Page 59 of The Dragon's Perfect Omega
"All right." Doctor Ignis stepped up to me. "Let's take a look, shall we?"
He applied a cool sort of gel to my stomach and I tried to relax. It honestly wasn't that easy, but at least I had my dragon by my side, which made up for a lot. Even for the discomfort of being probed during an ultrasound.
The little monitor next to the examination chair started showing a black and white picture. To be honest, I really couldn't make out anything on it. I glanced at Lowen, but he seemed just as clueless.
Good thing we had the doctor there to explain to us what we were seeing. "Look at this part here," he said, gesturing at a white area that did vaguely have the shape of a baby now that it was pointed out to me. Doctor Ignis smiled. "That's your little miracle." He paused, moving the ultrasound device. For a second, his features froze, and then he forced another smile on his face. "And here we have another baby."
Wait, what? I stared at the monitor in horror. I was hardly ready to become the parent of one baby, but two? When I turned to Lowen, he seemed just as stunned. But he found his voice sooner than I did.
"You're saying there's two babies?" he asked. "We're having twins?"
"That's exactly what I'm saying." The doctor's expression grew pensive. "This comes as quite a shock to most parents to be, but with your situation, there's an additional element of risk, of course." He scratched his chin, looking at me. "I'm afraid that carrying two dragon babies at once is going to put a major strain on your body. I would understand if you wanted to look into other options."
"Other options?" My gaze wandered to Lowen and then back at the doctor. What did he mean by that?
"It's not too late to terminate," the doctor said drily. "I have to inform you that you could be risking your life by choosing to continue with this pregnancy."
I swallowed the lump that had suddenly formed in my throat. Was that what it boiled down to? My life or the babies'? Even before coming here and seeing my babies on the screen, the thought of abortion had unsettled me. I figured I'd always wanted to be a parent in some way, and in the end it didn't matter whether I or my partner carried the child. I couldn't kill the life that was growing inside of me. It was innocent.Theywere innocent. Relying on me.
“I can’t do that.”
Lowen squeezed my hand. When I looked at him, he’d gone pale. “Zim,” he started, “there’s things I’ve seen…”
“I don’t care what you saw,” I interrupted him. “I can’t do it.” I turned to the doctor. “It’s not guaranteed that I’ll die, right? We could all be fine?”
“You could be,” he conceded, albeit reluctantly. “If you choose to go through with this pregnancy, I will do everything in my power to make sure you and your babies stay healthy.”
I nodded. “Thank you. That’s all I need.”
My partner didn’t seem convinced, but he didn’t argue either. Maybe that was all I could ask of him for the moment. For the whole rest of my check-up, Lowen stayed silent. I could see there was something brooding inside of him, but I couldn’t tell what. I had to wait until we were back home to get anything out of him.
“I need to go to the shrine,” he said, almost as soon as we’d landed by the house.
“Why?”
“To talk to the high priestess. To figure out my visions. To…” He stopped talking, but I got the feeling I knew what he was about to say.To save you and the babies.He’d had some sort of vision, I was sure now. Before I could ask any more questions, though, he shifted and took to the sky again.
Squinting against the sun, I stared after my dragon as he flew away. He’d seen something that worried him. I wasn’t worried, though. I wasn’t going to let anyone dictate my life anymore. Not my parents and not some hazy vision of a future that could be. I knew Lowen was going to make sure everything would be all right.
Iknewit.
30
Lowen
This time, when I went to the shrine, I wasn't expected.ButI was let inside, which was all that mattered to me. The high priestess must have told everyone to lead me to her chambers if I came back, because I was being taken to her without much ado. When I entered the room, she was seated at a small table, and I didn't hesitate taking a space across from her. She didn't seem to mind, eyeing me wordlessly until I'd settled in.
"You came back."
"I need your help," I cut to the chase, feeling way too agitated to waste my time with small talk. My mate was carrying twins and there was a real possibility that this could kill him if I didn't do anything.
"What do you need my help with?" The priestess leaned forward a little, seemingly intrigued.
"I have to know more about my visions. I need to know how to prevent the future I've seen."
She nodded, but more to herself than me. "Of course you would want to know. You must have so many questions. I'd be happy to answer all of them for you, if you were to follow in my footsteps."
"I can't do that. My mate is pregnant."
