Page 11 of These Little Heirs
“And don’t worry. My grandparents aren’t executing Teal or Indigo. Both of them are overreacting. At the end of the day, I don’t think they care more about golf than people. I’ve been proven wrong before but this time I don’t think I will be.”
I climbed into the nest with them wondering what Medwin would think about me laying with the people I was supposed to be guarding if he wasn’t so damn busy deciding the fate of my mate.
Chapter Six
Teal
“Are you trying to tell me Morvan DiSea has no control over his own actions? Are you implying that you’ve bespelled him into doing your dirty work?” Clarence asked me, his voice growing deeper and louder with each syllable that slipped over his angry tongue. My grandsire was already red in the face. He was that way when I showed up and came through the backdoor right before my grandparents headed out to the jail to talk to Morvan.
“We arrived exactly when I planned to,”my dragon chimed into my thoughts.
“It’s my operation,” I said again not bothering to answer his asinine questions. “I tried to tell you that we needed more green space. I tried to let you know that we needed to focus more on growing food and restoring the pollinators to their prehuman-historic numbers. You wouldn’t listen to me. You brushed me off by saying people could tell you if they needed help. I told you and you brushed me off. So, what the hell did you say to those who might not be your heir?”
“It’s not about heirship,” Medwin cut in and I bit the inside of my cheek. My grandcarrier was the second to the last person in the world I wanted to hurt. The first being my carrier. “This is about so much more than that! If it got out that you were undermining your grandfather at every turn…” His face paled and his words trialed off. “Lots of people already know, don’t they?”
“Yes! And there hasn’t been a coup! This isn’t a coup! There isn’t going to be a bloody coup! I don’t want your jobs! You told me to plant trees! You told me to see what I could do, and I did! That winter your babies were born you told me to do it!” I tossed my hands in the air feeling more like a teenager than I had in a long time. “If being part of this family means leading the land and the people on it, I’m doing that! I’m restoring the land! Yes! I started with your favorite golf course because you pissed meoff, but I figured you’d see sense sooner that way! What are you charging Morvan with? Because it should be my charge.”
“Trespassing,” Clarence spat out the word.
“Because you can’t find a law that says it’s illegal to plant seeds anywhere, can you?” I smirked.
“What do you want me to do? I gave you the chance to make a difference within the framework of tradition and---”
“Tradition and change aren’t compatible! Do you even hear yourself? Do you read the articles that come across your desk or do you crinkle them up and use them to hide your shinys?” My hands trembled like Cobalt’s had when he caught Odie’s anxiety.
“Do not talk to your grandfather like that!” Medwin cut in. “Shinymania is a real medical condition!”
I squeezed my eyes shut, begging my dragon not to set anything on fire. Meda and AJ were upstairs with their nanny. I needed everything to stop for a minute. I needed them to see that for years I’d done this now and the numbers were improving. Neither of them had been harmed.
“You’ve practically driven him crazy, Teal!” Medwin said. “You--- I’m proud that you want to make a difference…
“No, I want to make a change! A real and lasting change! A change before it’s too late and we’re having to hand pollinate our food. Numbers have crept back up since human governments died but not enough. We have enough land and hands to feed everyone. Frost Moonscale would never have charged someone for food!”
Clarence sat down on the sofa and tossed his hands up into the air. It wasn’t the first time I used that line on him and it wouldn’t be the last.
“What’s up, everyone? Just coming to turn myself in,” Indigo walked into the room.
“Go home!” Clarence and I snapped at the same time, and I cringed. The old bastard was the last person I wanted to sound like.
“I did it. I bullied Morvan into it. He might be a jumbo lizard but I’m bigger,” Indigo shrugged.
“And why would you have me believe you did it?” Clarence asked.
“To see if I could. I was bored. Besides, our carrier is going to love it when he finds out. It’s in our blood, Grandpa. He’s an ag engineer. It’s in our blood,” Indigo said and tossed his hands back. I had just enough time to stuff my fingers into my ears before he let out a howl that set Meda off upstairs. Out of all of us, Indigo’s vocal cords were the best for howling. He carried on the sound drowning out my thoughts and what anyone else might say. “Pack living is in our blood. I did it because I missed Heartville. I did it because you need a large sample size for an experiment. I did it –”
“He did not do it,” I rolled my eyes and stuffed my fingers back in my ears before he howled again.
“Stop that!” Medwin sighed. “That isn’t helping anyone! You cannot annoy us so much that Morvan isn’t in trouble!”
“Wanna bet?” Indigo smirked. “I got him into this mess I’ve got to get him out of it.”
“It’s my fault, Dad,” Sunny said, from the kitchen doorway and Medwin plowed through both me and Indigo to get to his second born like he hadn’t visited him two weeks ago fon Starscale 2. Sunny hugged him and spun him around in circles until Medwin slapped at him demanding to be put down.
“It’s my fault,” he said again. “We encouraged them.”
“You don’t really believe in a cashless society, do you?” Clarence rubbed the bridge of his nose.
“No,” Sunny shook his head, and I turned to face him head on because I was pretty sure he did. “No, I don’t,” Sunny saidagain. “I believe we don’t need to make money off food. I think we could really change how everyone sees you if we didn’t make money off food. That’s all. It would be good for your reputation, and it would show the world that we’re that bloody prosperous, Dad. Seriously,” he said, joining Clarence on the sofa. “Not only have we rebuilt from the war but we’ve rebuilt so much everyone is eating for free. Then they’re spending their money in other parts of the economy. Then when we make sure all of our people are eating for free, we send the excess to other groups because we’re that recovered. That’s how much that stupid hate group can’t keep us down.”
