The Platinum Dragon's Mate - Zoe Chant Page 0,12

cautioned.

“I know, I know.”

Together, Reid and Sage got Rhiannon propped up on the pillows so that she could brace the book in her lap, one-handed. “Does your arm hurt?” Reid asked.

“A little.” She was looking longingly at the book.

“Tell one of us right away if it starts hurting more, or if you move wrong and suddenly it hurts a lot. Okay?”

“Okay.”

Reid smiled. “I guess we’ll let you read now,” he said, glancing at Sage.

She nodded, and they withdrew, leaving the door open a crack.

Out in the main room, Sage shook her head. “She’s been asking for new books pretty much ever since she learned to read, but we never go into the city, and my father doesn’t really approve of human media.”

“I’m sorry,” Reid said softly. “I hope he understands that he’s not Rhiannon’s parent—you are. He doesn’t have the right to make decisions for her.”

“Well, but he’s our clan leader,” Sage said. “Of course he does.”

Reid shook his head. “My mother’s our clan leader, and she wouldn’t be able to tell me how to raise my hypothetical kids. Or—well,” he had to amend, “she would, but I wouldn’t have to do anything she said if I didn’t want to.”

His mother undoubtedly would have a ton of advice in the event that he had children, but she wouldn’t force him to do anything—not that she could, anyway, because that was not how Oak Ridge was set up. And he was willing to bet that her advice, even if it might be high-handed, would be good advice. Or at least, better than Jeremiah’s.

Not that that seemed like a very high bar.

Sage had that thoughtful frown on her face again. “I heard that your clan leader was a woman,” she said. “I wonder—what is that like?”

What sort of answer was she looking for? Come to that, what was the answer? “Well...it’s different from how your father runs things,” Reid said slowly, “but I don’t know how much of that difference is because of gender and how much is because of—custom. I mean, your clan wouldn’t have a woman leader, am I right?”

She nodded immediately. “I’ve never heard of any.”

“So we were already pretty different just to allow it. And she’s not the same kind of leader that Jeremiah is—she’s the town mayor, which means everyone elected her. Human and shifter. She didn’t challenge for the position, and she wasn’t born into it.”

“But what does she tell you to do?” Sage pressed. “How does she lead?”

Reid laughed a little. “Honestly, I don’t know most of what she does. A lot of it is bureaucracy—you know, how much money goes to things like the library, the fire station, the police, all of that. She passes local laws and ordinances. She doesn’t tell ordinary people to do stuff—with the exception of me and my father, sometimes.”

Sage chuckled a little at that, but the wrinkle didn’t leave her forehead. “It sounds like there’s a difference just in how you lead a big clan versus a small one,” she said finally. “We don’t have a library or a fire station or anything like that.” She sighed. “Rhiannon would really love a library.”

“What about you?” he asked, suddenly really wanting to know. “What do you wish you had?”

She looked around. “Better homes,” she said immediately. “I clean as much as I can, but when it’s falling down around you...there’s not much you can do.”

“Do any of you have any skills in—construction? Engineering?” he asked tentatively, knowing the answer even as he asked the question.

Sure enough, she shook her head. “I think my great-uncle used to be able to build things,” she said. “But he died a long time ago. And...” She bit her lip. “Ronan used to be good at fixing stuff. He’s the one who made it so the water worked again.”

Ronan, who had left this clan years ago, and come to live in Oak Ridge, unknowingly starting the cycle of events that had led to Reid standing here, in Ronan’s sister’s house.

“Maybe if we can broker a peace, you can see him again,” Reid said.

She looked up. “You don’t know what my father said about him after he left,” she said, her voice heavy. “He’ll never acknowledge Ronan’s existence again, and he’ll never allow any of us to go see him.”

Reid bit his lip hard. You’re an adult! he wanted to yell. You can do whatever you want, and you don’t need his approval!

The problem was...he was wrong. Sage couldn’t do whatever she wanted, because a