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Everard and Sebastian ignored him. Their eyes were on Peregrine, who sat up with a yawn and a stretch.
“Are you leaving, then?” Peregrine asked.
“If you are well enough to be left to my brother’s tender mercies, then yes. I shall, of course, leave very strict instructions for you both, but I do think the danger is over.” He held his hand to Peregrine’s forehead, and Sebastian had to hold himself back from eviscerating him on the spot. “No more fever. That’s very well. Eyes are focused. Your wounds have mostly healed and seem free from rot. Even your appetite is improved, if the servants are to be believed.”
Peregrine nodded his head solemnly. “Indeed, Sir Dragon. I feel very much improved. I must thank you again for saving my life.”
Everard waved the gratitude away. “Oh, I did it for purely selfish reasons. Sebastian is so very difficult when his playthings get broken. Healing you was by far the most convenient course of action.”
Sebastian growled again, but Peregrine put his hand on Sebastian’s leg and smiled sweetly up at Everard. “I am quite grateful for your shameless self-interest, then.”
Everard quirked half a smile back.
“I helped, too,” Alistair pointed out. “I kept him from dying.”
“And I thank you for that, Sir Dragon,” Peregrine told him with a dimpled smile.
Sebastian found himself wanting to defenestrate both of his clutch-mates.
Everard gave both Sebastian and Peregrine a long, searching look, then pointedly sniffed the air. “Ah, yes. I do believe we shall take our leave of you now.”
“But—” Alistair protested.
“Now,” Everard hissed, “and I do not mean a second longer. Come, brother, it’s time we set out on this journey of yours to… what was the name of the city again?”
“Tehran. I think I’ve told you only a million times.”
Everard pushed his brother to the door. “Exactly that. Now go to your room and make sure you have everything packed.”
“I’m not a whelp,” Alistair protested as Everard pushed him out the door and closed it behind him.
Everard leaned against the closed door. “I will leave instructions with the servants,” he said, “since you won’t be able to. I’m sure this isn’t the first heat they’ve had to deal with, but it seems prudent all the same. But, dear brother,” he pointed a finger at Sebastian, “I do believe it shall be your first time, so here is what you should know. Peregrine will not want to eat, but you will have to make him. You must ensure he is given water, as he is likely to reject that, too. There is no need to gorge him, but regular maintenance is necessary for his continued healing. A bellyful of semen will not suffice. Am I understood?”
Sebastian shot a jet of flame at Everard that he easily dodged.
“Right then,” continued Everard. “I’m off. And, by the way, you’re welcome for me spiriting away our brother and taking up the mantle of minder. Which is to say, you owe me.” Then, before Sebastian could respond, he opened up the bedchamber door and slid through it, shutting it behind him with a decided thud.
Peregrine rolled on the bed so he could look up at Sebastian. “My heat?” he asked. “However could your brother detect it when I cannot?”
Sebastian kissed the top of Peregrine’s head, amongst his curls. “Everard has the ken of many things only he understands. But, damn his eyes, he’s rarely wrong.”
“We should rest then,” Peregrine said decidedly. “If Everard is right, we shall need it. And if he’s not, well, I think an afternoon nap sounds lovely. Don’t you?”
Sebastian looked into Peregrine’s crystalline blue eyes and thought there was nothing at all he could ever deny him.
Except his eggs. Should he fall gravid with a clutch.
Sebastian didn’t like that thought one bit, so he pushed it to the back of his mind where it could not so easily prey upon him.
* * *
That night, Sebastian was woken by Peregrine thrashing beside him. He had kicked the thin silken bedclothes to the floor and yet still he dripped with sweat.
“So hot,” he moaned.
Sebastian, in his much younger days, had secretly been with an omega in heat. A wild omega, not one from the Pedigree. It was frowned upon, but he’d been young, and allowances were made for the immaturity of youth. He had no way of knowing if his experience with Peregrine would be at all similar. Pedigree omegas were supposed to be different from the norm, but he was unsure as to how. Perhaps it was something he should have asked Everard, but his brothers had already departed and Sebastian wasn’t about to leave his omega to hunt them down. He’d have to discover it for himself.
“I know, sweet,” Sebastian replied, remembering how the long-ago omega had seemed to burn from the inside out. “Let me help.”
