Page 21 of Dragon in Denial
A pirogue, which was essentially a flat-bottom canoe, lay upside down on shore. Pongo easily flipped it over and then waded out into the water, holding the boat steady and instructing first Ketu then Antoinette to get in. Once all three were ensconced in the small watercraft, Pongo lifted a long, narrow pole from the dock and used it for leverage as he pushed them through the stagnant bayou.
Almost immediately, a snake slithered across the top of the water away from them, and Antoinette gave a start and grabbed Ketu’s arm. He patted her hand and she snatched it away like his skin was on fire.
They passed giant cypress trees, their fat, cone-shaped trunks growing straight out of the water, Spanish moss dripping from their sprawling branches. He and Eulalie and Antoinette used to play hide-and-seek in the park near his parents’ house, and the Spanish moss hanging from the trees had been so thick it had provided an excellent hiding spot.
After a short while, they floated past another shack, this one even smaller than Pongo’s. An old man sitting in a chair on the dock lifted his coffee mug in greeting as they floated by.
“Human,” Pongo commented after they were out of earshot. “A little peculiar but a pleasant enough neighbor.”
A short while later, they passed a wild boar snuffling the dirt next to the swamp, then a nutria attempting to swim out of reach of a nearby alligator, while a blue heron took flight, scattering myriad smaller birds in the process. Even though his parents’ house was in town, plenty of wildlife had visited their yard over the years, probably thanks to the small bayou at the end of the street.
“I miss this,” Ketu murmured.
Antoinette arched her brow. “You lived in the city when you were here.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, but doesn’t this remind you of our childhood?”
She looked around at their surroundings: muddy water, foliage, birds, water animals, but not a house or human-like creature in sight. She glanced back at him without saying a word.
She didn’t get it, but then again, she hadn’t been away for a decade.
So Ketu said, “The first time I shifted, it was out in the bayou. Even if there were humans around, the ones who live out here are far less likely to question the sight of a couple of dragons in the sky.”
“This is true,” Pongo confirmed.
“Tell me how you know so much about gargoyles,” Antoinette asked, clearly ready to change the subject.
Ketu glanced at Pongo, who shrugged. “I have no stake in the goings-on in the city. My mistress and I prefer our solitude. You may speak freely and your words will not be repeated by me.”
Gargoyles did not lie, which was terribly inconvenient at the moment. Last night Ketu had promised to explain, but he’d only done so because Antoinette had clearly been exhausted and he wanted her to get some rest. So now he had to figure out how to tell her about his connection to Pongo’s kind without giving away the fact that he was here in New Orleans specifically to destroy her chosen career path.
“My reeve, Gabe, is part Rojo dragon. His mother lives in New Orleans. Thirty years ago, she put a curse on our colony that wouldn’t allow any members to find their fated mate.” He glanced at Antoinette, looking for any sign that she realized what the hell happened last night. She hadn’t acknowledged the discovery that they were mates. Did she even know? Was that possible? Everything had happened so fast and they had been in the middle of a battle, so maybe she hadn’t connected the dots.
One problem at a time.
“Last fall, I came down here with Gabe and a few other dragons to try to convince his mother to lift the curse.”
“Wait,” Antoinette said. “A dragon put a curse on a colony of other dragons? How is that possible?”
“As it turns out, she’s half witch.”
“The one to whom Argyle was beholden,” Pongo said.
“Yes,” Ketu said.
Antoinette whistled. “I’ve never heard of dragons and witches getting together.”
“It is no different than a gargoyle and witch mating,” Pongo pointed out.
“I suppose that’s true,” Antoinette mused.
“Anyway, her name is Delilah, and…” And what? He couldn’t tell her he was here to track down Delilah—who very likely was Antoinette’s supplier—and end the dragon’s blood trade. “And, uh, I’m just here making sure she doesn’t cause any other havoc.”
“Like what?”
Damn her seemingly innocent curiosity.
Ketu shrugged. “She cursed an entire colony just because she was mad that the guy she liked found out he was mated to another. Who the hell knows what else she might do?”
