Page 46 of Dragon Her Heels

The little old ladies gasped at Ashley’s commentary, made their excuses, and left. To keep the remaining pair from doing something I might regret, I offered them their goodies for the day. “You might even have enough eggs to feed them breakfast.”

Wise sentients ran when the dinner bell rang, and both pale dragons shuffled towards the woman, their snouts pointed directly at the source of breakfast.

It was nice to know dragons shared similar motivations with humans, although I worried there might not be enough eggs on the planet to appease two dragons and an incubus.

That Ashley would try amused me and would for a long time.

Ashley checked her bag, and she nodded. “I will valiantly make the attempt. Come along, then. Breakfast won’t take long to whip up, and I got bacon and sausage yesterday. If I run out of bacon and sausage, I surely have enough potatoes to tame all three of you.”

If anyone had told me that dragons could be tamed with the offer of breakfast, I would have laughed myself sick. Yet, without any hesitation, her trio fell into line to do her bidding.

If I had a third of her luck, I’d be set.

Damn.

Life had a way of making me regret everything. By tomorrow, the gossip mill would be hard at work making my life miserable. In good news, the Destroyer of Georgia seemed remarkably tame for an entity capable of gobbling down three cities, one of my bosses seemed tolerable, and I had plenty of eggs. After I ditched the audience, I would eat my feelings before getting back to work. “I’m going to go drop all this stuff to everyone else down the street while I wallow in regrets. You can go visit the horses while you wait if you want. The horses would love to be given their owed attention. Nothing beats a dessert of attention after breakfast for that lot.”

“We’ll go check on the horses,” Lucifer stated, and he began the process of herding his family into the limousine. “However tempting, please don’t feed the dragon to the alligators, especially not the big one.”

“As long as you bring Mr. Magic the Bold a treat, he limits his aggressiveness to posturing and terrifying demands to be petted. That only works if you’re on my property, though. Off it? You’re dinner. I highly recommend that you do not leave my property. There are a lot of gators in the water, and they are not shy about eating people and pets. There is a reason I warded my place like I did, and that reason involves valuing my own life.” I dug out my phone, careful not to dislodge my scaled passenger, and opened the gate. “You can be my security while I’m walking down the street and delivering eggs. Just mind Mr. Magic. He’s only nice on my property. The rest of the time? He absolutely will eat you without regret. Or try to with enthusiasm and great passion. That one is always hungry.”

“Alligators usually are,” Lucifer replied with a laugh. “Do yourself a favor and don’t knock on any doors today. You will regret things even more than you already do now that the castle is a reality rather than just a looming myth.”

I sighed at that. “I truly was hopeful the castle was just a myth.”

“You’ll get over it,” the Devil promised.

“But are you sure?” Rather than wait for an answer, I began the tedious process of making certain my neighbors had something to eat even if life didn’t work out quite as planned or hoped for.

* * *

Accepting the Devil’s advice paid off, as I managed to drop off all the eggs and fruit without having to deal with any more of my neighbors. I suspected having a dragon on my shoulder helped to hold everyone at bay. Then again, they likely watched from their windows, expecting the dragon to tire of me and my black hair, toxic green eyes, and dark apparel.

I thought I added to the ambience of having an entire castle in the lake behind my home.

On my way to the gate, which I’d left open to save myself the hassle, I decided to strike up a conversation with my passenger. “There are a few rules around here, Mr. Dragon. My livestock are pets until they’re of old age, and then they’re supper. Specifically, they’re my supper unless I decide otherwise. You’ll be entitled to a fair share of the eggs, as I have more than a few chickens and can’t eat that many eggs even if I wanted to. I share from my garden and orchard, so if you want anything, just come ask. As for your business work, investments, and so on, that’s a job I’ll work on tonight. I meant to do it yesterday, but the Devil keeps paying me visits, and he’s pretty damned needy. I really don’t know how Darlene puts up with him.”

The succubus popped into existence beside me and matched my pace. “I really don’t know how I put up with him myself. He’s engaging in an argument with Zenzi, as he loves his precious little mare and she loves you more than she loves him. Your colt? He’s bucking on Lucy’s back because that lout of mine thought it was a good idea to do his whining and crying from a prone position. She is not correcting him, as she feels he deserves a little pain. Your colt? He’s having the time of his life.”

Well, at least somebody was happy with how things were going. “While Moon suits him, I regret he wasn’t named Devil Bane right now.”

Darlene snickered, and she reached over to scratch the dragon underneath his chin. “As my daughter and her husband are being entertained with their father being ridiculous as usual, I wanted to ask you if you are trying to form a quartet with Ashley and those three? Incubi do not mind group activities, and dragons are individualistic in their preferences. Those two? They do not mind group activities. The one on your shoulder is dedicated to one and only one partner.”

“It seems I spared the Destroyer of Georgia from being caught up in a group activity, then. Think that will earn me some forgiveness for screwing around with his castle?”

“He’s literally right there on your shoulder, Crystal. Perhaps you should address him directly?”

I resisted the urge to shrug so I wouldn’t knock my winged guest off. “Darlene, the Destroyer of Georgia is literally on my shoulder right now.”

She stared at me. “He’s not going to breathe fire, turn you to ash, and eat you, I promise. He woke early, unexpectedly, and there was a need. He understood the need once he beheld the situation, and while my daughter wasn’t quite aware of the mayhem she unleashed, he didn’t do the work because he was hungry—he did it because it needed to be done. Cattle are more his speed, and once fully awake, he eats one every week or two.”

The dragon growled before issuing a soft hooting sound.

“Ah, I’m sorry. He eats one every two to three weeks.”

At a cow every two to three weeks, I could go hit up auctions for older cattle, give them a pleasant retirement, and feed the dragon without issue. “That’s surprisingly manageable, especially if he will accept older cattle.”

The dragon made a cooing sound and bobbed his head.