Page 25 of Kingston
They ordered their lunch and sat down to have it brought to them.Once they had their food and it was set up the way that they liked it, Brenin asked him what he wanted to talk about.
“First, I wanted to say thanks for helping Ace get elected.He is already doing a good job as the mayor.I can see him getting his list done quickly now that he has a place to work from.Did you hear about the votes?Trail only got fifteen votes.That’s how many of his family live around here.Though I don’t think his wife is very happy.She liked having him working all day.”Brenin said thanks about Ace and hadn’t heard about the votes.“Yeah, that’s sort of sad but good for everyone else.”
“I agree with you on Ace getting his list done soon.I saw some of the street workers out taking down the signage from Christmas last year about the parade.I guess we’re not having one this year due to budget costs or something like that.”They were about finished with their meal when Brenin asked what he wanted to talk about.“I don’t have any plans for the rest of the day, so whatever you have going on, we can talk if you want.”
“I don’t want to be king.”He thought that Brenin would laugh at him or tell him it was a done deal.But all he did was ask why it had taken him so long to figure it out.“I don’t know, actually.I’ve been telling myself that I could do a good job of it, but I really can’t.I have too many other things going on in my life that I want to do a good job with, too.I have a new mate that I’m still getting to know.There are projects around here that I want to be a part of.And this whole king thing just seems like a stupid job.Did I tell you that I have to go see each region yearly in addition to making sure that laws aren’t broken?The laws are broken without me having to travel around the world all the time.Some of them don’t even recognize that there can be human mates.If I find one, including my own mate,I’m supposed to destroy them and hope that the dragon gets another mate to come along.That’s just barbaric.”
“What do you need from me?You know I’ve got your back.”He said he knew that and was glad for it.“You have to tell that Lady Earth person right away.And you know what I was thinking?They went forever thinking that you were being trained without a king.I’m sure they can go a bit longer without one.What are you going to do about the magic?”
He loved talking to Brenin.He just buck shot information at you when something occurred to him.There wasn’t a rhyme or reason behind the way that he asked you things.Just whenever something popped into his head, he would talk to you about it.
“I’m supposed to go and see the Lady Earth tomorrow.I’ve been studying the books she’s given me for weeks now, and I’m no closer to figuring out what I want to do than I was before I started reading them.”He half laughed.“These books need to be destroyed and start over.Most of the rules that are in them are too old to deal with now, and the costs for any fines are so little money that it hardly seems worth collecting.Most of them talk about half a percent of whatever cash they have on them at the time of sentencing.I would imagine that most go to their hearings without anything on them, so they don’t have to pay.Even though it’s probably only about a quarter.”
“What are you going to tell her when you see her?I mean, do you have a plan worked out on what you’re going to say?What does Skye have to say about this?And if I were you, I’d bring up the fine costs to her.It sounds to me like they’ll be paying you more than they’re collecting.”He said that he’s not paid cash but gems.“Oh, good, those are so easy to take to the grocery store and turn in for food.Morons.You probably have a great many gems now.I know that I do.I use them for window dressings.Nobody ever believes that you’d put real diamonds or other gems in your window for the pretty colors.”
“I’ve spoken to Skye and she agrees with me that it’s a stupid job to have.Especially one that has so many rules that I have to follow.Like the travel thing too.She said that with having to visit each district, there will be no time for us to have a vacation of our own.Yeah, she doesn’t like it either.”He asked him again what he wanted from him.“Someone to tell me that it’s a stupid job and that I’d be better off quitting it now than before I kill someone when I’ve had enough.”
“That might get you out of the job faster if you were to do that.”Again, they both laughed.It felt good to have made the decision now that he had, and he relaxed a bit.“I wouldn’t take it even if they offered me money instead of gems.All the rules aside, like you just said, you’ve only just found your mate, and you want to get to know her better.I’m thinking that alone would have me not taking it.”
“I’m going to tell her in the morning.Skye doesn’t have to go with me, but I’m going to see if she’ll go to tell her that she doesn’t want the job either.”Brenin finished off his dinner and asked for another soda.He loved the clear kind of drinks.He said that they gave him a clean taste in his mouth.“Thanks for listening to me.You don’t know how much I appreciate you just being here for me.”
“Now that Cassian has his mate, I’m thinking that the rest of us will be getting ours, too.I might need you for advice when she comes along.”Kings said that he’d be better off talking to the mates rather than the men because they could tell him what not to do.“I can see that too.They’d be able to keep my head out of my ass with my mate too, I’m thinking.”
They talked a bit more about how they were going to the first football game of the season.Also, about how they’d be around when the first trick-or-treaters came to their house.That was all on Brenin.His way of just casual talking was like listening to a round about speaker.He’d get to the point sooner rather than later.
Walking back home, he found Skye in the kitchen with Trevor.He told her what decision he’d come to and asked her if she’d go with him tomorrow.After she said she would tell her, at the same time, she didn’t want to be queen, they’d celebrate by having a cookout with steaks.He was fine with that.
