Chapter 7 #2
“They’re going to do an expansion to the Dragon Heights burial grounds dedicated to the victims. Family members will have the option to bury elsewhere if they wish, but the estate liquidation from the mercury clan will be paying all expenses.
What’s left will be offered as compensation to you, Kinsley.
I’m sure they’d get around to notifying you eventually.
It’s the primary source of gossip in the city right now.
It’s a rags to riches type of story, and most have no idea you’re the hatchling of rather wealthy dragons.
The chaos, upon everyone else learning, will be a thing of beauty.
And yes, I know because I saw you with your father, and you had twin expressions of disgust. I did a double take, realized you were a feminine version of him, and then checked his family records to confirm my suspicions.
Once I saw pictures of your grandmother, I was certain your entire family is toying with everyone in Dragon Heights.
So far, you’re winning. There is no way someone as kind, sweet, and caring as you could possibly have come from them. ”
I snickered at the thought of having tricked everyone in the city through struggling to pay my rent and cleaning up after the rains. “I need a hobby, Erik. I’m going to spend my lunch time cleaning up after the rains so I can start a hobby.”
My fiancé sighed. “Can’t you just start a hobby? We can afford a hobby.”
“Garnet knows she earns hoard money collecting on Fridays. I am not taking that from her. We will be spending an hour cleaning up after the rains.” To make it clear I had a line in the sand, I growled at him.
He held his hands up in surrender. “We can do our time at the range before heading to the station to slip in an extra hour if you want.”
That would work. “How bad are the rains in the Diamond Ward?”
“They can get fairly bad, but residents of the ward tend to hire professionals to clean up immediately after the rains. They’re paid an hourly wage rather than a bounty,” he informed me.
I snorted. “They’re getting the short end of that stick. I know how much I’ve earned from collecting even an hour during the rains. I will be able to get a full starter kit for a hobby, any hobby I want, with two hours of work on Friday.”
“I thought going to the firing range and showing me up was your hobby,” Erik complained.
“I need a second hobby. That one is fully booked for all eternity at this rate, which is fine by me. I enjoy that hobby and refuse to give it up. You could take up making jewelry while I take up gem cutting,” I suggested.
“I make the sparklies while you turn the sparklies into something I can wear.”
Erik regarded me with a horrified expression. “If we do that, we’ll never have money ever again.”
“If we both get good at it, we’ll make all the money selling masterpieces to greedy dragons wanting pretty things,” I countered.
“Our kittens will steal our stones and final pieces,” he replied. “That is how we build a massive hoard of unique treasures while emptying our bank accounts.”
I scowled. “If we pay for the hobby solely from rains and expeditions to find rocks to cut, then it’s a cheap hobby.”
“How about painting? That can eat up a lot of time, and you can sell your masterpieces to greedy dragons wanting pretty things,” he countered.
“How about we do both? You can use painting as a way to slow the rate we destroy our finances learning how to cut gems and make jewelry.”
“If you argue with her, she’s going to just stack up hobbies until you agree,” George warned.
“You’ve already lost this argument, Erik.
Her first hobby suggestion was an activity you can do together.
And if she doesn’t have anything to cut while you’re making jewelry, she can paint while watching you work.
Take the advice; I’ve been married for over three hundred years, and she’s trying to find ways to spend time with you.
If you’re going to make any other alternative suggestions, recommend a hobby you can work on together. ”
“So, if I learn to make canvases and pigments for her to work with and she paints, it counts?”
The iron dragon nodded. “You have the right idea. Do both hobbies. If you spend two hours a week gathering from the rains, you’ll easily be able to afford both.
Your carbunclo will appreciate the expeditions to find new rocks to cut, and yes, they’ll steal some of your pieces, but they’ll be stealing them because it’s something you two made together, and that will make them precious to the kittens.
I recommend that you just rotate in pieces you make specifically for them, that way you can sell some of the masterpieces to greedy dragons. ”
I thought about it, and I nodded. “I like it, Erik. George gives good advice. If George isn’t one of the sensible dragons picking the best material and other stuff for our new house, he should be.”
George laughed. “I can help make certain your house becomes an excellent home. What style?”
“Tudor manor,” Erik requested. “Let’s not break what’s working, and that’s one thing we agree on.
We love Tudor architecture. Give us a courtyard and make it charmed to be suitable for roses of all types.
Our first act as a married couple should be securing our first proper hoard, and we’ll be hoarding roses. ”
As Erik rarely got that assertive, I would let him have his way. “How big is this courtyard going to be?”
“It’s going to be large enough for entire clutches of hatchlings to play in without needing to explore the woods.
They’ll explore anyway, but we’ll be able to keep them close to home when we don’t want them getting into trouble without us,” he informed me in a solemn tone.
“And if you stick us with singlets, I will be sad and be forced to lure over the hatchlings of my siblings so the courtyard is filled with the pitter-patter of feet and joy.”
As far as fantasies went, his hurt nobody and offered a bright future for any hatchlings we did opt to have.
“If you had your way, this property would be insufficiently sized for the number of clutches you’d have running around the place.
George, try to be sensible. You aren’t getting anything even close to sensible from a yellow hatchling. ”
The iron dragon snickered. “I’ll make sure the team knows that you are not demonstrating yellow tendencies and might buck the Millson trend.
But I’ll also make certain they know you’re marrying a Millson so the manor will survive many clutches of children, just in case.
Do yourselves a favor, though: skip visiting the catacombs for today. It’s gruesome down there right now.”
“Worse than the basement?” I asked, raising a brow.
“It’s far worse. In the catacombs, she at least interred the bodies of the children she sacrificed in her twisted attempt to raise her son from his grave.
