Page 144 of Dragon Her Heels

The succubus went on and on about the horrors of going to the hospital in a mismatched set.

While I hadn’t been bothered much over the idea of medical personnel seeing my panties, I had a rather unhealthy fixation on dying in ugly underwear.

I blamed the fuzziness in my head accompanied with a deep headache for the ridiculousness of my thoughts. I could tell the hospital had drugged me with something; while awake, I was numb just about everywhere, a sensation I could live without.

Lucifer, who sat beside the hospital bed, eyed me before staring at his wife with an unamused expression. “This has been going on for almost two hours,” he informed me, careful to keep his voice low. “Michael, Gabriel, and six other archangels have been in here reassuring those two you’ll be fine. We did not tell them you needed this brush with death for the greater good. Neither would have handled it well. My wife knows you’re needed to help my sister, which makes you one of the top people in our lives, second only to our intermediate family.”

I couldn’t blame her for that. I licked my lips to discover I was in a better situation than previous hospital stays, which had involved breath reeking of decay, a dry mouth, and a desire to drink down an entire lake. “If they’re listening, the ruse is up,” I whispered.

The Devil grinned at me before whispering back, “They’re not. They’ve decided it will be at least four or five more hours until you’re aware, as that was on the far end of the estimate. They didn’t predict ten minutes after the start of the window. How are you feeling?”

“I don’t like this.”

“It’s the drugs. Once they wear off, you’ll be closer to your old self. It seems you decided to bargain with Azrael?”

As I doubted nodding would end well with me, I replied, “I did.”

He pointed at my side, out of view of the bickering pair.

A tiny dragon, no longer than ten inches from head to tip of tail, slept in a tiny ball. His scales gleamed gold with a pearlescent sheen. “Oh. He’s already here.”

“I was quite surprised when the Universe paid us a visit and left us a present. Yuless has not yet noticed. There will be mayhem when he does.”

I agreed; while I had no idea how long Wyness had slumbered within the boundary, I assumed he had perished when magic had fled from the world for the first time. With some help from Lucifer, I adjusted the bed so I sat up, and he handed me the slumbering baby. I caught Darlene glancing my way, but she kept on arguing with my fiancé, suggesting that the only form of apparel I needed was a shoulder shrug and nothing else.

Lucifer shook his head. “Now she’s just trying to buy you time, and he’s so offended by the thought of anyone else seeing your breasts he can’t even think straight.”

“It’s a good thing I like my men a little jealous. He hasn’t been excessively jealous, which is good.” I sucked in a breath, staring at Lucifer with wide eyes. “What do we feed the baby?”

“He’ll eat anything a dragon can eat, so don’t you worry about that. Why don’t you allow me to handle this? It might keep Yuless from completely losing his grip on his sanity.”

“Sure. Just try to save me some embarrassment. I think I’ve had enough embarrassment for one day.”

“Or you could finish that sentence and end the argument, and then I’ll take over.”

I grinned. “I’m only going to be embarrassed if I’m caught dead in mismatched or dirty panties, Yuless. Didn’t I warn you I sometimes have issues with near death experiences?” Careful not to hurt the little one, I lifted him up and showed him to my fiancé. “I had an errand to run, and he was hiding in the boundary. It was time for him to come back into the light, and apparently, that’s a hedge witch thing. If it makes you feel better, blame Lucifer.”

“Hey,” the Devil complained.

Yuless’s eyes widened, and he regarded the sleeping dragon in my hands, his face paling. “It can’t be.”

Lucifer smiled at the baby I held. “Yes, it is Wyness, brought back to life—not resurrected, mind you. It was simply time for his rebirth, and only the Universe herself can bring life to a dragon like him. But for the Universe to bring back his seed, she needed somebody who could lure him back out of the boundary. He was… frightened.”

Frightened was one way to put it. Also, I marveled at how the Devil told lies with nothing but the truth. “When I’m let out of here, I’m going to need to be pampered, because I’m probably going to have a headache for a while.”

“Only for a few days,” Lucifer assured me. “You should take him home and allow the rest of your brethren to care for him while Crystal recovers. Perhaps put him into Ashley’s care? That would fill certain holes in their union.”

I held out the tiny dragon. “This is the only dragon of punting size that will not be sent out over the lake unless he asks nicely or is old enough to be deserving of such discipline. But a hospital is not the best first experience for him. How long will he sleep for, Lucy?”

“He’ll sleep for a few more hours, and then he will want a meal. I recommend starting him on fresh, raw food. Stop at a butcher on the way home. Crystal needs peace and quiet to heal, and you need some time to accept that there was a purpose and a need for what happened today. And yes, I will assume a puntable shape for you to work your nerves out on, but only after Crystal can go home to enjoy it.”

Yuless came over, sighed, and bent down to give me a kiss. “You scared me.”

For someone like him, the confession of fear took courage. I kissed him back before offering him the precious baby. “I told you. When I get sick, I get really sick. Every few years, I’ll scare the liver out of you, I’ll recover, and that’ll be that. I’ll try to limit how many times I do this, as I’ve had my fill of it for a while. With how I’m feeling right now? I’m going to do my best to sleep it off. I might even bargain with the Devil to receive excellent sleep while waiting for the hospital to release me. Wyness needs you more than I do right now, and I think Lucy is right. Ashley, Isaac, Realt, and Saurrel need him even more than you do. Bust me out of here in the morning, assuming all goes well, and then we can get into an argument over the wedding location and the date, which will be one day after the Triple Crown ends at Saratoga.”

Yuless raised a brow at that. “I see you have taken advantage of your time unconscious to make some decisions without me.”

“I wanted to give being the boss a try. So far, it’s nice, especially if you go along with it.”

“I’m trying to figure out how we’re going to plan a wedding during your racing season.”

At least he hadn’t called me out for blatant stupidity. “I’m not. I’m going to make Darlene, Lucifer, and anyone else I can coerce into helping us do the planning. I will show up with a pretty dress and enjoy the spoils of their war.”

Yuless eased the tiny dragon out of my hands and into his, and he let out another sigh. “Did it really take this much to bring him back, Lucifer?”

“He will not be the same Wyness you knew and loved, but Wyness’s soul is there. It is him, in his essence, at least. He will have a sense of recognition with you and your fellow dragons, but the Universe healed the parts of him that had sent him to his grave while Crystal provided the comfort and security he required in order to be willing to leave the boundary.” Lucifer smiled my way. “And yes, my father and I accompanied you, but Azrael and the Four Horses didn’t need our help, so we let them do what they do best. And every time you do make your way to the valley, you will always have someone with you.” He hesitated. “Just please don’t go forward with any plans to rest, relax, and read books while there. Azrael told you nothing but the truth: some magic and soundproofing will turn your bedroom into the only haven you need. That is the one place Yuless cannot go, and he does not like being left behind.”

“I really don’t.” After staring at me for a long, silent while, he focused on the baby dragon. “You have no idea how much this means to me, Crystal.”

After having learned about dragons and the fate of the little one my fiancé held with gentle hands, I could guess at Wyness’s importance. However, I also understood there was a time for talking and a time for understanding, and he needed my quiet acceptance more than anything else. “Go home and take Lucifer with you. I’m sure Darlene can manage things from here.”

“No pizza,” Lucifer ordered, glaring at his wife.

“Aw, you’re not fun,” the succubus complained. “I’ll save the pizza for tomorrow when you can help break us apart when we get going.”