Page 7 of Merry in Moonvale (Moonvale Matches #3)

CHAPTER 7

Kizzi

F iella trembled like a leaf. It would have been hilarious if I wasn’t also terrified and on the verge of vomiting myself.

She watched the dragon warily, as if it was capable of swallowing her whole. Redd, to my surprise, didn’t pull her from the dragon’s path. He simply watched the dragon with the sharp gaze of a predator, prepared to step in and protect his mate if he needed to, but willing to let her have this moment on her own.

I admired him for that. I knew the protective instincts were hard to quell.

When Ember opened his jaws and tensed, I expected a stream of unholy flames. For all of us to die and burn to a crisp, and for the shop to crumble to ash.

I tensed to leap. At what, I wasn’t sure. I certainly wasn’t fireproof, but if Fiella was going to burn, I was going to burn with her.

It was futile.

All that escaped the mouth of the tiny dragon was a puny squeak, followed by a burst of hot air that merely fluttered Fiella’s cloak.

I let out the heaviest exhale. My head swam with relief.

The room settled into a tense silence, all of us brushing off the near-death experience. I wiped a bead of sweat off of my forehead. The dragon closed his maw and stared at Fiella questioningly.

“Well,” Tandor said awkwardly. “That was kind of adorable.”

Fiella choked. “Adorable! I almost died!”

Redd rubbed her shoulder. “You were very brave.”

She hadn’t been brave at all, actually. She screamed like a wailing baby. But I wasn’t going to say that out loud, because I had let out a squeal or two myself.

“I’m going to try something…” Tandor stepped forward slowly, extending his hand. His fingers trembled.

I should’ve known the gentle orc would be the first to attempt to pet the murderous creature. I couldn’t decide if I wanted to smile or shove him out of the way to protect him. The indecision kept me rooted to the spot.

He knelt, slowly, hesitantly. His muscles twitched with the restraint—I could tell he was itching to scoop the tiny dragon up in one smooth motion.

The dragon glanced in his direction and tilted his head curiously, and then turned back to face Fiella.

The tension in the room was begging to be shattered. Even the sprites seemed to hold their breath.

My fingertips buzzed with restrained magic. It pressed on my fingernails, tightened my veins until it was almost painful. I curled my fingers into my palms to relieve the sensation.

Tandor’s eyebrow furrowed in concentration. After what felt like ages, his fingers finally made contact with the tiny dragon, stroking feather lightly down the middle of the creature’s back.

The dragon tensed for a moment, bared its razor-sharp teeth. His scales rose like hackles. And then he laid down, allowing Tandor to pet him for a few long moments.

“Kizzi,” Tandor whispered. “Are you seeing this?”

“I see it,” I whispered back. “Are you scared?”

“Shitless.”

“Is he soft?”

“No, it's like tiny, paper-thin stones laying on top of each other.”

“No way.”

He nodded encouragingly. “Come feel.”

I had held the dragon earlier, but that had been more like wrangling a sleeping beast than stroking a cute critter. I looked at Fiella pointedly. “You first.”

“Me?” she croaked. “No way!”

“He’s looking at you. He wants you to pet him.”

The dragon was actually now peering around the room. He didn’t look murderous, though. If anything, he looked noble and reverent.

“Come on,” I urged. “It’s your dragon.”

The vampire’s eyes bulged. “Oh, fuck. I forgot about that part. It feels wrong—he feels too powerful.”

“You better get used to him. Go on. Pet.”

She steeled herself. Then, slowly, she knelt next to Tandor, who was now happily petting the dragon without a care in the world. Silly, sweet man .

Redd hovered close, prepared to intervene at any moment if things went south.

A tiny voice shouted from somewhere behind my shoulder. “It’s going well, Godsblood!”

I jumped. I had almost forgotten about the sprites.

Fiella stifled a laugh. “Yeah, Godsblood .”

“Shut up,” I grumbled to her. To Dropp, the water sprite, I said a little louder, “Kizzi. Just Kizzi. We’ve been over this.”

“Yes, Godsblood. I can’t help it,” Dropp said solemnly.

I huffed out a sigh.

It was a miracle that things hadn’t gone catastrophically wrong. Somehow, Tandor and Fiella were happily (if timidly) petting the baby dragon, and all of their fingers were still attached.

The sprites were watching from perches all over the room, but none of them were brave enough to get close.

Redd’s eyes were glued to the side of Fiella’s face, and a small smile tugged at the corner of his usually hard mouth.

Hex, my gods damned familiar, was snoozing in the broken cauldron with the remaining two eggs.

