Page 20 of Kingston
“Ace is getting nervous about the election.He said that he doesn’t know if he can do it.”She snorted, and Kings laughed.“Yeah, that’s what I told him, too.I also mentioned that he had this in the bag, but he wouldn’t believe me.One minute he’s talking like he won’t win, then the next breath he’s afraid that he will win.There is no pleasing some people, is there?”
“I noticed that someone has marked the worst area of the sidewalks.Did he do that, or did the police finally get involved?”He said that he’d not noticed.“It’s big red paint.Might be for the trick-or-treaters to avoid the place.”
“I’m betting that’s it.I wouldn’t want anyone to be hurt around those, and like you said, if they mark them up, then maybe someone will take notice and be more careful.”She said that Kaida had ordered flashlights that she was giving away with her candy.Then, they asked if they had any treaters that might come to their home.“I don’t know.I guess we should get some just in case.I’ve not lived here all that long, so I have no way of judging.I don’t believe I’ve ever given out candy before.Have you?”
“When I was younger.I don’t know if Trevor has ever been on the receiving end of treaters, either.I wonder if he’ll think he’s too old for it this year.I think he’s at the perfect age.”He agreed as he got into bed.“Any more news about you being king of all dragons?”
“Nothing so far.I have a meeting again with Lady Earth.She’s supposed to give me a book or two that were with the previous king.I did wonder what happened to the faeries that were supposed to have been training me, but we’ve been so busy that I’ve not had any time.”Skye asked if he would ask her.“I thought about it.And I don’t think I want to know.So long as everyone knows that none of this is my fault, then I’m all right with not knowing.”
Snuggling up with Kings, she knew that tomorrow would bring more questions about Jason and the Connors.Right now, she was happy for the answers that she had now and was glad that someone was taking an interest in their cases enough to keep them off the streets.
Chapter 8
It didn’t take long for the courts to come back with Waggoner, and the Connors were going to go to court.It was iffy if they were going to be spending their time in the local jail or a prison.Kings thought that they should all three be put in prison and never thought of again.But he wasn’t in charge of the jail system, just dragons.
Lady Earth had given him more books on what his new role as king of dragons was going to be like.There were a great many laws that needed to be deleted or updated in most of the books he’d been given.The one that he thought needed to be gotten rid of was that dragons could only marry within their kind.He wondered just how many dragons had broken that law besides himself and Tucker.
There were laws about dues to be paid.One percent of their yearly income didn’t seem like a great deal, and it wasn’t.However, where was the money going?As far as he could tell, it was sitting in some vault somewhere gathering dust instead of interest.That was on his list of things to look into when he finished going over the books.
There were a total of five books that were his to use.Two of them were how he was to conduct himself when there was an outing or an event.The outing could have been him just walking into town, but there were rules that he was supposed to be using, and he couldn’t seem to wrap his head around them.
There was a crown that he was to wear at all times when he was in his human form.It had been made of the finest jewels and sat upon a crown made of gold.He’d not seen it as yet and hoped, like a lot of things that he was reading, that it wasn’t found because there wasn’t any way that he was going to start wearing a crown at this stage of his life.Not to mention the ‘finery’ that he was to wear to go with it.He was still going through the second book when Skye joined him in his office.
“Do you know what a pip is?”He told her it was a group of faeries.“Why are they sometimes called a horde?I mean, I understand both words now, but I don’t know what the difference is.”
“I’m not sure either.But we’re to have a pip in our house at all times.Something about making our lives better.”She snorted.“Yeah, I’m right there with you on that.They’ve done nothing but disturb our lives since the first time they arrived.”
“Did you know that they have special magic that comes because they work in our home?It’s to protect us from unwanted enemies.I can’t understand why we’d want enemies.Aren’t all enemies unwanted?I mean, doesn’t it sound like that to be true?”They both laughed, and she came and sat down on the corner of the desk he was behind.“I’ve been reading over the first book you gave me.How are we going to have any dragons left if we enforce even half the rules in that sucker?We’ll have to either jail them all or kill them because of most of the rules in that book.”
