Chapter 14 #4
My father pouted. “One large clutch? Look how excellent this child of ours turned out to be.” He reached over and petted Citrine and Garnet, who’d opted to sit on the table with my parents, before checking on Peridot, who had gone under the table to use his feet as a bed.
“But if I were in your shoes and trying to find the entire picture of the mercury dragon’s activities, I would look into their property records.
You’ll need local and international records, and I wish you the best of luck getting their international records.
Dragons like moving abroad to make it harder for others to track them. ”
That would complicate things. “And if you were mentally ill and trying to bring your wife and child back from the grave?”
“I’d take it to extremes. I might even believe one or the other is still alive.
” My father winced. “During the Middle Ages, there were a few instances of mad dragons who kept the corpses of their mates around, acting like they were still alive despite their bodies decomposing in their homes. They ended up with a skeleton in the closet, except it wasn’t in the closet.
Sometimes, it would be their bedroom. Sometimes, their sitting room or equivalent.
Sometimes, neighbors would know. Sometimes, they wouldn’t.
There were a lot of instances of such things during the Black Death. Dragons weren’t immune.”
I cringed at the thought of someone keeping a diseased corpse in their home due to their all-encompassing grief. “That’s terrible.”
“Several in my clan fell to such things. Babe?”
“It happened in mine as well,” my mother confirmed.
I eyed them. “Were you both alive during the Middle Ages?”
“Yes,” they confirmed.
I slid off the counter and headed for the cabinet containing our fledgling alcohol stash. Before I could open the door to grab a stiff drink, Erik wrapped his arm around my waist and dragged me to the table.
“Hey,” I complained.
“It costs three thousand dollars to do a detox, and I have plans for that money that doesn’t involve you trying to drink away how old your parents are,” my husband informed me in a solemn tone.
To make it clear I would not be raiding the liquor stash, he sat down and settled me on his lap.
“I’ll just go ahead and apologize for her. It’s been a rough day.”
“If it makes you feel better, we’ve been happily mated the entire time we’ve been together,” my mother stated before shooting me a rather wicked grin.
“We decided to buck the family feud because it made no sense to either of us. Once I had a chance to really talk to your father, I loved him from the start. I also love fighting with him, but we do so with good intent. Honestly, we have lived in the Dragon Heights area since before Dragon Heights existed.”
“You helped with building the shrines.” I eyed them. “You’ve been telling many a fib, haven’t you?”
“Honestly, we haven’t told many fibs. You just didn’t ask the right questions.
Dragons are long-lived, Kinsley. Most mated pairs reproduce every few hundred years because there’s no need for dragons to have large clans.
The Millsons are different. They cycle. Erik’s parents stopped with him because of his complications, and they’ll have one more clutch before they settle back for a few hundred years.
And they might not have another clutch. Sorry, Erik, but your entry into the world was a bit traumatic for the clan.
But honestly, with how well you’re settling with Kinsley, I foresee your parents returning to their ways, having more clutches than is sensible. ”
He shrugged. “I’ve learned that it isn’t really my fault. I mean, it’s my parents’ fault for being excessive. I was just stubborn and understood I would be wrangling the best woman in Dragon Heights, so survival was mandatory.”
I stared at my husband, raising a brow. “If you had chrome heritage, I might have bought into that idea, but you were just an unfortunate little boy who got hatched a little early. Okay, a lot early. I’ll let you have it, though.
I might be dense, but even I can recognize an excellent flirtation attempt. ”
He grinned at me. “You’re trying to look at the mercury dragon case from a different angle.”
I nodded. “Pascal has been prompting me to look at different angles all day, now I’m going to be twisting myself into knots attempting to view the world through her eyes.
It does leave me wondering about her husband.
I’m confident he played a role—and I even agree with my father regarding the order of her actions.
She adored her son, but without her husband, she wouldn’t have had her son.
We have nothing on her husband. All I know is that the FBI will be exhuming his grave to see who is in there. ”
“If there is anyone in there at all,” my mother murmured.
My father reached over and scratched under Garnet’s chin.
“I recommend that you write down every single scenario that you can think of, Kinsley. Once you have every option you can think of, then you can start using facts to eliminate possibilities. What remains, however improbable, is likely closest to the truth.”
While disturbing, I understood my father’s logic. “If we died, Dad, would you think about doing what she did?”
He sighed, a pained sound. “I would, for a moment, consider it, but I would never actually do it. But yes, when you love someone that deeply, no matter how good of a person, the thought of doing such an evil will cross the mind. I am certain I would wonder if I might be able to change reality should you and your mother die in such a tragedy. And make no mistake, what happened to Madam Merorie’s family was a terrible tragedy.
But that is where the story would end. I could not sacrifice anyone for that.
But that’s what separates good from evil.
The good know not to follow through with the evil thoughts that seep in.
The evil would follow through on the slimmest of chance of getting what they want.
I can tell you this much, though. Were you to be in her shoes, your grief would be as terrible as it was beautiful, but you would never stoop to her level.
Unlike her, you have the capacity to love someone enough to let them go, and that takes an incredible amount of courage, courage that she lacked.
You’ve already proven to everyone you would not fall prey to the same base desires and compulsions as the mercury dragons.
But your grief would be terrible, as would mine or your mother’s should anything happen to you.
” My father eyed my husband, making a show of disapproval. “And I suppose you as well.”
“I might shed a single tear, for Kinsley’s benefit, should you become deceased unexpectedly,” Erik replied in a cool tone.
I snickered, aware the men would settle into posturing if I let them. That the carbunclo ignored their antics pleased me. “And you, Erik?”
“My family would completely lose their shit if anything happened to you at this stage. But while I would grieve, I would ultimately be fine because of my family. Even if I thought about it, they would be the reason I couldn’t do what Madam Merorie did.
But I’d be like your father. I’d definitely think about it.
It’s been bothering me since this mess started.
” Erik tightened his hold on me and kissed my cheek.
“The obvious solution to if we lose a child is to just have many more children until we’re so busy raising children we aren’t grieving as much. ”
“Dad, why did you fail to warn me about the obsessive compulsive children disorder yellow dragons possess?”
“Had he not met my minimum requirements for approval, I would have warned you excessively while throwing suitable candidates your way. As you wisely selected an excellent yellow for yourself, I decided I would reap the benefits of having a daughter safely mated to a yellow dragon of good standing,” he replied with laughter in his voice.
“I’m not going to spare you from making good decisions for yourself, Kinsley.
I might have guided you another direction if I thought he wouldn’t take good care of you, but that’s the one thing yellows are good for.
Abusing their mates is just not something they generally do.
You’ll survive. You might end up with more children than you initially anticipated, but you’ll survive.
You’ll survive because you’re a Ramons dragon, though. ”
“And a Scaretti dragon. We may not breed early nor often, but when we do, we are exceptionally fortunate bringing the little ones into the world. Your genetics mean you will be at low risk of complications during pregnancy, no matter how you decide to have children. Knowing you, you’ll go for small clutches.
” My mother shrugged. “I’m even considering a small clutch to appease your father.
We’ll attempt to raise the clutch in Dragon Heights, but we’ll be careful with how we handle everything.
I will not be responsible for yet another spoiled rotten hatchling in this city! ”
“Mom, you and Dad put how much into my bank account when I wasn’t looking? That is definitely spoiling me.”