Page 72 of Dragon Her Heels

Without my boss breathing down my neck and crying over the minor damage to his castle, I was able to plow through my work for the day, handling emails, evaluating potential acquisitions, and greasing the wheels of justice. My efforts wouldn’t bring Belinda back from the dead, but those behind her suicide would feel the weight of their crimes one way or another.

I wouldn’t use magic or weave curses. No, there would be no easy out for me.

I would make them fall through my effort, my sweat, and my tears.

Shedding blood lacked appeal, but if I needed to spare others from a similar fate, I would.

Once I finished, I went downstairs to check on the progress of the move in to discover there were seventeen dragons in my yard ferrying things over, and as I’d suggested, someone had made use of one of the third floor windows to speed the process of moving the boxes inside. What wasn’t moved inside went on a trip elsewhere with a team of devilish entities Kanika and her mother had dredged out of hell to work as labor.

A rather rumpled and flustered Yuless held a clipboard, consulted with Isaac, Realt, and Saurrel, and coordinated traffic. Someone had gotten the bright idea to put my horses to work, including my precious little baby, but for the most part, the animals got in the way, accepted treats, and slowed the process down.

Of the lot, only David did any actual work, and he pulled his cart back and forth from Ashley’s home to a nearby dumpster somebody had brought in to deal with the trash.

To my dismay, the neighbors had come out in droves, and the devilish assembly helped escort anything they wanted to get rid of to the dumpster, too.

Right. Spring cleaning was a thing people did, and it was close enough to count. I could cover my activities through doing a little spring cleaning as well.

Alas, the black dragon had seen himself off, probably to sulk in his castle, which would amuse me for hours. Oh well. The next time he fussed, I’d find a trash can to dump him in to teach him his manners.

Allowing myself a smile, I headed towards the tall, dark, and handsome desperately attempting to rein in the chaos. I checked his clipboard to discover a handwritten inventory of things headed to hell versus being kept in my home along with a list of things that had been moved out of my place to make room for everything Ashley and Isaac needed to feel like the house was their home. “Oh, this is good work,” I complimented, flipping through the sheets to discover the poor guy had been struggling to keep up with a flood of information. “Do you need a break? I’m sure the horses would love if you were to shower them with the attention they are surely owed.”

The relief on his face made me giggle, and he handed over a collection of three pens and the clipboard. “I think I’ve slowed everything down.”

“You haven’t,” I promised, and I waved the clipboard to draw his attention to it. “This is going to save us all a lot of tears and crying later. Go get a drink, take a breather, try to settle your nerves, and play with the horses for a while. If you need something productive to do, I’m pretty sure I heard a crash out in the direction of the barn. You can confirm who is destroying what over there.”

“That would be Gauladin,” Yuless answered in a despairing tone. “For the new foundation and basement of the barn to be installed, everything has to go. Gauladin has decided gluttony will resolve this problem, and he’s eating your barn.”

My eyes widened at the thought of someone—or something—eating the ruins of my barn. “How many dragons are here?”

“More than anyone with a scrap of sense appreciates. But in good news, this is the safest neighborhood in the world right now. Is there anyone foolish enough to piss off this many dragons?”

“I was thinking that was the case when there were only three of them. And no, in case you heard the rumors, I am absolutely not at all sorry I punted Mr. Durant back to his castle to cool him off. I swear, it was just a small amount of damage to a singular flying buttress, and it’s at no risk of collapse. It was cosmetic damage, and it was less severe than it looked initially. A fish damaged it! If he’d done a better job of building his castle, a fish wouldn’t have damaged his flying buttress.”

According to the email from a contractor, who’d sent a drone up to take a look, a rather large fish had become impaled on some of the decorative veneering, requiring some minor maintenance to fix. As the location of the damage was on the tower side near a spacious window, the repair bill would be less than two thousand dollars.

Yuless lifted a hand and pinched the bridge of his nose. “And how high is this damaged flying buttress?”

“Sixty or so feet,” I replied, unable to stop myself from grinning. “It’s truly impressive. I mean, I knew the tornado had hit hard, but I hadn’t thought there were fishy leviathans living in the lake. The fish is, according to the drone footage, a four foot monster. It’s too bad I hadn’t realized it was up there. I could have sent one of the dragons to go get it, cleaned it, and had a good supper last night.”

“Please don’t scold them for not having noticed the fish,” he begged. “They are dragons.”

“I’ll think about it.” I shooed him away. “Escape while you can. I’ll handle the inventorying. You make sure Gauladin knows I appreciate his efforts, and if he upsets his tummy eating my barn, I’ll make him some tea and help nurse him back to health. Just make it clear none of my cows are available for his consumption. If he wants a cow as thanks for his efforts, I’ll go buy him one.”

“I’ll make sure he knows that. Are you sure you’re going to be all right? It’s insanity out here.”

I took in the blend of species all pitching in to help a widowed woman once again find joy in the world. “Yeah, I’m going to be just fine. There’s nowhere else I’d rather be right now.”