Chapter 5 #2
Erik had gotten lucky, and as such, his entire family doted on him, especially his older siblings, who remembered the dragging days where my fiancé had struggled with each and every breath.
In their shoes, I would have doted on him, too.
However, I could live without their doting tendencies landing on me.
I muttered curses and attempted to concentrate on my book, which was the lightest non-fiction fare I could find, a piece discussing the various processing methods of making balloons, the materials balloons might be made of, and the environmental hazards of balloon production and use.
The fact someone had written an entire thick book about everything dealing with balloons fascinated me.
Also, I had questions for the commissioner and his wife, who decided which books entered the family library.
Why a book about balloons?
A quarter into the book, which did a good job of redirecting my thoughts to something less weighty than the circumstances of Erik’s birth, someone laughed. I sighed, glanced up, and discovered Erik’s father had discovered my hiding place. “Damn.”
“Honestly, I’m impressed you escaped at all.
Well done. Erik just noticed you’d vanished off, as he wanted to ask you a question.
I managed to catch his reaction in video format for your enjoyment, as I’d noticed you’d slipped off about ten minutes before he did.
They’re talking guns. When you purchase your new work piece, go to the Pearl Ward and visit Alastair.
He’ll take good care of you, and he’s familiar with the requirements for the range. ”
“I’ll do that. Thank you.” I used my thumb to mark my page and held up the book. “Why an entire book about balloons? This thing is a masterpiece in ridiculousness.”
The commissioner sighed, joined me on the floor, and stretched out his legs.
“My eldest clutch of troublemakers happens to be the scholarly type, all of them. When they aren’t being cops or hatching out ridiculous numbers of clutches, they’re writing books.
That one was penned by my eldest daughter, who is one of the ones hatching out ridiculous numbers of clutches.
She opted against becoming a cop, instead working as a vet.
A horse almost died from swallowing a balloon in a field, and she became morbidly fascinated.
The horse got lucky, as my daughter called in a favor from a purple dragon to save her.
She now owns that mare, for the record, as the owner couldn’t afford the vet bill and my daughter refused to allow that poor animal to die from some damned balloon.
The horse, who has been renamed Balloon, is now going to be dying of old age sooner than later, which means I’m going to deal with the wailing and the crying.
With the help of purple dragons, Balloon is over sixty years old. ”
I hadn’t heard of a horse living beyond thirty to forty years old before. “That’s insane. Dare I ask how old your eldest clutch is?”
“They’re over a hundred now. None of them look like it, but there you have it.
” Erik’s father pointed at a thick book bound with black leather.
“That’s her second book, and after she went on her rampage about all things balloons, she wrote an entire damned encyclopedia on the consequences of tight line breeding in horses, a comprehensive guide to every genetic disease found in horses, and a guide on how to recreate most horse breeds with healthier stock, genetic diversity, and an eye on good breeding practices.
It’s ridiculous. After she finished that monster, she decided to do the same thing but with dragons.
That happened after Erik’s birth, as she was trying to decide if we were inbred due to our predominantly yellow lineage.
After doing our full genealogy, and I mean full genealogy, she then stole DNA from every living member of the family, had us tested, and compiled a six book collection on draconic breeding practices, genetic risks, and birth defects and complications in dragons.
After cornering more than a few scientists on the subject, armed with our familial DNA, she actually managed to isolate the genetic markers that can lead to superfetation.
In our case, it can happen once every fifty to seventy pregnancies, and we’ll undergo monitoring of future clutches so we can identify which eggs may have developed later; had we known about superfetation, we would have delayed hatching Erik’s siblings to give him a better chance of survival without the stint in the ICU. ”
I raised a brow at the obsessive nature of the woman’s writing work. “Therapy might help with that.”
Erik’s father snickered. “It has. She goes through therapy while writing her books, as her tendencies are known. She’s a yellow to the core, and in her case, she wants to grow her knowledge along with her children, of which she’s hatched seventy-three thus far.”
