Roger poked Principe Teague in the arm hard, causing Teague to glare at him. “Are you going to let him stand there and threaten me? Do your job!” he snapped.
“Don’t touch me like that again,” Teague said coldly, and Roger folded his arms and scowled.
“They’ve filed a complaint about Kelly drugging Pandora and impersonating the Fair Maiden,” Teague said to Gabriel, his eyes gleaming with malice. “We’re going to have to take her down to the station for questioning.”
Claws curved from Gabriel’s fingers, and he let out a blast of flame. “Over my dead body,” he snapped.
Teague’s eyes turned ice blue and his pupils went vertical, just like Gabriel’s. “My pleasure. I’ve been waiting for this for a long time.” When he spoke, an icy cloud of vapor rolled from his mouth. The chief stepped forward towards Kelly, his centurions by his side.
Dragons in law enforcement tended to take a dim view of dragon rogues like Gabriel; the fear was that rogues would tarnish the law-abiding dragons by association, and human-dragon relations were dicey enough. The problem was, although humans vastly outnumbered dragons, they were still terrified of them.
“Hey!” Kelly yelled, leaping between the two dragon shifters before Gabriel could stop her. Gabriel might be a thief, but the last thing that Kelly wanted was for him to go to prison – or duel to the death – on her account. “Do you have a warrant for my arrest?” she demanded of Teague. “You can’t take me in without a warrant.”
“Well, I…” Vigiles Principe Teague glanced around nervously; a good sized crowd had assembled now, both humans and dragons. They were muttering amongst themselves and watching the dramatic scene unfold.
“I thought so,” Kelly said with a nod. “So I don’t have to accompany you anywhere. As for Pandora, I didn’t have to drug her; she and her boyfriend were already three sheets to the wind.” Kelly wasn’t even entirely lying; she didn’thaveto drug Pandora. She’d just done it to be extra sure. And the drug she’d used was undetectable, so they wouldn’t be able to prove anything.
“Ha! That proves you were in my trailer!” Pandora said eagerly. “You couldn’t know I’d been drinking with Mike unless you were in my trailer!”
“Wait, who’s Mike?” Pandora’s father looked at her in alarm, then turned back to Principe Teague. “She doesn’t have a boyfriend! She was selected by the fair committee! She was preparing to marry Gabriel!”
Pandora’s look of triumph faded and turned sly and sullen. “Just because I had a drink or two before the ceremony doesn’t mean anything. I was nervous, that’s all. The drink was to help me relax.”
“A drink or two?” Kelly scoffed. “How about a pitcher or two? There were two empty pitchers on your dressing table, and you and your boyfriend were passed out in your underwear!”
“No we weren’t!” Pandora’s face turned red.
“Then how do I know about your boyfriend’s tattoos? He’s got a tattoo on his thigh that says ‘eat my meat’ with an arrow pointing at his crotch.”
“Gross,” one of the women in the crowd said to her husband. “If you got that kind of a tattoo, I’d divorce you.”
Gabriel threw back his head and laughed.
“So that’s what you did on the very day you were to be engaged to me? Way to keep it classy, Pandora.”
“He’snotmy boyfriend! If you know what tattoo is on his thigh, well then…then you must have been having sex with him!” Pandora said furiously to Kelly.
People around them were snickering behind their hands, and Pandora’s father looked as if he were about to explode.
“Are you serious?” Kelly scoffed. “I flew in from Seattle on the morning of the fair, checked into my hotel, and went straight to the fairgrounds. And I’ve never even been in the Tri-Valley area before. All of that’s easy to prove. So what’s more likely – that you were banging a local guy, or that I was?”
“She still broke into the trailer,” Pandora’s father said desperately to Principe Teague. “Breaking and entering is illegal. Arrest her.”
“All I did was bring her and her boyfriend more beer,” Kelly said. “They let me in.” Also true. Mostly. They had let her in.
“I need to talk to the people who own the trailer. That’s the fair committee,” Teague said unhappily, shaking his head. “I have to find out if they want to press charges. And do you want any more publicity about this than you’ve already gotten?” He glanced around at the crowd.
“Fine, take her side,” Pandora’s father muttered angrily.
Tears of rage and humiliation glistened in Pandora’s eyes. “I will get you for this,” she swore. “I will destroy you both.” And she and her family stormed off.
Principe Teague looked at Gabriel. “I suppose you think you’ve gotten away with something,” he said angrily. “Your luck won’t hold forever.”
And he walked away.
