Chapter Eleven
The investigation did not take too long. Jaspar had one main suspect, and as soon as he ascertained the truth, he gathered that suspect, and his brothers and his clan mates, and they headed over to the guest cottage.
His brothers and clan mates stood there expectantly, as Marjan and Liza and her family walked into the kitchen. Everyone was there but Loren. Liza was holding La La in her arms, and La La was watching them all with bared, needle-like teeth.
“Mother, do you have something you would like to say to everybody here?” Jaspar said, glaring ferociously at her.
“Many things,” Karmelite said. “For instance, I would like to thank them for their hospitality and their sharing of their most quaint and delightful holiday customs. Also, I would be most happy to tell them about our home world, which they have not yet visited and—”
“Is there anything you would like to confess to them?” Jaspar said, and scales covered his body in a silvery sheet. Smoke began drifting from his mouth and nostrils.
“Nothing at all, actually,” his mother said to him, batting her enormous eyes. “Why would I want to confess something? If I did something wrong, then obviously I would wish to conceal it.”
“You try my patience, Mother. Tell them now. I am your Regis, and I command it,” Jaspar snarled.
His mother rolled her eyes like a chastised child. “Oh, very well,” she said. “My son was not the one who sabotaged the weather machine. It was me.”
“Did you have help?” Jaspar said, glowering at her.
“Well, of course. I had Loren actually do it for me. But it is entirely my fault. I told him what to do, and threatened him with revealing his most embarrassing dragonling secrets if he didn’t help me.”
“And what else did you have him sabotage?” Jaspar continued relentlessly.
“Well, the translator, of course,” his mother said. “Although he didn’t do the best job there. It was supposed to stop working the moment you landed at the restaurant.”
“I don’t understand,” Liza protested. “Why would you conspire to force Jaspar and me to spend the night together if you’re opposed to this match?”
His mother shrugged gracefully. “I believed that you two would have a terrible date, especially without the translator working, and forcing you to spend an entire night together would definitely make you see that you are not suited for each other.”
“Well, you failed miserably, because we actually had the most wonderful date of all time.” Jaspar flashed his mother a triumphant look.
“It was?” Liza said.
“It most certainly was,” Jaspar said.
Liza found herself warming to him a little bit again.
Okay, a lot.
Marjan wasn’t so easy to convince. “I still don’t trust you,” she said to Korl. “And if your Regis hurts my friend in any way – and that includes her feelings, then he will answer to me.”
“But if you hurt my Regis, then you answer to me,” Korl said.
“Your threats bear all the weight of a Larcoosian skimron,” Marjan scoffed.
Everybody stared at her.
“They’re not very frightening,” she explained.
“Yeah, I figured that, from the context,” Liza said.
“My goodness, I’m so happy that we resolved all this!” Mawmaw said, beaming at them. “I do hate to be angry at Christmas time.”
She grabbed a plate of cookies from the counter and held one out to Karmelite. Karmelite took it and regarded it with suspicion.
“What type of poison do these sugar circles contain?” she asked suspiciously. “My system can metabolize many types of poison, but not all.”
“They don’t contain any poison,” Liza said, grabbing one and stuffing it in her mouth. She chewed and swallowed. “These are my grandmother’s famous sugar cookies. She would never sully the ancient family recipe with poison.”
