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Thursday, April 30, 2167
The Diamond Ward
Dragon Heights, Wyoming
After sending the leader of the black dragons a text, he invited me to his home in the Diamond Ward. I did my best to lay low; the last thing I needed was a certain cop realizing I was in his turf. Erik would, if given a single excuse, arrest me for the fun of it.
When wearing his uniform, Erik could get away with just about anything, and I only had myself to blame for it.
At the dragon’s mansion, which reminded me of a Victorian palace rather than someone’s home, I braced for an uncomfortable talk with its owner, knocked on the door, and wondered if I needed to tell Enzo Acri that his fancy gate did him no good when left open.
At my third knock, Enzo Acri opened the door, and my carbunclo hissed at him before pressing close to my neck.
I grinned at her antics, soothed her, and promised that the old black dragon wouldn’t be taking her away.
The black dragon regarded me with a raised brow. “Now that I know what to look for, you’re truly a feminine version of your father. I can’t say I blame you for going anonymous. In your shoes, I might have made the same choice. Still, I never thought those two would have a hatchling. I certainly never would have accused them of being doting parents. Come in. You’ve had an exciting week, so you probably want to get off your feet.”
“Imagine my confusion when people started talking about what monstrous people my parents surely are.” I laughed at the absurdity of it all. “To me, they’re great except when they’re here misbehaving. Then they test my patience. At home? They’re fine. They don’t actually argue seriously at home. It’s a lot of posturing and flirting. I will never be old enough to bear witness to the flirting, which is why I developed unacceptable levels of independence as soon as legally able.”
The black dragon chuckled, led me through an entry filled with antiques and into a sitting room, likewise filled with a fortune in antiques from all around the world. At his invitation, I sat, setting my backpack beside my chair and taking the time to comfort both Garnet and Tourmaline.
“Will you still test in?”
“That’s the plan. I’ve been licensed as a private investigator using my record outside of Dragon Heights, but I want to earn my keep rather than get in on virtue of everyone thinking my parents are literal demons out to scour the city.”
Enzo snickered. “I’d say they aren’t that bad, but when they’re in town, they really can be. As long as you don’t draw more attention to yourself while with your father, I think you’ll be able to trick most people into believing you’re just an unfortunate who got dragged to the shrines. When old dragons take people to the shrines, strange things can happen. That you have the Millson clan keeping an eye on you should alleviate most problems. You’re marrying into their clan, are you not?”
“That’s the plan. I’ll be moving to the Tower Ward with Erik once the house is rebuilt. It lost against some feuding dragons.”
“That is an unfortunately common occurrence here. Before I moved to the Diamond Ward, I had to rebuild my place three times.”
“Which ward?”
“Pearl. Pearl can get pretty rough. Since most of us collect firearms because they’re treasures rather than use them, we settle our differences through brawling. When you have two dragons the size of locomotives brawling, property damage is a real risk. In good news, only dragons who can afford the repair bill tend to get into brawls on the street. Sometimes, a pair of dragons will decide a property is an eyesore and destroy it on purpose, having it rebuilt to their standards rather than the current owner’s situation. You’re marrying the youngest of the Millson boys?”
I nodded.
“He’s liked, so it wouldn’t surprise me if his Tower Ward property had gotten targeted on purpose. Tower Ward doesn’t usually have many problems; it’s a quiet ward for dragons who’d rather be left alone. And, for some reason, a rather notable number of law enforcement personnel tend to live there. It’s a pretty safe ward. If there were dragons brawling on the streets and trashing houses, they liked the owner of the property.”
“He ended up with three lots.” I thought about that, decided Enzo was onto something, and nodded. “I challenged Erik to getting a carbunclo companion for Garnet.”
“Ah, yes. There are actually two new kittens coming to Dragon Heights. One, a young male from Peru, will be going home with your parents. They are keeping this somewhat secret, as they know you’ll be very upset if your Garnet goes seeking out nookie from abroad. They’re hopeful their little boy will charm all the local carbunclo ladies to keep their owners happy. The second kitten is from Bolivia, and I procured her upon hearing the circumstances. She is very social and should match well with Garnet as a companion.”
The black dragon lifted his hand, snapped his fingers, and waited.
A young woman, who had the clan leader’s eyes, entered the room carrying a yellow carbunclo kitten in her arms. Garnet perked up and squeaked.
The kitten, a quarter of Garnet’s size, wiggled and mewed.
“Oh, she’s so young,” I whispered.
“She was just weaned, and the other kittens in the litter were already claimed. The one your parents are getting was swapped out from the original plan; the little female they had in mind bonded to someone rather accidentally. Their new boy is very adventurous, so he should fit with them quite well. Desmona, go ahead and give Kinsley the kitten. I think we’ve taken sufficient safeguards to prevent accidental bonding.” The black dragon smirked. “We took care to explain to the little one that she is to go to a young yellow dragon who needs to be loved when you and Garnet aren’t around.”
Desmona giggled and handed over the kitten. “Don’t mind my father. He joined in on securing a carbunclo kitten the instant he heard about it. With two girls and a boy, we might actually be able to help the species. We got lucky there were so many litters recently.”
Garnet mewed, and after placing the yellow kitten on my lap, I asked my little girl to introduce herself.