Page 70 of Dragon Her Heels

SIXTEEN

The nuisance hit the water with a splash and a squeal.

The Destroyer of Georgia postured on my doorstep, roaring at me for daring to have done any damage to his precious little castle. My years as a secretary had taught me a few important coping mechanisms for when a boss lost his shit at me. However, after twenty minutes, I decided to test the durability of dragons, grabbed the little shit around the belly, and hauled him out back to the water line.

Without a word, I wound up, dropped him, and punted his scaly ass across the lake.

My audience, which consisted of two other dragons, the Devil, his wife, their daughter and son-in-law, and Isaac gaped at me.

The nuisance hit the water with a splash and a squeal.

I pointed at the castle, which had light damage to one of the spires and a flying buttress, which would take somebody a few days, some materials, and money to repair. The first thing I’d done had involved asking one of the other dragons to evaluate the damage, take pictures, and give me the pertinent details on what was needed to hire contractors to handle the construction. “I already put in the repair order, you scaled noodle with a complex! Come back when you have real work for me. I have actual business to negotiate for you, idiot, so once you cool off, you can talk to me like a sane being.”

Fortunately for him, I spied Mr. Magic the Bold sliding through the water to partake of a treat of dragon. I issued a rebuking whistle and did the magical equivalent of pinching the giant alligator. “And don’t you dare eat my boss, buddy!”

Mr. Magic the Bold surged out of the water, opened his mouth, and protested through giving a full body shake. Rather than go for the dragon, he submerged and vanished off.

“I swear,” I muttered, turning and marching towards my house so I could get my necessary work out of the way.

“She’s flirting with me again,” the Devil complained to his wife.

Taking a page out of my book, Kanika shoved her father into the lake. “Here, eat him, buddy!”

As I figured Lucifer could handle the alligator without hurting my oversized pet, I left him to deal with the local wildlife. With luck, the babies would swarm him and demand love before biting the sin right out of him.

The rest of the ragtag group decided to follow me.

A smart move all things considered.

The other two dragons, who’d opted to be the size of small dogs, trotted along at my side. The pale blue one snorted before making a sound suspiciously like a giggle. “You really kicked him into a lake infested with alligators.”

“Do you have a name?”

“I am Realt. He is Saurrel.” Realt twisted his head around to regard the lake, and he snorted another laugh. “Durant is durable. He should survive the rough affections of your infantile reptiles.”

“I would hope so. He can eat three entire cities.”

“The living dead taste terrible, and it upset his stomach fiercely.”

Huh. I paused long enough to turn and take in the chaos. Mr. Magic the Bold, rather than attempt to devour Lucifer, sought to cuddle the Lord of Lies into submission. While my boss had managed to swim to his castle’s shore, a swarming mass of tiny bodies covered him. I snickered, shook my head, and resumed my journey back to the house. “Why didn’t he stop eating, then?”

“It was better his way. The grief of so many burials would have destroyed those left behind—and worse, those left behind would have needed to dispatch their beloved. Durant had no tying binds with any of them. Ash is just easier for us to digest when we’re in a hurry and must lay much waste. He prefers eating his steaks medium rare and on a plate while in human form. It keeps his feeding bill sensible. I go through three times the amount of food he does, and Saurrel is a blight who is purchasing an entire cattle ranch to appease his voracious ways.”

“I require a cow every other day,” the pale green dragon informed me in a solemn tone. “My custodian is quite displeased with my feeding bill, and he works longer than he prefers making certain I do no damage to my coffers staying fed.”

“Wait. Your helper is a custodian? How is that even fair?” I huffed and puffed my way to my house, entering through the garage to discover the horses were napping inside rather than making use of the gate to roam around the property.

I’d already evicted the cattle and chickens back to their homes, although I’d bring them back into the garage should the weather sour more than I appreciated.

As the horses were engaged in carcass time, I let them be and went inside.

Isaac took care stepping around my animals. “Your horses appear to be playing dead again.”

“If this wasn’t a daily event, I might have been worried, but safe horses sleep when they can, and these are the safest of horses, so carcass time happens daily, sometimes numerous times a day. Why take a light nap while standing up when they can fully conk out while lying down?”

Both dragons considered my words, and they nodded.

“Wise beasts,” Realt commented, and he took care with his claws when entering the house. “Saurrel was educated regarding his custodian’s status. There would be no sacrificing, and Saurrel lost several scales to his custodian before deciding it was wise to do as told. I am a wiser being than Saurrel, so I allowed my steward to select a title of choice. Durant is not at all wise, and I expect you will be punting him into his lake with amusing frequency. He needs you far more than you need him, and I would remember that if I were you. But it is excellent you have stood your ground.”