err on the side of charging too much. Next time a merchant vessel comes in, let's stock up on a bunch of mid-grade rum and standardize some of our house cocktails." She shrugged.

"Sure, sounds good." She moved away to head into the kitchen to prep for dinner, but I caught her by the hand.

"Not so fast." I pulled her to me and wrapped her in a tight embrace. I kissed her right on the mouth. A bold move, considering we hadn't done all that much since a couple of nights before, but what can I say? Sometimes, a guy needs a smooch. She swooned.

"Oh, my stars! I feel faint after that! I can't believe we're more than just friends now. Finally."

"Sorry to make you wait." She laughed it off.

"No, it's fine. You just had to make sure. And with someone like me, I can see why that might take time."

"Nope. None of that. You're an incredible woman, Wynderriel. Self-deprecating jokes are easy to make, but they're also easy to believe if you keep saying them." She crossed her arms.

"Fine." She exited to the kitchen, and I busied myself slicing limes, polishing glasses, and getting all of my syrups and ingredients ready to go. With a bit of direction, Wynnie and I had crafted a makeshift ice box out of a bunch of wooden crates. Now, I could keep everything from spoiling in a way that nobody else around could. We'd even set up one in the kitchen, which we'd begun using to keep fish frozen after she flash-froze them.

It was only last night, after the bar had closed, that she and I experimented with a few raw fish dishes. Not surprisingly, she liked ceviche best. Maybe it was because we didn't have soy sauce to enhance the poke or the sashimi. Which was fine with me. Ceviche went down easily and was dead simple to prepare. If I got a little braver, we could try it with shrimp and have some aguachile as well. Tonight was the first night we were going to debut our raw fish dish.

I'd convinced Wynnie that until we perfected the recipe and got more widespread acceptance, we'd serve her cold dishes as bar bites only. Inn guests would still get crusty bread and stew. Everyone else had to pay extra for ceviche and cucumber salad. A knock came at the door just as I hoisted the punch bowl up on the countertop. Without waiting for an answer, the door swung open and Lady Talia entered. She took a look around, not bothering to hide her surprise at the changes we'd made. I gave her a minute.

Finally, she took in the bar. Her brows rose, and she shot me a look that was almost a question.

"Welcome in, Lady Talia. It's been a while."

"You're still here."

"It's a lovely town. A guy could do a lot worse."

"He really could. And I see you made good on your word. The outside is transformed. And the inside?"

"Also transformed?"

"It's a bit bland and austere, but it makes a good impression. You've done well. And I take it you've set up full-time residence here, then?" I nodded, unable to hold back the smile that crossed my lips when I thought about my growing relationship with Wynnie.

"The owner and I have come to a good agreement."

"Well then, since you're part of the establishment now, I suppose I should deliver this warning to you as well as her. Can you get her?"

"Wynnie!" I called out. She bounded out of the kitchen with a smile.

"Yes, my handsome human?" Lady Talia arched a brow as understanding settled on her features.

"I just wanted to inform you both that a ship was seen docking outside of the bay a few miles away." Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

"And?" Wynnie asked.

"And it has a black hull and black sails. It's a small vessel. Probably couldn't hold more than a crew of six, but keep your eyes out." I saluted Lady Talia with the same salute I'd tried on the captain. Where the captain had been nonplussed, Lady Talia seemed to appreciate it. There was no official salute that I was aware of for town guards, so I assumed she just liked the sign of respect.

She even smiled a little at me, flashing dangerously sharp canines and a curious gleam in her eye that must have stemmed from her dragonkin nature. She nodded crisply at us, turned heel, and exited.

"She doesn't mince words, does she?" Wynnie laughed.

"She's so stiff. Honestly, I wonder if she'd lighten up if she just got laid." I scoffed.

"You know, back on Earth, if I said something like that, I'd be considered sexist."

"Or perceptive," she countered. Touché. Maybe she was right, after all. Lady Talia certainly had the controlling air of someone who desperately needed everything to be in line constantly and without question. In my experience, people like that tended to let loose in their love lives. And if Wynnie was suggesting she didn't have one, well…

"What's the deal with dating in this world, anyway? I just realized that I might be getting myself into something I have no experience with."

"Oh, probably about the same as anywhere, I figure."

"So you mean, when one person loves another person very much…"

"Yep. Unless one person loves two people very much. That's pretty common. Loving three people is unusual, but not unheard of." She shrugged noncommittally.

"I'm still a transplant here, but I hear harems aren't that rare out here." Well, color me intrigued. I'd watched a few anime back in my day, and I'd read more than one unconventional men's romance on Kindle. I was familiar with a fantastical version of the arrangement. Yet my brief foray into polyamory gave me pause. For all the championing of multiple relationships that polyamorous people did, they never managed to keep a single partner for as long as any of my monogamous friends.

At some point, the amount of lovers coming and going in your life was enough to make anyone's head spin and emotions run completely haywire. I wasn't interested in that one bit. I'd already tried it once and couldn't believe how much everyone ended up hurt all the time.

