Page 56 of Dragon in Denial
“Pretty much,” Ketu said. Weird that it actually felt good to admit it. Cleansing, in a way.
“And I took a completely different path,” Antoinette said. “I stayed here and tried to fight Darius. First by telling the colony that he’d killed Eulalie. Except nobody believed me.”
“Or, more likely, they were afraid of repercussions if they admitted they did,” Ketu said.
“Maybe,” Antoinette said. “When nothing else worked to get the reeve’s attention, I started taking down the dragon’s blood dealers, one at a time.”
“When you say ‘taking down,’ what does that mean?” Talia asked.
“Like, you kill them?” Rahu suggested.
“If other means don’t work. Although that’s a last resort.”
“Damn, girl,” Rahu said, awe in his voice.
Ketu shook his head.
“In the meantime, no one has seen our reeve in all this time. The last colony meeting I went to, about five years ago, he wasn’t even there.”
“Your colony held a meeting without the reeve? Is that even allowed?” Gabe asked.
Antoinette shrugged. “I guess. I mean, there wasn’t any real business on the schedule, so why even bother having it?”
“To set precedence,” Talia said. “Make the colony comfortable with holding meetings without him. Who was speaking on his behalf? Darius, I’m guessing?”
“Yes,” Antoinette said.
“He was establishing control. And a routine. I’ll bet, after all this time, few in the colony even question the fact that they are holding meetings without their leader,” Talia said.
“Like I said, I haven’t been in forever, but yes, I believe you’re right.”
“So where is he? The reeve, I mean?” Talia asked.
Antoinette met Ketu’s gaze in the rearview mirror. “We think he’s dead.”
There were a variety of exclamations from both their vehicle and over the phone.
“And if he is, we believe Darius killed him,” Antoinette added.
“His own father?” Rahu said.
“Not just that,” Argyle said, speaking for the first time since he’d arrived with the other dragons, “but the leader of his colony. In any culture, that is treason. In mine, and undoubtedly in yours, that is punishable by death.”
“Yes,” Antoinette said. “Which is why he’s hiding it. Darius can’t become reeve if he killed the previous one, but in the current scenario, he basicallyisthe reeve.”
“That is some fucked up shit,” Rahu said.
Ketu couldn’t agree more. He pulled the vehicle to the curb in front of his parents’ house and shut off the engine. “And now, in order to both end the dragon’s blood trade and ensure he isn’t running the colony anymore, we agreed to help Delilah become reeve.”
“Also some fucked up shit,” Rahu said.
“Tell me about it,” Ketu muttered, and he climbed out of the SUV as Gabe ended the call.
Once everyone was gathered in the driveway, Ketu said, “Listen, Henri is asleep, so you have to be quiet, okay?”
“Who’s Henri?” Rahu asked.
“My”—Ketu glanced at Antoinette—“her son.”
