AllFreeNovel
Share Us
* * *
Fatherhood suited Hugh, and he wore it as proudly and boldly as he could. Babies, he’d
learned rather quickly, couldn’t do much, but Theodore—Theodore was different. Hugh would
teach him everything. And he would teach him right.
“This is a dragon,” Hugh told his infant son at their daily lesson. As usual, Theodore was in his
bassinet and Hugh was stationed beside him. In his hand, he held a flash card. On it was a
drawing of a friendly Emerald dragon and the letter “D.” Despite Hugh’s best efforts, he’d been
unable to find flash cards with Amethyst dragons. A pity that his art skills were disastrous at
best—he would have loved for Theodore to see his clan represented in human media. Alas, it
wasn’t to be. “Dragon,” Hugh said, making sure to enunciate the word. “Dragon starts with a
‘D’ and ends with a ‘ragon.’ Do you see the picture, Theodore?”
Theodore, who was only three weeks old, kicked his feet.
Hugh took it as an affirmation.
“Good. Now, do you know why dragons are so important?” Hugh reached into the bassinet and
stroked Theodore’s soft hair. “Dragons are important because they are family. I am a dragon,
and my brothers are dragons, and we have been dragons for as far back as you can imagine.
But what you might not know is that your father is a dragon, too. And so are you. A dragon
through and through.”
“Hugh?” asked Finch in an amused tone of voice from the door. “What are you doing?”
“I’m teaching Theodore about dragons,” Hugh replied. He showed Finch the flash card.
“Whelps are born with their scales, so it’s easy for them to understand who they are, but
dragonets aren’t. I want Theodore to know from the very start that he is no less a dragon than
his cousins. I will not have him doubt himself. He will grow up strong and certain and proud of
his heritage. Everything you went through, Finch, and all of the shame burdened on Disgraces
out of sheer ignorance… I won’t have it. If there is only one thing Theodore learns in life, it will
be that he is worthy of the Drake name.”
Finch was very still and quiet for a moment. When it came to the point where Hugh thought he
would not speak at all, he swept into the room and stood by Hugh’s side. With such scant
distance between them, Hugh saw for himself the glimmer in Finch’s eyes. “That’s a very sweet
thing of you to do.”
