Page 41 of These Little Heirs
“Our kittens will still have a daddy. Everything is moot,”my cat murmured into my thoughts.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Teal
“I’m sorry,” was all that Torvan said over and over to his brother. He kept apologizing as he dug his pale fingers into Morvan’s flesh. We couldn’t take the knife out unless we wanted to kill him. I had nothing that would siphon out the magical poison either. Guards rushed to our aid but were just as lost as we were. Then my sire pushed his way through the crowd and for a second, I was a hatchling all over again. If he was here, he’d know what to do.
“Dad, he’s---” I started but Morvan’s roar cut through the crowd and a stream off fire rained down the sidewalk.
“Gone,” one of the guards finished my sentence for me. I made to lunge on him, but Dad put his hand on my shoulder.
Morvan and I had never failed a mission before. We always saved the day. We defeated the bad guys and brought home whoever was in danger. Only this time, we weren’t the good guys. At least not by the way we saw the world before. Patrica was one of us. She trained with us. We helped her shape her natural skill into something useful for what we did and she did what needed to be done when neither of us had the balls. I fell onto my ass and stared at the crimson pool on the sidewalk. Torvan was a danger to everyone. He was willing to blow me and everyone else up because he thought he might lose money. He wasn’t Morvan. He was never going to be Morvan. Now, I wasn’t even sure Morvan was Morvan.
Dad cleared the streets of everyone except us and the guards. He wouldn’t let anyone take Torvan away from his brother even when it was clear Patrica’s knife had hit exactly where she intended. I wanted to send someone to help Cirodown but there wasn’t anyone I trusted except Dad and we needed him for crowd control.
“We should’ve brought Indigo or Cobalt,”my dragon roared inside my thoughts.
“Teal, I’ve sent Ciro home with your grandcarrier,” Clarence’s voice cut through the chaos of the chattering guards.
They all rushed to him, wanting orders, but for a moment, Clarence said nothing. He looked from me to Torvan and Morvan and back to me. He frowned. It was a grim expression someone might wear if they looked upon neglected gutters that it was now time to clean. Then he turned back to the guards and put on the voice of Clarence Moonscale that everyone knew. The guards scurried this way and that, relieved to have something more to do than standby while Morvan roared and bellowed and the knife sucked in the remainder of Torvan’s blood.
When the ambulance came to transport the body, the EMTs lifted both brothers onto the stretcher. I stood to follow but Clarence held me back.
“Now isn’t the time, Teal. Whatever you need to say now isn’t the time.”
“I didn’t do it,” I said, my eyes growing wide at the accusation.
“I know that. Everyone knows that. The cameras all over the street caught it. They even caught Patrica throwing the knife and riding off into the sunset with her goat. She wanted to make a point and she did. I think most people will think twice before they try to blow you up. Grandson,” he turned me to face him. “we’ll go get coffee. Don’t make the mistake of making it a beer. I did that once upon a time, but it doesn’t make anything better. Hangovers help nothing.”
I followed him like a lost puppy to his car. Where had Dad gone? To check on Ciro? With Morvan to the hospital? I wasn’t sure but couldn’t make heads or tails over the links. I tried toreach out to my brothers but that was another failure. Odie was having his baby. I’d fucked up with everyone. Every which way I turned I let someone down.
“Welcome to leadership,” Clarence let out a soft chuckle as his driver opened the door for us and we slid into the car. “Seriously, I’m not being a smartass. I almost wish you’d come to me when you started all of this. I could’ve warned you but if I had, I don’t know if we’d be here now and outside of what unfolded on the street today now isn’t a bad time to live in. Moonscale Meals is official today. We waited on you but you were busy. It’s all your plan. I kept your name on everything because people love you, kiddo. They really do. You got what you wanted and then some. It’s not just London. We’re in talks with other areas of the territory to start similar programs.”
“Everyone hates you because they think you got their brother killed?” I asked, trying to make sense of his words through the fog.
“Because they think I had a claw in their misery. Morvan won’t blame you for throwing the knife. I’ve lived long enough to know Morvan’s type. He would’ve died happily in Torvan’s arms, having taken his brother’s execution for him even if it was deserved. We can’t say for certain that Torvan would’ve tried to hurt someone in the future, but violence begets violence. Live by the claw and die by it and all of that. What Morvan blames you for is robbing him of that moment. He could’ve died happy but now he has to live with the grief of what happened and what he couldn’t stop from happening. That you didn’t let him stop it from happening. You saved him in the nick of time, Teal. I only hope that somewhere along the way he’s grateful for it because today he’s not.”
We sat in silence until the driver pulled the car up in front of a coffee shop. He opened the door, and we walked into the empty building.
“That’s the perk of owning a coffee shop. You can send everyone away and all the employees but the best ones home. That and you always get ‘free’ coffee,” Clarence said, trying to coax some joy out of me.
“He’s my best friend,” I said still dumbfounded. “Morvan is my best friend. I should be at the hospital.”
“No, you shouldn’t,” Clarence said. “He’s hurt and angry and ---”
“You’re just afraid he’s going to hurt me,” I grunted and headed toward the door finding it locked. “You think I’m the fucking firstborn and you think he’s going to hurt me.”
“I don’t know which of you hatched first,” Clarence frowned. “If it makes you feel better, I don’t want Cobalt or Indigo at the hospital tonight either. Morvan needs time to process what happened. We’ll take care of him.”
“You don’t get it, do you? Have you never had a best friend?”
“Yeah, I did. He died. He died while he took out my parents in a coup, I was very much part of. Only as the heir I was the hero and he was the rebel. This wasn’t a coup. This wasn’t a play for power. This was one of your and Morvan’s friends trying to protect you and Morvan from his brother. I happen to agree with her and am rather impressed by her methods.”
I rubbed my hands over my face, wishing my brothers were here.
“I’ll take you back to them after you simmer down for a bit,” Clarence squeezed my shoulder.
“They’ll hate me too,” I said, fighting off the urge to sink onto the floor.
