Page 136 of Hoarded By the Dragon

“And you’re allowing that?” he asks, his jaw slack.

I roll my eyes at the notion that I would allow or disallow Katarina anything while she’s in such a state. I must truly seem like a dictator to my godson.

“If you are ever in the same situation, you may understand.” I keep my words careful, but Gage still frowns. His relationship situation makes how Katarina and I came together look generic.

“And where is Ben?” Gage glances around. “I’ve never known him to be absent for so long. Usually he’s attached to your side.”

“Ben has his own mess to deal with. He’ll visit after the birth.”

As much fear as I suppress, there’s a flare of excitement at that statement. Soon, maybe this time tomorrow, my daughter will be born.

It’s the hell of waiting before then that has the power to drive me out of my mind.

I suck in my breath at another flare of pain and check the time. The contractions are too close together to leave Katarina in her studio alone.

Gage stands, sensing the change in the air. “Let’s reschedule this meeting. Let me know when my sister is born, will you?”

He’s gone before I process his words. Warmth blooms in my chest that my daughter hasn’t even made an appearance in the world and her family ties are already growing. Her life will be so different than the loneliness I’ve fostered for centuries.

I take the stairs in the secret passageway to Rina’s studio two at a time. The bookcase swings open to show me my mate with her hands at her lower back, breathing slowly. I analyze everything from her scrunched brow that has a smear of green paint bisecting it to her stiff posture, but a single detail has my heart rate picking up.

There’s a puddle under my mate’s feet.

“Did your water break? And you didn’t tell me?” A hefty dose of disbelief mixes with my alarm. I take out my phone and dial Maggie, not needing my mate’s answer. Griffin gives a croaky meow from his cat tower that seems to agree with my exasperation.

Katarina winces guiltily as she smiles at me. “I needed to finish the painting first.”

I snap my mouth shut to keep from releasing flustered words. The woman is going into labor. Now isn’t the time for lectures. Later we’ll see how she appreciates spanking. That’s an activity we haven’t tried yet.

Maggie picks up, and I detail that Katarina’s water has broken and how many minutes apart her contractions are. Katarina’s brows raise as if surprised I’ve kept track. This witch will be the end of me.

Maggie calmly gives me instructions before hanging up.

“Maggie will meet us in our room,” I say. Katarina decided that was where she wanted to give birth after the dome was finished. Something about it feeling like her space.

It should feel like her space. The craftsman used one of her dragon fire paintings as inspiration for the dome design.

“Sounds like a plan, but first, look,” Katarina says while pulling off a glove and gesturing to the canvas. I don’t want to give her the satisfaction of looking at her work with how annoyed I am. She rolls her eyes at me. “Kalos, chill out. She’s not going to rush out of me. We have hours yet.”

Yes, spanking is looking better by the minute.

Aggravated, I turn toward the canvas and freeze.

The brushstrokes are bold in Alla Prima, but the edges are smoothed artfully in places to give enough definition that the portrait is clear. The toddler has a shock of curling dark hair that contrasts with her cherubic cheeks and bright green eyes. Black scales cover her tiny hands as she reaches out as if demanding to be held.

Our daughter looks like me with Katarina’s emerald eyes.

My throat swells with meaning.

“She’s going to be fine,” my mate says. “I thought this would help the fears.”

Help me because this is something she’s seen in her dreams. A message from fate of what is to come. A message that won’t just be for me.

Our daughter is hope. It’s a heavy burden for one so small, but that doesn’t change how people interpret her existence. Dragons haven’t yielded eggs in centuries. The world thought the age of monsters was over.

And now our immortal hearts have hope again.

I swallow. Pain breaks me from the moment, and Katarina hisses, hunching over. I use my body to support her. I’ll carry her as soon as the contraction passes.

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