Page 73 of Hoarded By the Dragon

“The baby.” Gage’s eyes go wide. “Uh, you didn’t know that it’s a girl?”

“No.” My lips go numb, and I feel around for the leather armchair, before lowering myself down. I’m going to have a daughter, and it all feels so much more real than it was when the baby was just a dragon that likes to kick me at night.

“You don’t look so good,” Gage says with panic in his voice, but I don’t respond. I need a moment. He’s gone in the next blink, and this time I let the tears come.

Stupid tears from happiness, confusion, or terror.

Maybe it’s all three.

26

KALOS

“Kalos! Something is wrong with Katarina!”Gage’s shouts are distant and echo in the house, but I hear them clearly and hang up the meeting I’m on immediately. I run.

Gage skids to a halt when he sees me coming, and he dashes back the way he came.

“What did you do?” I demand.

“I don’t know! We were just talking, and she went pale,” Gage says as we arrive to Katarina’s workroom. She sits on her leather couch, frozen and unresponsive to our presence.

“Rina,” I cajole, and she blinks at me through tears before shaking her head and scowling at Gage.

“You didn’t have to call the calvary. I was taking a moment, dammit!” she says.

My lips twitch in relief.

“Sorry if I prefer my hide on my back instead of a torture rack,” Gage snarks back, face full of relief.

Katarina turns her face to meet mine, her eyes still wet but clear of the stress from before. “Gage says it’s a girl.”

“What?” I say, my adrenaline is starting to calm, but words are harder to decipher especially without context.

She snorts. “The baby. The baby is a girl, though I don’t know how he can tell.”

I look to Gage, and he rocks on his heels as if embarrassed.

“Dragons can sense our own,” I say to explain. I would have been able to tell the sex if I’d let myself. I don’t know why I hadn’t.

Because it would have made it more real.Like how it is now.

I still.A girl.We’re having a daughter.

“At least I’m not the only one who needs a moment,” Katarina says wryly and pushes herself to stand. “I think I feel like a snack.”

I move to pick her up, and she puts her hands up to stop me. “I may cry like a leaky faucet, but I can still walk, goddammit. Anyway, I’d like to take a minute without the two of you hovering around me.”

An emotion passes over her face so quickly that I almost miss it. Sadness. For me.

Gage blinks. “Hey! I thought you were in trouble. How was I supposed to know that you weren’t about to go into labor?”

“Thank you for your assistance, Gage,” Katarina calls over her shoulder before she disappears down the hall.

We stand where we are for a moment until Gage clears his throat awkwardly. “Well, I should be going—”

“My office,” I cut in.

Gage presses his lips together, and I think he may tell me to go fuck myself rather than follow my command, but he must take pity on me.

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