Dragon Heartstring(8)

“Are you all right?” asked Jessen, a concerned expression pinching her brow.

“I’m fine.” I waved away her concern, wishing she hadn’t drawn attention to me. Demetrius may not be a Morgon, but he was surely adept at detecting how he affected other women. I didn’t want to be one of the many who trembled in his presence.

Of course, that’s exactly who I was at the moment.

“Did the kite break?” asked Jessen.

“No,” said Demetrius. “Thanks to Shakara. We’ll give it a second flight after lunch.”

“Hmph. Not that I can keep Julian sitting down long enough to eat. Julian!”

He continued to bounce around, flapping his wings, which couldn’t yet lift him off the ground.

Demetrius reached over for a sandwich. “At what age do Morgons begin to fly?”

Jessen answered before I could. “Between ten to twelve years old. Though some have known to fly as young as eight.” She popped a grape in her mouth.

“Someone’s been studying Morgon anatomy,” I added before taking a bite of my sandwich. I reached for a napkin.

She laughed. “I have. Slightly obsessed actually.” Her gaze followed her son, who finally skipped toward us. “Becoming a mother makes you neurotic about such things.”

Panting, Julian stopped in front of us. “Momma, I’m not hungry.”

“You say that, but you’ll be starving soon enough. Here, Ruth made berry jam-stuffed biscuits just for you.”

His eyes lit up, and he snatched one of the pastries before taking off to gallop across the park lawn again.

“He has a sweet tooth,” said Jessen. “Like you did, Demetrius.”

“I still do,” he admitted, finishing the last bite of his sandwich.

Jessen opened a container of chocolate cakes sprinkled with nuts and passed it to him.

He took one, his expression turning serious. “So tell me about this hearing.”

Jessen glanced at me as if asking permission. I’d better take the lead on this one.

“There was a conflict between a Morgon and a human at one of the small villages between Gladium and Drakos. Farrow’s Dell is the name of the village. It was apparently a negotiation over some imports into Drakos. Blackmarket stuff. Anyway, a fight broke out, and the human ended it with a Volt gun. Unfortunately, he didn’t hit the man he was fighting but another Morgon in the bar who tried to break up the fight. He died on impact. He was an Icewing, a local healer. My cousin, to be precise.”

I’d not known my cousin well, but his death rocked the clan, bringing with it a vow by all to find justice for our clansman. And the best way was to rid the world of the abominable weapon that had needlessly taken his life.

Demetrius took in the story without a blink. When I finished, he sighed and set down his dessert, then wiped his fingers on a napkin.

“I’ve never been a proponent of the Volt gun. But stockholders of Cade Enterprises have been.”

“What do you think Father’s reaction will be regarding this proposal to ban them?” asked Jessen.

He scoffed with an arch of one brow. “Exactly what you think it will be. He’ll fight it.”

“Not if you persuade him not to,” she added pointedly.

A pause stretched between the three of us. A breeze drifted past, rustling the leaves in the trees. Julian chased the red ones drifting down from a nearby elm.

“This isn’t your fight,” I said. “You don’t have to get involved at all. Actually, Jessen, I’m surprised you’d drag your brother into this.”

“Shakara, without powerful backing from some heavy-hitting corporate businessmen, you and your clan will lose this battle.”

“You don’t have much faith in us.”

“It has nothing to do with faith. It has to do with money. Trust me. This is a world I know a lot about. I grew up in it.”

“Exactly. You plan to speak for us,” I added with conviction. “You’re from the powerful Cade family. Surely, they’ll listen to you.”

“Right,” she replied on a laugh. “And my father disowned me when I married a Morgon. Trust me, I have no power to sway the rich and powerful of Gladium Province. But I’ll give it a try nonetheless.”

“Does Moira know about any of this?” he asked.

“No. And I’ll keep it from her if I can help it. God knows she’s been in the limelight too much since I married Lucius.”

Demetrius’s expression relaxed. “My thoughts exactly.”

One thing was for certain. Demetrius cared for the wellbeing of his sisters, which contradicted his image of the hard-dealing executive of Cade Technologies. Or maybe it didn’t. Maybe the person he showed the world wasn’t who he was at all.

Jessen stood, brushing some crumbs from her jeans. “Demetrius, I know how important your career is to you. Don’t feel you have to intervene, especially if you don’t believe in this cause. It could be more detrimental to you than anyone else, if we should lose. I just thought I’d give it a try.” She picked up the kite and followed after Julian.

Demetrius was awfully silent, while frustration welled inside of me, tightening my gut. For Jessen not believing in our clan’s ability to get our proposal passed, for the fact the Volt gun had been created and sold in mass market, for the fact we still lived in a corrupt, unjust world.