And Casper was nowhere to be seen, which wasn’t out of the norm. It was probably for the best.

I took a moment to appreciate the blessing from the fates.

And then the peaceful moment burst.

A knock pounded on the front door, muffled through the strengthened enchantments and barely audible. It was no surprise I had slept through Fiella’s knocking earlier—it was barely louder than a squirrel crunching on an acorn.

Everyone froze, even Tandor, who gently grabbed Fiella’s wrist and pulled her hands away from the dragon to protect her from any startle. Her reflexes should have been faster, but Fiella was Fiella.

The knock sounded again.

“Are you going to get that?” Redd asked.

It took effort to lift my feet from the ground, they wanted to stay rooted. “Right. Sure. Yes. I’m going to answer the door.”

“Any time soon?” Redd prompted.

I laughed tightly. “Of course. It’s just?—”

“Just what?”

“I’m afraid to open the door. What if Ember runs out again?”

“We’ll catch him,” Redd said confidently. He glanced at Fiella and Tandor. Fiella, who shared most of his quick vampire reflexes, even though her Pa was human. And Tandor, who was big and strong enough to handle most beasts.

I was doubtful, and my face must have shown it.

“We can handle a baby dragon, princess,” Tandor said. “Answer the door.”

I still hadn’t managed to shake the “princess” nickname. I would never admit that it was growing on me.

Before I could move, another voice called out, “I’ll get it, Godsblood.”

Dropp, followed by a few other sprites, flew over to the door. To my absolute astonishment, the tiny creatures worked together to push through the enchantment, disengage the lock, and pull the door open. My jaw hung wide.

Somehow, some way, the tiny sprites were strong enough to pull open a door that had to be at least a hundred times their weight. It should have been impossible.

“No fucking way,” I said, shocked. “You guys can open the door?”

“Of course, Godsblood. How did you think we came and went?”

To be honest, I hadn’t ever thought about it. But it did make sense. They had caused all sorts of mischief in my shop, so of course they were capable of impressive feats.

I realized they could have done real damage to my shop, if they chose to. But they never did. Even back when I couldn’t communicate with them. Stupidly, my heart squeezed.

“Be ready!” I called to the room as a whole.

I had no hope of catching a dragon, even with my magic, so I simply braced myself and watched the door swing open, content to let the others save the day for once.

Ginger stood outside. “It’s about time!” she shouted. Her voice was ragged and cracked. “I’ve been screaming out here! Didn’t you hear me?”

“Sucks, doesn’t it?” Fiella muttered. “Been there.”

“It does! I was just—woah!” The faun yelped as the sprites grabbed onto her and yanked her into the building before slamming the door shut behind her. They pulled her by her cloak, her antlers, even locks of her auburn hair. She fluttered her hands helplessly.

The dragon bolted toward freedom, but he was too slow—the door slammed in his face.

He let out a small huff.

I let out a shuddering exhale.

The room collectively took a breath.

Ginger straightened her cloak. “Well, that was a bit violating.” She furrowed her brows at the sprites, who were fluttering back to their places on the shelves. “I would’ve come in on my own.”

“Well…” I gestured to the dragon, who was right by Ginger’s ankles, staring longingly at the closed door.

Ginger jumped. Her hooves clacked when she landed, and she scurried back a few paces. She didn’t know where to stand. She was stuck somewhere between wanting to approach and wanting to flee. “Fates!” she shouted. “Why didn’t anyone tell me that you caught it? I’ve been looking all morning.”

She looked around the room, a slight hurt expression pinching her eyes.

“There wasn’t time,” Tandor said. “We haven’t been here long. It all happened so fast.”

“We would’ve grabbed you next,” Fiella added.

I nodded in agreement. We hadn’t left the woman out on purpose.

“Okay…” Her eyes settled on the small red dragon. “He’s pretty cute. Scary, too.” She glanced at me for a moment before her gaze flitted back to Ember. “I have the strangest urge to… bow?”

“It’ll pass,” I agreed. “I think it’s the ancient magic or something. You get used to it.”

She swallowed. “Okay. That’s—okay. Is it friendly? Does it have a name?”

“His name is Ember,” I supplied. “And… that’s to be determined. But nobody has been gravely injured yet, so that’s a good sign.”

“Sure! Good sign indeed.” She turned to Tandor. “You pet it?”

“Sure did, boss.”

She nodded. “I knew you would. And you lived to tell the tale.”

“I did indeed. Not a single burn.”

“Impressive.”

The orc grinned. “I have a thing for critters.”

