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“We are.”
“A baby,” he squeaked, and melted onto the mattress.
Finch carded his fingers affectionately through Hugh’s hair, which would have felt nice had
Hugh’s head not been spinning. “Yes. But first, you’re going to have a shower. Adjust the heat
after you get in to cool the water down. It’ll help wake you up and jolt you out of your fugue
state.”
“The… the… baby, Finch,” Hugh despaired. “Whelps can care for themselves, but a baby? I’ll
never be good enough for a baby. I’ll break it.”
“Nonsense. You’ll be an excellent father.” Finch patted him on the head. “Now, off to shower
with you. I need you ready for when Everard arrives. By the time he gets here, there’s no telling
what condition I’ll be in. I need you ready to speak with him if I can’t.”
“A baby,” Hugh whispered as he slid off the bed and wobbled toward the bathroom. “We’re
really having a baby…”
“Cold water, please,” Finch reminded him as he hobbled through the bathroom door.
Hugh heeded his word and took the coldest shower of his life. It still didn’t help.
* * *
Hugh took longer than he should have to shower and dressed just in time to greet a sleep-cap-
wearing Francis at the bedroom door. The major-domo narrowed his eyes at Hugh as if Hugh’s
personal failings were keeping him from a full night’s rest. “Mr. Everard Drake, sir,” he said,
then stepped aside to admit Everard, who had brought with him a doctor’s bag.
“Good morning, brother,” said Everard. “It’s come to my attention that your little hole punch is
filled to bursting. May I come in to see him? You might never get him unjammed otherwise.”
At the sight of his brother’s smug, if slightly exhausted, face, Hugh’s dragon did something it
never had before—it reared up in his mind and hissed. The sound escaped Hugh’s physical
body, causing Everard to roll his eyes.
“Oh, hush.” Everard tapped him on the tip of his nose. Hugh startled and recoiled. “I’m not here
to steal him from you. I do still remember what happened the last time he was taken from you,
and I’d prefer not to have to go through such an ordeal again. Now, step aside. I have a niece
or nephew to deliver.”
Hugh’s dragon snorted in irritation, but Hugh himself was too gobsmacked to say much of
