Sword Diplomacy (Unplanned Princess Book 1) by Michael Anderle

Author:Michael Anderle [Anderle, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781649715937
Publisher: LMBPN Publishing
Published: 2021-02-25T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

After spending a couple more hours exploring shops and encountering no further gangster trouble, Zaena returned to Grace’s apartment. She was about to stick the key in the door when it opened. Grace stood on the other side with a concerned look.

“You said you wouldn’t be home until early evening,” Zaena commented.

“I got off early because things were super-slow.” Grace frowned. “But you didn’t tell me you were going anywhere. I spent the last fifteen minutes looking around for you outside. And you didn’t answer your phone. I was worried you were lost.”

Zaena retrieved the phone from her purse. There were three missed calls and five missed messages. She tilted it back and forth, confused about what had gone wrong. The last thing she wanted to do was worry her friend.

“I was under the impression it was supposed to make noise when you called or texted me,” Zaena complained. “What about the delightful penguin ringtone you helped me set up?” She eyed the phone with suspicion. “Is it broken?”

Grace took the phone and looked it over. She groaned and slapped a hand to her forehead. “It’s not broken. You had it in Do Not Disturb mode.”

“I did?” Zaena shrugged. “Oh. I thought that was to ensure I didn’t disturb other people with the phone.”

She’d set the mode shortly after her encounter with the Overlord thug, confused but not wanting to cause trouble for anyone in Chinatown. She smiled sheepishly at her friend.

Grace jabbed the phone to disable the annoying feature before handing it back to Zaena. She frowned deeper when she looked at the elf. “You’ve got dirt on your shirt, and you’ve got a tear in your shorts. What happened? Did you fall into some bushes chasing a kitten or something?”

Zaena looked down at herself. “Oh. That’s unfortunate. I’d forgotten. It’s nothing like that. Just small excitement in Chinatown, not enough to stop my visit and worry about clothing damage.”

“Chinatown?” Grace stared at Zaena intently. “You went all the way to Chinatown from here?”

“Yes, I requested a ride over the internet.” Zaena nodded. “That seemed simpler than braving the trains and buses. The driver was friendly.”

It was a plausible enough lie. That must be something humans did. If they could order food over the internet, why not car or helicopter rides? A car ride seemed more practical than a helicopter ride, and Zaena hadn’t seen any helicopters land in Chinatown during her trip.

Grace looked relieved. “Oh. I don’t know how you pulled that off without a credit card, but knowing you, they probably saw you, started drooling, and took whatever you wanted to offer.” She grinned. “Let me guess. You paid with a gold coin, didn’t you?”

“It helped at the time.” Zaena would rather be thought foolish for overpaying than admit the truth. She headed to the couch after setting her purse on the kitchen table. “Chinatown is a fascinating place. It was far more fascinating than my tutors communicated to me.”

“They told you about Chinatown back in your village?” Grace looked surprised.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.