“I have my test in my outdoor classes on Saturday.They were going to have them from Friday to Sunday, but they forgot about the football game going on Friday night.Are you guys going?”Bothhe and Skye said they wouldn’t miss it and were happy that he was going as well.“I can’t wait to see them play.Some of the pack are on the team, too.I’ve made some pretty good friends at the pack house and the high school as well.There are a lot of nice people in both places.”
“I’m glad that you’re having such a good year, Trevor.To think you didn’t think you’d like high school when you first moved here.”He said he’d learned to give things a chance.“Good for you.It’s like this king job.I gave it my best, and I realized that it wasn’t for me.I don’t want to be in charge of such a large area of dragons when they’ve been governing themselves for so long.Hopefully, she’s all right with us stepping down.”
“She’ll just have to be.I’m at my wits’ end trying to make sense of those books she gave us.And even if she’d have given us different books that made more sense than the ones we have, I still wouldn’t want to take on this job.There are just too many things that they expect of us, which means we don’t have a life.”Kings said that was the perfect answer.They’d have no life if they took the job.“Besides that, no one asked us if we wanted to be king or queen.They just gave us a bunch of power that hurt like hell and assumed we’d be all right with it.No way in hell would I have said yes if asked.And especially now that we’ve had a chance to look it over, I’d say no again.”
Supper was just sandwiches.The cook was off today and tomorrow to go and visit her children, and they were going to have whatever they could forage out of the freezer and cabinets.He supposed that they could have ordered out, but that was just too much effort for what they were doing.Tomorrow was going to be a big day in talking with Lady Earth, and he wondered about a few things.
Would she take back the magic that she’d given them?He didn’t mind.It would be one less thing that he’d have to mess with.Kings laughed a little and thought that he was getting lazier in his old age.But if she did take the magic away, he wondered if it would hurt as badly as it had when she gave it to them.
Then there were the faeries.He’d gotten used to having them around since he’d shared with his family.He didn’t care if she took them back, but it would be a huge disappointment for him if she did.They were turning out to be quite helpful around the house, and he was going to miss them.Then there had been the perks of going to the other world to visit the Lady.
The realm was otherworldly and beautiful.The air smelled so much cleaner and fresher while there, and sometimes he would linger a little longer just to be in it.The colors seemed to be brighter as well, especially in the trees and flowers.
“Have you given any thought as to what you’re going to say to her?”Supper was over, and it looked to him like they were going to bed early as well.“I’m going to flat-out tell her that I don’t want the job.I know that I’m going to have to have good reasons, but I frankly don’t care if I have any.I didn’t ask for the job in the first place.”
“I’ve been thinking about what I was going to say to her for the last week.It’s basically the same as what you’re saying.We didn’t ask for it.Not to mention all the things that we’re going to have to give up if we were to take it, like getting to know one another without traveling all over the world several times.I told Brenin about how we were going to get paid, and he made a joke about how that’s easy to change out for food.He’s a great guy to have around when you have a hard decision to make, don’t you think?”She told him that she’d been complaining to Kaida, who agreed with her.“Yes, I can see her being a big advocate about not being asked to do the job.”
“If I wanted a full-time job, I’d find something that I’d like to do and be able to learn it in a reasonable amount of time.”She sat down on the couch where he was sitting.“What do you think she’ll do?That’s my biggest worry.That she’ll kill us off because we told her no.I mean, she did say that she created all dragons, didn’t she?”
“I’m hoping she won’t do that.It would be scary to think that just because we tell her no, that we don’t want the job, that she’ll just destroy me.I’d bargain with her about your life, however.I’d want you to be turned back into a human and allowed to live.”She said she couldn’t go on without him.“Oh, Skye, I know I wouldn’t be able to live without you either.”
As they made their way up to the bedroom after leaving the living room, he made sure that thehouse was securely locked up for the night.It was getting colder out, and he didn’t want the least bit of coldness to come in either.As he was going up the stairs, he realized just how tired he was.
He’d not been sleeping well, worrying about this king job, and he thought that tonight, with his decision made, he’d sleep very well.He thought that he should be worrying about what she was going to do to them, but he just didn’t care at this point.Kings was dragging by the time he had stripped down and gotten into bed.Almost as soon as he snuggled up with Skye and closed his eyes, he was sound asleep.
~*~
Listening to them talk about the job as king and queen, Lady Earth couldn’t find fault with what they were saying.She’d ambushed them into taking the job, and since she’d made it clear that she had created dragons, they’d just simply be too afraid to not take the job when she’d gone to so much trouble in making them take it.
“We want to have a life.With this job, we’d have nothing.”She didn’t bother answering them when they said things like that—They’d said it several times now that they’d have no quality of life taking the job.What did they think she had with her job?No, best not to bring up how much she hated her own job to them.“So what are you going to do?”
