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Ari stared at me so intensely it felt as though his eyes were burning right through my head. He reached up and took off his glasses. I noticed his hand was trembling slightly.
Now I was frightened.
“Ari. What is this about? Tell me, now.”
He wiped his glasses with the clean side of the cloth and let out a slow, shaky breath.
“You’re pregnant.”
Chapter7
Istil
The words rang like a strike to the face. Or maybe it was more like a punch to the gut. It quickly dawned on me there were two ways an omega could respond to learning they had a hatchling in their belly—celebration or utter denial.
“I can’t be,” I said. “There hasn’t been anyone else before you, and anyway, Eli gave me that potion.”
“I can smell it, Istil.”
I stared at the droplet of blood smeared on my finger like it had betrayed me. “Your nose isn’t working properly,” I said.
“I wish it wasn’t.”
“But the potion,” I protested.
“The potions don’t always work,” he said.
I already knew this, but I just couldn’t believe it could be true. Maybe,maybe, this news would’ve been easier to deal with had it been one of the Othos betas who’d been responsible, butAri?
I was a Protector. I was supposed to be as rooted as the mightiest trees, unable to be shaken by anything. But this… this had me turning into a frightened mess. Me, with a baby?
“Maybe there’s some other explanation,” Ari said.
“Other explanation? What other explanation could there be? You just said you could smell it! Your stupid seed was too strong, that’s the explanation. What are we going to do?”
“We’re going to focus, and we’re going to take care of Enry. Then I’ll do another examination.”
“Okay,” I said. “Yeah.”
We collected the remaining ingredients and returned to the house and were relieved to find Eli had arrived. He and Ari took the plants and worked their potion magic while I rejoined Visir by Enry’s side.
“Is everything okay?” Enry asked me. His forehead was shiny with sweat and he looked absolutely exhausted.
“You’re going to be just fine,” I told him. “We have everything we need to help you birth this egg.”
“I’m asking about you,” he said. “You have that look on your face you get when things aren’t going quite your way.”
The surprise I felt wasn’t just because of Enry’s unbounding kindness. I was touched that he could read me so easily. Visir and I looked at each other, and from the look he gave me, I knew he was thinking the same thing as Enry.
“I’mfine,” I said. “I just don’t like seeing you in pain.”
He gave me a tired smile. “I always imagined my life as shrine-keeper would involve all sorts of spiritual revelations. I never would’ve thought it would involve a literal awakening… to the fact that there’s a dragon egg in my bum.”
I laughed. “I must admit, I’m not envious of your current situation.”
A burst of bubbles erupted from the pool beside us, and Shen came to the surface.
“Enry!” he said. “We’re almost at peak resonance. If you can keep this up just a little longer…”
