by Tami Lund
Yep. Definitely alive.
Antoinette started to back away, but the cup caught her eye. Actually, her nostrils. The scent of herbs was strongest near the table. Had the reeve been drinking an herbal tea? Out of an insulted cup instead of a teacup from his own kitchen?
“The guy must really struggle with insomnia,” Rahu said. “This place stinks of sleeping aids so strongly even I’m getting lethargic.”
Antoinette swung around to stare at Rahu. “Are you sure?”
“Am I sure that it stinks in here? Hell yeah. Can’t you smell it?”
“I mean, are you sure they’re sleeping aids?”
“Trust me, my mom tried everything known to the dragon world to try to get me to calm the hell down at the end of the day. I know my sleep aids.”
“What are the herbs?” Delilah asked, her voice cracking as she gasped for air around the constriction against her throat.
Antoinette frowned and sniffed at the straw. “Lavender. Passion Flower. Something else.”
“Valerian root,” Rahu supplied.
“Yes, that’s it,” Antoinette said. The same herbs that were in the garden in the backyard.
“Mixed together, with a dash of turmeric and a bit of honey; that’s more than a sleep aid,” Delilah said. “That’s a recipe for sedation.”
Antoinette turned to Darius. “You’re keeping him drugged. That’s why he isn’t attending meetings. Or, frankly, being involved in his own colony at all.”
“Bullshit,” Darius said. “The kid’s right. He has problems sleeping.”
“No, I don’t think so,” Delilah said, and he tightened his grip around her neck.
“Well, this changes things,” Ketu muttered.
“No, it doesn’t,” Delilah said as she started struggling again. “That position is mine. He’s obviously unfit. I’ve read up on dragon colony law. He needs to be declared—”
Darius squeezed harder, cutting off her speech. “What the fuck are you talking about, bitch? You sound like you think you’re going to take over my colony.”
“Yeah, that pretty much sums it up,” Rahu said.
Ketu smacked his forehead.
Darius grabbed Delilah by the hair and twisted her around to face him. She gasped and wheezed as her body took in a proper amount of oxygen again.
“This is my colony,” Darius roared. “I’m going to be reeve, as soon as that fucker dies. No one is taking it from me, but especially not some half-witch loser female.”
Delilah wrapped both of her hands around the one holding her hair, and despite her rather awkward position, said, “Are you implying I can’t do the job because I’m a woman? Or is it because I’m a witch?”
“Both, but probably more so because you’re a girl.”
“Oh, okay, because if you were going to say witch—” She muttered an incantation and he screamed while jerking his hand away from her hair and shaking it like she’d burned him.
Ketu rushed across the room and caught him in the gut with his shoulder, pushing him backward until he slammed into the wall. Everything in the room shuddered, including the insulated cup, which teetered and then fell, the lid popping off and letting the contents pour out onto the carpet.
Darius recovered and charged Ketu, both arms swinging, and Ketu danced out of reach until his legs hit the bed and he tumbled backward onto the reeve. The older man grunted but didn’t do much else.
Darius leaped onto the bed, landing on top of Ketu, and began hammering away with his fists.
“Hey,” Antoinette shouted. “Get off him!”
She rushed forward, intending to grab one of Darius’s arms and pull him away from Ketu, but at the last second, Darius adjusted his swing and caught her with an uppercut under the chin that sent her flying backward while stars exploded behind her eyes.
There was a roar, the sounds of a scuffle, and then a yelp like a dog had been kicked, and by the time Antoinette’s vision cleared, Darius was lying on the floor, curled up into a ball, his arms over his head, while Ketu stood over him, breathing heavily, his fists clenched.
Rahu stood next to him and whistled. “That was some seriously badass shit, Ketu. I didn’t know you had it in you. Of course, no one’s probably ever fucked with your mate before, so I guess there’s that.”
Ketu bumped him with his shoulder and walked over to crouch next to Antoinette. “You okay?”