“Seventy-three?” I squealed.
He laughed at me. “Scaretti dragons, while they can have large clutches and sometimes do, tend to stick with singlets, twins, or triplets, although those who tend to have a singlet often do so every thirteen months. Ramons dragons, while they do clutch, tend to do moderate to large clutches as a general rule. It’s unlikely you’ll throw large clutches even if you wanted to.
I’m expecting you’ll mostly have twins and triplets if you go the clutch route, although singlets wouldn’t surprise me.
Your genetics aren’t aligned with massive clutches.
Your children might end up with massive clutches though, as us yellows are heavily predisposed for them.
It is possible you might have a large clutch or two if your diet is perfect, you plan for it, and you put Erik through his paces. ”
I raised a brow at the thought of putting my fiancé through his paces. “Let me guess. Clutch size is partially determined by the general prowess of the male involved in the formation of said clutch?”
“Precisely. When we want a larger clutch, we take a week off and go somewhere romantic. When we had Erik’s clutch, we took two weeks off, which proved to be the issue; we were overenthusiastic, and we accidentally induced a second egg release, which happened two months after his siblings were fertilized.
Unbeknownst to the children, there were actually five other eggs released, but only Erik’s properly fertilized.
Superfetation in dragons usually results in the loss of the eggs, as the additions to the pregnancy tend to naturally terminate.
Erik was just lucky all around. When his sister discovered the realities of superfetation in dragons, she had questions.
She’s the only one of the kids who actually knows he would have been one of six, but they’ll figure it out if they actually read her books on it. ”
Ouch. “How does one avoid superfetation?”
“I recommend that you abstain after you’re confident of a clutch for two months following conception.
After that, have all the fun you want. It’s simple enough.
After two months, your hormone levels will be incompatible with ovulation and there’ll be zero chance of superfetation.
Erik’s release was on the tail end of the two month window.
We do not discuss how many clutches my daughter investigated to find this out.
Her siblings have not yet forgiven her for poking her nose into their reproductive business. ”
Life with the Millson family would drive me crazy, likely sooner than later.
“That’s good to know. Thank you. You can tell Erik I found a strangely captivating book to read while he dances around with his siblings.
I will emerge when it is time to eat food, but I warn you, we’re out for a case closed, and we have mutually decided that there will be no reproduction until we get case closed.
As you have given me good intel, I am giving you good intel in exchange. ”
“That is ruthless enough to do your parents proud, and I will enjoy notifying them of your gambit. I’m just going to warn you that you’re going to light a fire under the ass of every single Millson dragon in the city with that stunt.”
I snickered at the thought of manipulating an entire clan of dragons through refusing to have any children until managing to get all the displaced spirits laid to proper rest. “I shouldn’t be laughing about this, but I can’t help it.
Honestly, with the number of ghosts following me around, it’s just not a good nor safe idea.
I will not be surprised if my dumb ass ends up haunted at some stage. ”
Erik’s father got to his feet, chuckled, and said, “I’m going to do you a favor.
I’m going to lay down the law and ban you from engaging in reproductive activities until the case is closed.
That’s going to motivate my brats a lot more than you or Erik trying to pull that stunt.
With how much Erik loves kids? Nobody is going to believe him.
With how evil, overbearing, and tyrannical I can be?
They’ll believe me. And I’ll spare you the embarrassment of witnessing it.
Don’t you know Erik is fragile and cannot tolerate anything that might discomfort you? ”
I snorted at that. “Maybe I should go help in the kitchen.”
“That would be an excellent plan, and I’ll take credit for that, too.
I’ll have the whole lot of them riled up by dinner time, and you can get evening entertainment in the form of a family brawl in the backyard.
It’ll be good and therapeutic for us all—and it might convince you to actually stay outside with the rest of us for more than fifteen minutes. ”
“I’ll try, but no promises.”
* * *
Sunday, May 17, 2167
The Sapphire Ward
Dragon Heights, Wyoming