"You, um, haven't said anything since I mentioned harems." I blinked back to the present.

"Sorry. Just thinking about a lot of things."

"Harem things?"

"You could say that."

"Would you be interested in a harem?" Now that sounded like a trap question. A girl I just started dating was asking me if I wanted to see other people? In my extensive experience, I knew that the answer to that needed to be a firm negative. Then again, new world, new life, new me. If harems were different from polyamory, then I could see it working.

"I'm not sure. Honestly, I can see the appeal. But I'd be more than happy to be a one-woman guy." She looked me up and down appraisingly. Suspicion clouded her eyes. It was clear that she didn't completely buy my answer.

"You're telling me that if Lady Talia came back in here right now and said, 'Drew, claim my body as your own! Ravish me right here in front of this sweet, innocent innkeeper,' that you wouldn't be the slightest bit interested?" Blood spurted from my nose.

"Not a bit," I lied. Then, just to see how it felt, I sprinkled in a bit of truth.

"Maybe if we got to know each other a little better first, and you were comfortable with it. Perhaps I could be interested then." She flashed a knowing grin.

"Good answer."

"Why? Do you want to be in a harem?" She shrugged, then twisted the ball of her foot into the floorboard. She chewed on her lip coquettishly.

"If it feels right. I did mention that elves are big on family. And since I have none left, I wouldn't say no to starting my own unconventional one." Another noncommittal shrug, this time with more finality.

"But I'm feeling pretty selfish right now. It's my turn to ask you not to rush into anything." It sounded like it needed to be a larger, longer conversation. Normally, large conversations about relationship dynamics made me wildly uncomfortable. This time, however, I wasn't dreading it. The only thing that made me change the subject was Wynnie.

"Thanks for sharing all that. It's a lot to take in." It would probably take me weeks before it made sense.

"We can talk about it later. I have a lot of prep left to do if we're going to feed people raw fish tonight. Do you think anyone's going to show up?" Of all the changes we'd made to the place, my favorite was still the change to the windows. Keeping them open did wonders for the atmosphere inside. Instead of stuffy, musty, and cloistered, it felt welcoming and clean. Also, I loved having work with a view.

Catching a glimpse of the harbor was almost as good as the top-tier people watching from my position behind the bar. As if to make my point, a couple of youths passed. They wore floppy straw hats and unbuttoned flannel shirts, which seemed in style with the limited teen population. Most other folks were still deep in the middle of their days. There was no official nine-to-five grind like on Earth, but between the hours of sunrise and sunset, very few people came in for food or drink.

Still, we'd had several guests every night for a while now. It was nothing compared to The Good Inn, but there was a steady trickle. I saw no reason for that to end.

"I bet we'll get a few. Maybe even more than yesterday." She straightened her dress and took a calming breath.

"Okay. I don't want to make too much food. But I'll trust you. I'll finish prep."

"Wait. One more thing. What do you think about the pirates?" Her look grew tense at first, then thoughtful.

"Pirates would be bad news. They rarely come inland, especially not to Seaport, except to collect. People are less free with their coin when rumors are around."

"But won't we need to worry about them?"

"You mean us, specifically? She shrugged dismissively.

"Lady Talia only reported a rumor. Even if there are pirates around and they do come to town, they always leave this place alone."

"Why is that?" Her cheeks reddened, as did the tips of her ears. She pushed her glasses back up the bridge of her nose.

"It's been pretty obvious from the outside that there's nothing worth taking here."

"The outside is different now," I pointed out. Her eyes widened in realization.

"And it says we are the best inn in town," I added.

"That was obviously an aspirational sign, though. You don't think they'd believe it, do you?" Her brows tented together with concern, and she pursed her lips.

"I guess the other sailors fell for it." I wanted to reassure her. To say that probably, no villains would pass through. That the Breakwater would fly under the radar after so many years of being ignored. Yet before I could say anything, we were interrupted by footsteps leading up the front stairs. Two tall men walked in the door. Heavy leather boots thudded across the wooden planks of the floor as they approached us and looked around at their surroundings.

One of the men was tall and thin, bound with corded musculature made only more prominent by the scars on his arms. A pencil-thin mustache decorated his face. He tipped his tricorn hat at us with an air of feigned nonchalance. The other man was a head shorter, but broader-shouldered and excessively hairy. It looked like his knuckles had beards, except for where they were adorned with rings. He flexed his mouth in a humorless smile, showing off an abnormal number of black and gold teeth.

His face and ears displayed enough piercings to make a screamo lead singer jealous. The tall man spoke up.

"Hi there. Are you the proprietors? We're looking for a room for the night. Maybe two nights depending on how long our business takes us." The shorter, stockier man grunted his own greeting. Then, "There will be four of us." Wynnie's eyes shot over to the alarm bell, then back to the men. Her face had gone pale as a goth girl proving to her parents that it's not just a phase. I stepped forward, putting myself between her and our new guests. So, this was really happening, wasn't it?