“I’ve been going over some of them with Lady Earth, who I like by the way.Oh, before I forget, the pip that was supposed to be training me has been punished.Not killed but punished for lying to the Lady all this time.Apparently, they were supposed to have trained me on these rules that we’re just now getting, and I was to be working as the king apparent.”Skye asked him how they were punished.“I don’t know.She told me that it was appropriate for the crime.Whatever that means.”
“I’m going to let it go.There’s nothing I can do about it, so I’m not going to try.She has handled it, and that’s the end of it for me.How about you?”He said he was thinking the same thing.“Good.At least we can agree on that one thing.But these rules kind of make me nervous.I’m not a dragon, and we’re mates.Punishment for that rule is that we both be put to death.How do you even kill a dragon?”
“Removing their head.Mostly it’s done when they’re human, but it can be done as a dragon too.Just a bit harder, I guess.”She nodded and stood up.“Do you have any plans for the day?I’m going to be stuck with this for the rest of my life, I think.”
“We have a formal dinner at the Lady Earth’s castle.I’ve never been to a castle before, have you?”He told her that he grew up in one.“How nice.But I don’t imagine that the one you grew up in had all the niceties as the ones that are in my head, did you?”
“We didn’t have running water or bathrooms like we have today.If that helps you think of how we grew up.”She shivered, and that made him laugh.“It wasn’t all bad.The kitchen help would wash things in the same water that they cooked with.How’s that image?”
“Enough.I hope that her castle at least has clean water.I don’t want to be sick the first time I enter one.”She went to the window and looked out over the yard.He knew what she was seeing, and it did his heart good to know that they got themselves a good home with a wonderful backyard.He asked her what was wrong.“I hope you’re not being bogged down with all this reading.If so, you should call Kaida and have a lunch meeting with her.I’m sure that she’d love to get out of the house, too.”
“She’s busy with Tucker.They’re going over the charities that they donate to.When I was helping with their books, I noticed that a lot of the charities they donate to are no longer in business.I marked a few of them, but there are more that I don’t know anything about.I did wonder where the money was going.”
“That happens to us since we’ve been around for so long.We invest in things and, over time, forget about them.Mostly it’s not a great deal of money that we’ve been paying into a fund, but after a while it does add up.”She said that’s what she found when going over their books for them.“Maybe we should have you go over ours.There is no telling what you might find out about what I’ve been paying into after all this time.”
“I’ll gladly do that.”She still looked pensive, and he closed the book he was working on and told her to come to him.“If I do, then I’m going to start crying, and I’m too emotional to stop if I get started.”
“I can handle it.Come here, baby, and allow me to hold you.”She was crying before she got to him.And he’d lied to her; there was no way that he could handle the tears that she was shedding.“I love you, honey.Tell me what’s wrong so that I can slay the knight in shining armor.”
“You’re supposed to slay the…oh.I guess you’d have to slay yourself if that were true.I don’t know what’s wrong with me.Maybe it’s the baby.Have you gotten any information from that woman yet?”He reached for a book and handed it to her.“You had this all this time and didn’t think to give it to me?”
“I just found it this morning.It was bundled up with the rest of the books that were dropped off.”She opened the book and read a few lines to him.“Well, that tells you something.You’ll carry the child for six months, then a year before it’s a hatchling.We didn’t know that.”
“It says here that no matter which one of us is the dragon, the child will be born a dragon.We know that’s not true.Look at Ace and Tank.They’re both human-like from their parents.”He explained how they were only born of a half-dragon and a human.“So the further down the scale is from one of them being a dragon, the harder it is to tell what will be born.I suppose you’re all dragon down through the ages.”
“I am.But you have to remember that I was born a very long time ago, when that was the norm for dragons to marry and mate with dragons.I think that statement about the baby being born a dragon with you is going to be true, however.”She left him at his desk and sat in one of the chairs that were across from him.“All better now that you have some information?”
“I am, thank you very much.”He watched her as she read through another couple of pages.“It says that I have to eat more red meat.And to drink more juice.I already do that.I also have to take naps when I need to because it’s draining carrying a dragon baby.I think it would be draining carrying any child, don’t you?”