She winced when he touched her chin. “I could really use one of Bebe’s ice packs right about now. And I wouldn’t say no to one of Mitch’s bloody marys either.”
He chuckled and pulled her to her feet.
“What do we do now?” Delilah said. She stood next to the bed, looking down at the man sleeping under the blankets. “He’s still alive, but surely this is considered incapacitated. I still think I should be reeve.”
“How about we try to wake him up and go from there?” Antoinette suggested.
The sound of footsteps on the stairs rushed up to them, followed by complaining voices.
“You do realize it’s the middle of the night, right?”
“Oh hell, Arthur, your bladder probably wakes you up at this time every damn night.”
“Yeah, but I turn around and go right back to bed. I certainly don’t cart my sleepy old ass over to the reeve’s house. What are we doing here anyway? Hell, I haven’t been up here to the bedroom level in close to a decade.”
“Aren’t you the reeve from that colony up north? Didn’t Darius get into a bit of a scrap with you a couple years ago?”
Ketu looked from the door to his Rojo reeve. “Yeah, that’s a good point. About a year and a half ago, Darius came up to Detroit and started shit with Gabe. We got a message from the reeve that he was appropriately reprimanded, and then they offered to sign a peace treaty. How the hell was he able to do all that if he’s been like this for five years or so?”
“Could’ve been the Elders,” Antoinette suggested. “They would be able to make a decision like that without him. Or maybe they did it because he was incapacitated and they didn’t want to bring that fact to light and risk a dragon from another colony showing up to challenge him for the position.”
Two white-haired men stepped into the room. They were both wearing robes over striped pajamas and had slippers on their feet. Three more elderly dragons shuffled in behind them, followed by Gabe, Talia, Noah, Petra, and Argyle.
“Looks like our distraction worked,” Gabe remarked, nodding at Darius, who was still curled up on the floor. “Also, we collected the Elders, like you instructed, Antoinette.”
Ketu shot her a questioning look, but Antoinette shook her head. She’d fill him in later. First, they needed to set things to right.
“Can somebody go down to the kitchen and get a glass of iced tea? Or a Coke? And brew a pot of coffee. Make it extra strong.”
“On it,” Noah said, and he and Petra both left the room again.
“What is the meaning of this?” one of the old guys demanded. “Who are you people?”
Gabe acknowledged the man. “I am Gabriel Wilde, reeve of the Zilarra colony, based in Detroit. These are all members of my colony, except Argyle, of course. Oh, and Antoinette here.”
A female dragon whose white hair was twisted around little plastic rollers moved closer to Antoinette and adjusted her glasses. “I know you. I know you, too.” She pointed at Ketu. “Used to play Canasta with your grandmama. Every Mother’s Day you two and that other little girl used to pick my roses and give them to your mamá. “
Ketu cleared his throat. “That was my sister. She died, about ten years ago.”
“Ten years? Gods above, she couldn’t have been more than eighteen. What happened?”
Antoinette spoke. “Darius Redd killed her.”
“What?” The old lady gasped and clutched at imaginary pearls. She glanced at the other Elders over her shoulder. “Do you hear this accusation against our reeve’s son?”
“Not the first time,” one of them muttered.
&nbs
p; “And you wouldn’t listen to me then. But you’re going to now. Darius Redd is not fit to become the future reeve of this colony. In fact, he should be punished and banned, permanently.”
“Do you have proof of this very serious accusation?” the white-haired lady asked.
Before Antoinette could answer, Noah and Petra returned with another dragon trailing behind them. She was gorgeous, tall and slender, and moved like a Latin dancer. Her gaze bounced from the reeve to Darius to Ketu like it was on a continuous loop.
Noah walked over and handed Antoinette a tall glass of iced tea. “Coffee’s brewing,” he said.
“Okay, now the fun part,” Antoinette said. She placed the drink on the side table and sat on the bed and started to stuff pillows behind the reeve’s back.