Seeing their bodies isn’t going to change anything for you at this stage.
Let the staff working on the case down there shoulder this burden.
You focus on seeing what you can do to give everyone closure.
Spend the time setting up your hobbies and giving your minds a chance to clear.
Going down there isn’t going to help anybody at this stage. ”
While it bothered me, I took my time thinking it through, and I realized he was right.
If we needed to go see the catacombs for ourselves, we could. In the meantime, fortifying ourselves in preparation for the dark days to come would do us the most good.
* * *
Wednesday, May 20, 2167
The Diamond Ward
Dragon Heights, Wyoming
We took George’s advice and went on a venture into Erik’s work turf to raid several hobby stores. We handled my painting supplies first, and as my fiancé had zero restraint, he hooked me up with watercolors, acrylics, and oils as we had no idea what type of painting I might enjoy.
He felt I should experience everything and decide after I learned how to handle all three types of paints.
He also acquired a starter kit to learn how to make all three types of paints, acquired a massive roll of canvas, and everything else needed to make canvas board and wood-framed canvases. He also got a starter kit for learning how to make paper in case I opted to master watercolors.
On our way out, I spotted the display of colored pencils, and I stared at the gradients, marveling over how there could be so many shades of one color. Erik, who handled the cart, halted nearby. “You want them?”
An idea rattled about in my head, one that held an infinite number of possibilities.
“Erik, do you think that Madam Merorie was trying to find the perfect sacrifice for her experiments?” I gestured at the red pencils.
“There are hundreds of different shades here. What if she killed so many people trying to find the perfect match for her son?” Then a sickening thought stirred.
“We’ve assumed that the living victims are brothel women, but what if they’re little boys who are just like her child? ”
Erik flinched. “That is a disturbing possibility.” He went to the rack, bent over, and considered the shelves loaded with sets of the pencils.
With a grunt, he pulled out a large box.
According to the picture on it, it contained the full line of colors.
It went into the cart along with my painting supplies.
A few packs of sketching paper and several packs of sketching pencils joined it.
“I want to experiment with the colors and see if we can actually tell the differences between the shades. Your idea is a good idea. What if we’re looking in the wrong place?
Have you asked for missing persons records? ”
“I did, but I didn’t specify I wanted the records of missing children.
Those are often in specialty databases.” I dug out my phone, texted Captain Andretti, and requested that we get a comprehensive list of all children missing in the United States since a year prior to the death of Madam Merorie’s son.
To prevent a scolding, I told him I wanted the list so I could review it first thing when I was back to work on Friday.
He texted back with a confirmation of my request and that he’d see what he could do.
With that out of the way, I pointed in the direction of the journal section. “I’m going to need something better than composition notebooks for this. The tablet is useful, but I’m going to need paper and pencil to get through this case.”
“Journals it is,” my fiancé replied, pushing the cart in the right direction. “We should get coloring books and crayons for our parents to screw around with them.”
I snickered. “The big fat ones meant for little children and the simplest books we can find. We’ll flee while they’re fuming over our behavior, elope while they’re planning our downfall, and otherwise prove we have our ways of ruling over them.”
“Have I mentioned I like this whole eloping idea?”
“It solves so many of your little problems with one act of defiance. You didn’t need to tell me you liked it for me to know.
” I snickered, as I had the receipt for my Phoenix in my purse and fully intended on taunting Captain Andretti with it before informing him I’d pay for my indulgence personally, as it went far beyond sensible, despite his list of requirements failing to cap how much I spent on my firearm.
“I might even have you indulging in open acts of defiance at the rate we’re going. ”
“Can we keep the acts of defiance reasonable? Eloping so you can’t escape me is reasonable. Taking over the Millson clan is not, and I feel that defiant dragons end up ruling clans.”
“We’ll be the undisputed rulers of the Valley of Thorns, and we’ll charge all related guests hobby supplies as the cost of admission.
” I snickered at the thought of making other dragons pay to visit us.
“We’re going to end up hoarding crafting supplies.
But in good news, any clutches we may have will not lack in artistic materials to work with. ”
“We should discuss the clutches after the eloping. I’m quite interested in hearing more about these potential clutches. A minimum clutch size, for the record, is two. I’m concerned we might get one just like you if we restrict to singlets.”
“Despite everything my mother says about doing everything she can to keep it to singlets, I don’t actually think she restricted my father to a singlet.”
“I mean, she has some tricks to securing a singlet, and it involves live births and procreating strictly in human form. I’ll have my mother teach you all the tricks for securing clutches versus singlets.
She even knows how to restrict to two or three, which she does every rare now and then when my father desperately wants a clutch and she doesn’t want to take on the risks of having a singlet. ”
I scowled, went back to the fancy journal section, and picked up one with a rose motif.
“This journal is now dedicated to the various ways my parents will pay for my ignorance regarding dragons and reproduction, Erik. It will also be our clutch planning journal, where we will attempt to form a strategy for surviving clutches of any size. I worry we will need a strategy. You are a yellow hatchling, after all. Yellows have a reputation of having zero sense when it comes to clutches.”
Erik sighed. “Knowing what I know of my family and that I’m the baby of the lot until my mother and father take pity on me, I can’t argue with you. Someone has to be sensible, and I know I’m not going to be the sensible party.”
“It’s okay. As long as one of us is sensible at any given time, we’ll be fine. We’ll just abuse our families should we bite off more than we can chew.”
Erik joined me in grabbing a fancy journal like mine but in a different color. “I will use my journal to list ways I can justify the abuse of our families. If we don’t come prepared, we’re screwed, and I don’t mean in the nice way that might result in a clutch.”