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perfect, because Darwin will be twelve, which should be just about the right age to help me
with my research.”
Finch had been referring to the mechanical wings attached to the lizard, but he was too taken
aback to bother clarifying.
“Do you have any adopted children?” Harrison asked as he continued to probe. His eyes were
locked on a screen Finch couldn’t see while lying on the examination table. “Or maybe Hugh
does? I don’t know too much about him. He tends to keep to himself.”
“I care for two rats,” Finch volunteered. “Their names are Eleanor and Elizabeth, and they are
exceptionally sweet. My truest companions. Well, except for Hugh, of course, but that’s more
of a recent development. My ladies have kept me sane since they came under my care, and
so too the ladies that came before them.”
“Rats are interesting. Some reptiles eat them, and that’s fine, but I’ve always felt a little bad.
They seem to be clever little creatures.”
Finch gawked.
“I’m glad that there are people like you to take care of them,” Harrison continued, oblivious to
what he’d just said. “I just… hmm. Weird.”
“Weird?” Finch asked. “What’s ‘weird’ about a pet rat?”
“Oh, no, not the rat. Your ultrasound. At this stage, your eggs should be small but visible, but
I’m not seeing anything. According to my color theory, Amethyst dragons and Amethyst
dragonets should be a mating pair that can produce a clutch, but… it’s not there.”
The bottom dropped out of Finch’s stomach, and he rested the back of his head on the
examination table as a sudden wave of dizziness hit. The reality of the situation hit him hard.
Harrison had seen nothing on the ultrasound. Finch was not with egg.
Tears prickled in the corners of Finch’s eyes, which he hastened to blink away. He’d known
this would happen. It was why he’d been so adamant not to pursue Hugh romantically. Like
he’d predicted, Hugh had taken his heat, and Finch had failed him, and while Hugh had
charmed Finch into bed with sweet words and promises of forever, whether a clutch was
involved or not, Finch had seen the joy in his eyes when he’d thought Finch had conceived.
When he found out the news, he would be devastated, and Finch would have to forever live
with the burden of knowing that he was the one who’d made Hugh suffer.