Ketu sat on the man’s other side and lifted him into a seated position, then gently slapped the man’s cheeks.
“You’re hitting our reeve,” one of the old guys protested.
“Chill. He’s just trying to wake him up enough to drink,” Rahu said.
“Did he just tell me to chill?” one old dragon asked the other. “What does that even mean?”
“I don’t know, but look.”
The reeve fluttered his eyelids and moved his head from side to side, his mouth opening, although no words came out.
“I’m going to give you something to drink,” Antoinette said. “Okay?”
The man’s brow furrowed, but he nodded. She plucked the straw from the cup still lying on the floor and stabbed it into the iced tea, then pressed it against the reeve’s lips. He obediently sucked. She’d bet her hoard this was routine for him. Somebody probably came up here several times a day and made him drink like this, except it was a very different beverage.
“It’s working,” Ketu whispered.
The reeve’s eyes began blinking more rapidly while a spark began to form as his vision cleared. He drank with more zeal, until the iced tea was half gone. And then he fell into a coughing fit, so Antoinette placed the glass on the table to keep it from spilling.
“Wh-who are you?” he croaked, peering at Antoinette.
“My name is Antoinette Dupré . I’m part of your colony. How are you feeling?”
“Like there’s a cloud in my brain.”
She smiled and offered him more iced tea. “This will help clear it.”
He kept drinking, looking around the room as he did so. “I know you,” he said, pointing at the beautiful dragon who had followed Noah into the room.
She balked, backing away until she bumped into one of the Elders.
“That’s Maria,” Ketu said. “She’s part of your colony too.”
The reeve shook his head. “She’s more familiar than that. Hers is the only face in here I really recognize. Why is that?”
Maria burst into tears. “Darius made me do it.”
“Darius? My son? Where is—is that him, over there on the floor? Why is he curled up in a ball? Oh hell, did he get into trouble again? That kid. I sure hope he outgrows this need to pick fights before I die. Not exactly reeve material the way he is.”
“What did Darius make you do?” Antoinette asked Maria.
She shook her head.
“For crying out loud, just tell us. You’ve already implicated yourself,” Delilah snapped.
Maria’s eyes widened and landed on Ketu, who gave her a reassuring nod.
“I’ve been…I’ve been giving him the herbs. That’s my job. Every six hours, ‘round the clock. I haven’t been on a vacation in nearly ten years.”
“I volunteer to take you on a vacation,” Rahu piped up, raising his hand like he was in class. “A nice, long one.”
“I wouldn’t believe him if I were you,” Delilah said. “I bet he’s like the other toy in those Energizer Bunny commercials. The one that stops before it finishes.”
“Seriously,” Rahu said, swinging around to face her. “What the hell is your problem? Do we need to go into another room so I can prove to you that you’re wrong?”
“Even though I don’t acknowledge her as such, the woman is, biologically, my mother,” Gabe said. “So your not very veiled suggestions about having sex with her are pretty fucking gross, Rahu.”
“I don’t actually want to, not with her, anyway, but her accusations are really starting to piss me off.”
Delilah shrugged.
“Now if Maria here wants to—”
“Rahu,” Ketu snapped, and he shut up.
Antoinette stepped into the middle of the room and addressed the Elders. “We have Maria’s testimony, plus Delilah can verify—”
“Stupid bitch!” Darius uncurled from his crouched position and lunged, reaching for Maria, who screamed. Antoinette shoved her out of the way and caught the guy with the same uppercut he’d hit her with earlier.
Pain exploded in her knuckles, but it still felt damn good.
His back slammed against the wall and he stood there, breathing heavily, his narrow-eyed glare sweeping the room. “I’m the reeve of this fucking colony,” he snarled.
The female Elder with the curlers in her hair lifted her pointer finger. “Actually, even if your father was dead, which he clearly isn’t, we have final say in that matter. And I think I can speak for all of us when I say, no way in hell, sonny.”
The rest of the Elders nodded.
