Page 62 of Dragon in Denial
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 yourmamá. “
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.
“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.”
