Page 23 of These Little Heirs
“I’ve visited those Starscale Worlds. No one---”
“That’s bullshit,” Clarence said. “I’ve visited them too. They’re a hardworking people. They keep each other fed and housed and entertained. We’ll never be cash free, Torvan. I can’t even wrap my head around that but this is the middle ground. We’re strong enough as a society to feed people for free.”
“But we don’t have to.”
“I don’t have to burn off your feet but I just might if you say something like that again,” Teal snapped and I slid into his lap afraid he might burn down the rest of Moonglow cabin otherwise. “Who made you selfish?”
“You can give away your food all you want. No one’s stopping you from running a charity but why do you expect everyone else to do it?” Torvan said.
Cobalt started toward the bed but Morvan stood up. Teal lifted me off his lap and slid in between them.
“He’s on the losing side when it comes to the food stuff,” Teal said. “He’s pissed about it. I’m glad he was the first one to speak up. Someone else might not have missed when they tried to blow up the cabin.”
“We can’t let him by with this without a punishment,” Cobalt growled.
“I know that,” Clarence said. “He’ll do time for the blowing up part but not the disagreeing with us part. We’re not fascists.”
“He might be,” Teal said and stormed out of the room.
I looked between Cobalt and Teal unsure of what to do. I wanted to race after my mate but he was fuming.
“I won’t let them just release him. I’ll eat his liver before ---” Cobalt started and Morvan drew his fist back. I slid in between the growling dragons and sighed. I almost lied and said I could be pregnant but figured Cobalt would know better. The triplets were way too close. He’d know that Teal and I hadn’t made it that far yet. Hell, for all I knew, so would Morvan.
“Ciro, this isn’t your fight,” Morvan said.
“Yeah, it is. When Teal ran off to save your ass I slept on his leg. They’re my family now. I don’t want to beat you up but I think I’d win. You’re fast. I’m fierce. It would be one for the history books but while we fought he could eat Torvan’s liver and that would be that.”
“No one is eating anyone’s liver,” Medwin stood up. “That is disgusting and just asking to start a food borne illness or plague or something. How about all of you go on now? Go check on Teal and the rest of them.”
“What about Torvan?” Morvan asked.
“We’ll take him downtown. Morvan we can’t let him away with this. Things like this start wars.”
“He’s not a hate group!” Morvan tossed his hands in the air. “He’s an idiot.”
“Idiots can start hate groups,” Clarence frowned.
“I guess I’m going downtown until they give me my brother back then,” Morvan sighed.
“Indigo waited a long time to get you sprung,” Cobalt growled.
“Well, he’s my brother,” Morvan frowned. “I could fuckin’ bloody kill him right now but he’s my brother.”
“Don’t let him get you killed, Morvan,” I frowned. “You might be Teal’s best friend but if there is a fight and you end up on the wrong side of it I won’t hesitate to kill you and I won’t stop Cobalt from punching you next time.”
Cobalt glanced from Medwin to Clarence and then back to me before storming out of the room. I was on leave but not staying to help manage the criminal felt like a betrayal of my oath.
Chapter Twelve
Teal
Since Torvan blew up part of the house there wasn’t anywhere to storm off to unless I wanted to head to the nesting tower or into the woods. After the crime scene that Guardie turned Reve into was cleaned up, I went back and rehid my caches of food, drinks, and survival supplies. I could spend a few days in the wild to bring my dragon down, but I wasn’t sure Ciro would find me out there. I knew this place from when I was a child. It was as familiar to me as the farm fields and gardens of my youth. I couldn’t say the same about Ciro.
“TEAL!” Cobalt bellowed over the chaos of the guards trying to organize what was blown apart into rebuildable and recyclable sections. “TEAL!”
“I HEAR YOU! COME OVER HERE AND STOP YELLING!” I shouted back.
“You alright?” Cobalt asked after he weaved his way through the crowd. I expected him to tell me that it was all my fault or to yell about me running off and leaving Ciro behind. I blinked at him. I didn’t have an answer for that. My rut was fucking with my head and making all my connections and links fuzzy.