While this wasn’t playing out exactly as Antoinette had anticipated—she’d assumed the reeve was dead—that proclamation was still exactly what she’d wanted. A promise that Darius would not become reeve. Ever.
Trennon threw off the covers. “Somebody help me up. I need to take a piss.”
“Here,” Maria said, tugging a walker from behind a partially closed door. It was one of those kind with a seat built into the design. “I usually help him out of bed and have him sit here, and then I push him to the bathroom.”
Although she guided the walker toward the bed, Maria didn’t seem inclined to actually do what she’d explained, so Antoinette offered her arm to the elderly man. As if this process was something he did habitually, the reeve used his hold on Antoinette’s arm to tug himself toward the edge of the bed, and then he turned sideways and slid onto the seat of the walker.
She pushed him into the bathroom, which she noted was equipped with aluminum bars attached to the wall next to the toilet.
“Go on,” the reeve said, making a shooing motion. “Let me piss in peace.”
Stepping out of the room and closing the door, Antoinette said, “The Elders need to make a decision. A lot of decisions, actually. First, you need to commit to shutting down the dragon’s blood trade.”
“How are we supposed to do that? We don’t even know who’s running it,” an Elder asked.
“Shouldn’t the reeve be in here while we talk about this?” another Elder questioned.
“I can hear just fine,” the reeve called through the closed door.
“How do you suggest we shut down the dragon’s blood trade?” the same Elder asked again.
“Darius is responsible,” Ketu supplied. “He created the recipe for dragon’s blood.”
“The reeve’s own son?” an Elder exclaimed.
“That’s terrible,” the female Elder added. “Shame on you, Darius.”
“That’s how my sister died,” Ketu said.
“The reeve’s son killed your sister?” one of the Elders asked.
“You need to punish and excommunicate Darius,” Antoinette said.
“You sure are pushy,” a different Elder commented.
Antoinette ignored him. “And you need to name the reeve’s successor. I suggest it be someone who can step in immediately while he recovers.”
“Successor?” Delilah said. “What about me?”
“That was your plan all along,” Ketu said, his eyes lighting up. “You never planned to let Delilah take over. You were just stringing her along so she could help us.”
“Well, I also wanted her to hear firsthand that her business is being shut
down. But yes, I never intended to let her become reeve.”
“You are one conniving bitch,” Delilah said, nodding. “I like it.”
The bathroom door opened and the reeve slowly made his way into the room, leaning heavily on the walker as he moved. If Darius had truly been keeping him sedated for half a decade, Antoinette imagined his muscles were pretty much jelly at this point.
Delilah hurried over to him. “Are you mated?” she asked.
“No. I was with Darius’s mother for quite a few years, but she eventually found her fated mate and moved on.”
Delilah twined her arms around his bicep. “That happened to me too. More than once, actually.” She fluttered her lashes.
“It’s kind of hard to take, isn’t it? I mean, I cared for Helena. I didn’t want her to leave. But that fated mate business is no joke.”
“It really isn’t. I could tell you a story about an entire colony I cursed so that none of them could find their fated mates, ever.”
He arched his brow. “You can do that?”
She grinned. “I have done it.”
While the rest of them stared, she guided him through the group of dragons hovering around the bedroom door and down the hall. Antoinette heard her say, “Let’s get you some coffee. How do you like it?”
“Strong and black. I’d also like to spread my wings and fly. It feels like it’s been a decade since I’ve shifted.”
Antoinette turned to Ketu. “Is this seriously happening?”
“Do you mean is Delilah flirting with the reeve, probably so she can convince him to mate with her and therefore she’ll be able to control the colony? Yeah, I think that’s exactly what is happening.”
“Should I stop it?” Gabe asked.
“Do you think you can?” Ketu responded.
Gabe shook his head.
Ketu looked at Antoinette. “What do you think?”
“I still think the Elders need to come up with a successor and name that person as temporary reeve until we can evaluate Trennon and determine if he’s fit to rule.”