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“I have a criminally cute kitten and deserve to be cuffed. It’s not my fault this city is apparently infested with yellow dragons and their offspring. However, you and my mother will pay for not telling me Erik’s father is the police commissioner.”
“Ah.”
I huffed. “Try not to wake the beasts when you come in. If you hadn’t terrorized the entirety of Dragon Heights, someone wouldn’t have done a wellness check on me. You only have yourselves to blame. Also, well played on tricking me into believing I came from a small but sane family. There is nothing small nor sane about our family, is there?”
“There really isn’t. We’ll be there soon. Try not to drive yourself crazy overthinking things.”
“I’ll try.”
* * *
Monday, April 27, 2167
The Gray Ward
Dragon Heights, Wyoming
As part of interrogating of my parents, I sat them at my table and fed them breakfast to lull them into a false sense of security. Once they were settled, I targeted my mother and asked, “Why did you play at being so normal while I was growing up?”
I’d known about being a dragon-kin, but a lot of the details of their life had slipped me by, right down to understanding what sort of work my parents did when I wasn’t around. Logically, I’d understood my parents had ways of earning money, but I’d never put much thought into it.
My mother grinned, leaned back in her chair, and replied, “Honestly, we thought you’d question our family a lot more than you did. You were great at questioning everyone and everything else. But us? You gave us the benefit of the doubt. You trusted if we were hiding things, we were hiding them for a reason. And we were. Erik is good at playing down his wealth now, but before he met you, he was as egotistical as the next dragon-kin hatched into a life of wealth and prosperity. That his line tends to become cops helped him a bit. But the entirety of that family has just begun to learn the value of life without advantages. By giving you a life without advantage, we were giving you independence, the ability to cope when things didn’t go your way, and resilience.” My mother heaved a sigh. “I sometimes think we did too good of a job raising you.”
My father grinned. “No one believes we could possibly have children. Even one. In public, we play to expectations, challenging each other, bickering, and blowing off a lot of steam we don’t normally get to. You’ve seen us at home. How are we, truly?”
I understood what my father hinted at.
At home, while my parents postured, love backed their every move. Posturing happened, but not at the same style or intensity I’d witnessed in the city. For those who believed only what their eyes saw, love had nothing to do with my parents’ relationship. “I mean, outside of learning I have a lot of relatives here, you’re not that much different. You just posture lovingly versus doing a good job of convincing everyone you’re going to destroy the city if provoked. They sent a cop over to make sure I was still alive. The cop happened to be one of Erik’s brothers. I never would have guessed Erik is the baby of the family.”
“He’s the baby of the family,” my mother confirmed. “But did you ever feel neglected having distant family you rarely got to see?”
I thought about it, and upon realizing it hadn’t made a difference to me whatsoever, I shook my head. “It never bothered me. I mean, logically, I know I have grandparents. But I’ve never had any burning desire to go meet them.”
I viewed family as the bonds fashioned by love, not ties by blood.
“When we all get together, we fight. Your father spent all of yesterday arguing with all four of your grandparents. They thought about invading Dragon Heights. I had to remind his mother that you look just like her but a little younger, and her showing up would completely ruin hiding you under the noses of those nasty busybody dragons.” While wrinkling her nose, my mother waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. “For now, your grandparents will remain outside of Dragon Heights to give you time to settle. Once the busybodies here figure it out, they’ll stage their invasion to properly meet you. You’ll like it, as they’ve been hoarding presents for you every year until they could come swooping in. And they haven’t missed anything. They just got their first meetings with you in video and picture format. We’ll do all those little family things once you’re exposed, including going on some trips and seeing the world. We should make a betting pool on how long it takes for them to realize we’re not just being horrific menaces.”
“Good luck with that, Mom.”
She laughed. “So, there is a reason we came calling today.”
I raised a brow. “It wasn’t just to be a horrific menace?”
“Well, that, too. We postured outside, had a bit of a fight, and made sure we drew some attention before invading. Don’t be surprised if you receive an invitation from someone in this city to go on an unexpected outing. Try not to kill them, scope things out, and if they irritate you, you’ll probably sprout scales. If they put your life at risk, I would expect a great deal of scale sprouting. You’re the right age to start sprouting scales, you’ve been properly exposed to the shrines, and you’re an early bloomer. I wish I could say nobody is stupid enough to cross us, but I’ve been hearing whispers of how there are a few groups that want to rescue you from our clutches. To find out why we are so interested in you.”
What the hell sort of deals had my parents done in Dragon Heights? I narrowed my eyes. “You think someone is going to kidnap me?”
“Oh, I know at least four groups who would do so without hesitation. And they’ll get away with it because they’re all delightfully stupid. One would question you and release you back into the wilds, probably in a fancy ward after feeding you, promising they’d try to keep us at bay, and spoiling you more than you’re already spoiled. Another would figure out you’re our precious little hatchling after about ten minutes with you, as they know your father’s family more than we prefer—at which point, you’ll be spoiled and set loose after you’ve been fed and pampered. The other two would be trying to rescue you because they’re terrified of us.”
I got up and checked on my kitten and bird to discover the pair had woken up and stared at Garnet’s gemstone collection, which was on its shelf where it belonged. After pulling out the kitten’s favorites and moving the smaller pieces closer so she could play with them if she wanted, I praised them before returning to the kitchen. “Have you lost your mind?”
“Why are you blaming me?” my mother complained. “I’m not the one who thinks rescuing you from us is a good idea.”
“That you think people are going to go to drastic measures to rescue me is pretty crazy. How did you go from being good but a little eccentric as far as parents go to terror demons freshly imported from the depths of some dark hell?”
My father snickered. “We’re dragons, Kinsley. That’s the beginning and end of it. We’re dragons, and we’re confident in our superiority. We just wanted to temper you as a child, so when you grow into your ego, you do so because you have earned it.”
My parents must have lost their minds before I’d been born. I found some comfort in knowing I hadn’t been the one to push them over the edge. They’d long since dived off into the realm of the insane before my arrival. “And this business broker nonsense I’ve been hearing about, Dad?”