Ginger snorted. “Don’t we know it. I actually came looking for you. Your order of cranberries arrived.”

Tandor straightened, wiping his palms on his trousers. “My cranberries! I almost forgot!” He glanced at me quickly before clearing his throat. “For… a pie. Right. That Ginger is helping me bake.”

I held down a smile. Tandor had never baked a pie in his life. I knew the berries were surely for a new flavor of cider. Tandor worked at the pub with Ginger, but he was in charge of the ciders, and he loved trying new flavors.

He wasn’t subtle at all, but I wasn’t going to call him out on it.

“You better go take care of that,” I said. “We’ll be fine here.”

“You sure?” He drifted over to me, placing a warm hand on the back of my neck and tugging me forward so he could plant a kiss on top of my head.

“Mhm. Go. I can handle things here. Besides, I’m sure we all have to prepare for Merry Day.” I patted him on the cheek as he stepped back.

Ginger grinned. “We sure do. Let’s go, Tandor. Bye, Kiz! Bye, Fiella and Redd!”

Fiella waved. “Good to see you, Ginny.”

Redd nodded his head.

This time, I called out to the sprites myself. “Guys? Any help here?”

“Sure, Godsblood. Already on it.” The sprites jumped into motion again, following the two folk as they departed, closing any gaps and distracting Ember enough that the door opened and closed without issue.

That was surely going to come in handy.

“Why do you look so evil over there?” Fiella said suspiciously.

I forced a blank expression onto my face. “No reason.”

“Is it about the sprites that are super helpful all of a sudden?”

“It might be.”

“Kiz,” she reprimanded.

“I didn’t even do anything!”

“But you’re thinking about it.”

I sighed. “I’ll be nice to them, I swear.” Or, nice enough.

“You better be.”

I returned my attention to the dragon. “Well, what are we going to do? And what if the other two hatch? It’s like taking care of a baby, but worse. Because the baby can murder folk and burn the entire town to the ground.”

“Well… at least it’s still a baby. It can’t be too hard. Feed it, give it a comfy bed, and play with it. Maybe scratch its tiny head and kiss it on its tiny cheeks. I think we can handle that.”

“So, you’re taking him with you?” I asked hopefully.

“Woah, I didn’t say that!”

I hurried to a basket on the table that I had prepared for this moment. I pulled out a few vials. One contained a protective enchantment similar to the one I had placed on the shop. Another contained a flame-proofing liquid. “We’ll fix your cottage up, then. And then you can take him.”

Redd looked pale. “Sure. Fix up the cottage. That is made almost entirely of wood.”

I flapped my hand dismissively. “If it burns down, you’ll rebuild it. You’re the woodworker, after all.” And it was true. Since Redd had moved to Moonvale, he had opened up his own woodworking shop that was keeping him very busy. I could admit that he was adept at what he did.

He better be, considering he was my best friend’s mate, and she was the most talented trinket collector in the entire realm.

He swallowed. “I guess you’re right.” He turned to Fiella, reaching out and running a hand down the length of her hair. “Are you sure about this?”

She leaned into his touch and smiled warmly at him. I held down the gag and rude comment that wanted to fly out of my mouth—I knew I was just as lovey dovey with Tandor.

It was absurd, how happy everyone was. It was like a gods damned fairytale.

“I’m sure,” Fiella said with more conviction than I expected. “I’ve been waiting for this moment since I forced Kizzi to bring the eggs home.”

“It’s true,” I added. “It really is Fiella’s fault that we’re in this situation in the first place.”

She glared at me. “Oh hush, bitch. You wanted them just as much as I did. It’s like having a murderous puppy. You’d do anything for a murderous puppy.”

I simply shrugged, because I couldn’t disagree. “Well,” I tossed the fireproofing supplies into a bag. “Bring these home, set them up, and then I’ll swing by later to strengthen up the enchantment if necessary. The sprites, Hex, and I will take care of the little monster until then.”

Fiella smiled gratefully. “Of course. You really are the best, you know?”

I shoved the bag at her. “I know. Now get out, quick, while Ember is distracted.”

The dragon was chasing a sprite around the room, snapping at its fluttering feet with gentle chomps.

Fiella let out a swoon, pressing her hands to her cheeks. “But he’s so cute!”

I shoved her shoulder, laughing. “Go. He’ll be here later.”

Redd ushered her out. “Let’s go, love. We still have work to do. See you, Kizzi.”

“To the moons!” Fiella yelled as the door was slammed shut.

“Suns!” I called after her.

And then it was just me, the dragon, and the sprites.

Alone.

Fuck .