AllFreeNovel
Share Us
And she was going to have his child. He felt like she’d thumped him right in the chest.
He looked at her, fastening the last of the straps of her ceremonial armor.
Was this what Jonathan felt when he looked at his mother? Knowing she was pregnant with someone else’s kid?
He studied Kymri. If this child hadn’t been his, would he feel the same?
Finished, she smiled up at him.
Hell yes.
He always knew how much his father loved his mother.
Now he understood it better.
This was for life.
He was just sorry that the relationship between himself and Jonathan Mountainside hadn’t been able to withstand the loss of the one person that held them together.
He reached out a hand toward Kymri’s belly. His fingers shook. Could he be as good a father as Jonathan had been before his mother disappeared?
Kymri closed the distance, taking his hand in hers and pressing his palm to her womb. He could feel the hard lump.
He searched her face. She was watching him closely.
“The child seems to have created a shell around itself to protect against the magic of the shift when I go into dragon form. Because we are connected, the energy is pulled from my reserve.”
“Does it hurt you?”
She shook her head, linking her fingers through his, “We must go back,” she began to walk back toward the door that would lead them back to the queen’s antechamber and all those waiting for them.
He picked up his pace, inserting himself in front of her so that she walked into him.
There was so much he wanted to say but it was all lodged in his throat, so he pulled her into him and kissed her, trying to translate all of it in a way he could express.
When he finally released her lips, she stared up at him, eyes wide and full of unshed tears.
He kissed her eye lids and the tip of her nose.
They entered the antechamber hand in hand.
The queen looked at both of them, “Good.”
The woman Kymri had been seated next to looked on them with a warm smile.
Odson wore an expression of deep relief and everyone else looked as though they wanted to get on with the discussion.
Odson took a moment to collect his thoughts to resume his story. “Once Jonathan got his bearings and was able to accept seeing both of us shift in and out of our dragon forms, he just went with it. I’ve never seen a human accept something so completely.” Odson’s attention turned back to Jori “Your father’s a rare guy.”
Jori nodded, not knowing what to say to that.
Odson went on, “I didn’t stick around, just checked in now and then. When you were born, I couldn’t tell who was more delighted at your arrival, they both doted on you so much.” He smiled at the fond memory. “Elora always held a deep-seated tension in her. She never knew when and if they would find the two of you. She didn’t talk much about it, but I could see it in her eyes, it was the same look that had ingrained itself when she’d come to me for help.
“Jonathan was concerned about all the trips she took you on, trying to teach you about your heritage without actually telling you the truth of it. She wasn’t ready for that. As much as she desperately wanted you to know who you were, she was terrified to lose you to it, too.”
“Why would she?” he asked.
“As much as males are not welcome here among the females, it’s very different among the male tribes. They’re prized, indoctrinated, and instilled with a belief in their superiority and their right to dominate and rule the weak. They believe it is their right to take any female they want to procreate with, and then take the male child to make themselves stronger.” Odson sighed, looking tired. “It’s a fucked-up system.”
