Page 153 of Dragon Her Heels

I considered Hagnar. “How much would you charge to kidnap the son of a divine? It will be a catch and release program, and I will bake pie. Lucifer, I will need the Four Horses and any other equine willing to assist with this. That is one curse I will see unraveled, and I’d rather see it unraveled now.”

“No charge,” Hagnar replied, and he turned his nose to point at the female alligator I held. “When I cannot care for her, you will on my behalf.”

I smiled at that. “You have a deal. Lucifer, are our babies related?”

“They are not.”

“We can plan playdates for them when you cannot be here, Hagnar. If their children fill my lake, everybody is happy. How soon can you have the boy here?”

“I will bring him to the final race of the Triple Crown, assuming he has that much time,” Hagnar said, eyeing Lucifer. “Will that work? We can lure the divine to their union, and that should help appease some of his nature.”

“Yes, that will work nicely. How are you planning to bring him to the race?” the Devil asked.

“That is for me to know and you to find out, unless you opt to cheat. Don’t cheat. This is far more entertaining.”

“So it is, so it will be. Just don’t bite off more than you can chew.”

“I never chew, I swallow whole. Chewing is far too much work,” Hagnar replied in a solemn tone. “Then it is settled. I shall handle the child and his father, and I will try to do so in as gentle a fashion as possible. Anything else, Crystal?”

“That should do. Thank you. Yuless? Let’s go home. It’s time for you to pamper me, as I feel I have earned a great deal of pampering.”

“Would you enjoy a punting session first? I’m sure Lucifer can handle getting you actually home.”

“As a matter of fact, yes. I would enjoy punting something. I’m not getting any satisfaction out of those bodies or from those who placed that curse on that poor divine. But Lucifer, why couldn’t he remove it himself?”

“It is all he has left of his people,” the Devil replied in a gentle voice. “And he does not realize his misfortunes target his children as much as himself. He is not a perfect divine, for the people in that era acknowledged there was no such thing as perfection. That is a more recent conceit. I will not be telling him of that bitter truth, and I recommend that we all remain silent on it. He has more grief than any soul deserves.”

That I could easily believe. “Then it’s a plan. Yuless?”

“Yes?”

“It seems my old employer has a bunch of critical openings. When you’re not busy being conquered, you should make certain that corporation is crumbled to dust. That is not an empire worth owning.”

“Anything else?”

“Tomorrow, we should beat Lucifer until he shows us all those acres he bought for us. Then we can plan our venture into his many hells with Aramathea so we can afford to build all our future horses paradise.”

“We’re going on that trip for our honeymoon,” he informed me. “My hoard already has the best woman, so I need many more gems in it. I need gems, Crystal.”

All I needed was him, but he’d figure that out soon enough. I would love my horses and chase my dreams, but as long as he remained in the picture that was my life, I would be happy for even a thousand years. I smiled at him, cuddled with both of the alligators I held, and marveled over how I could have become so lucky and blessed. “We can do that, and we’ll finish our honeymoon taking Belinda’s ashes to Mount Everest. And yes, Lucifer, I know she doesn’t know, but I do, and Anthony needs this even more than I do.”

“All shall be as you wish,” my fiancé promised.