“You three took care of that. He’s gone. Completely and utterly gone.” A pile of ash.
“Good.”
“Do you want to bring him out?” Father asked, and he looked down at Corbin.
“Do you want to go out? Or stay here? Where do you want to have the babies? What is it you want to do, love?”
“I want to stay with my brothers. This is our house. This is the portal. Our babies should come here.” Corbin smiled at his father. “I can’t wait for you to meet them.”
“I’m so excited to meet them as well. We’ll guard this entrance, my sons.”
Gregor nodded. “We will. You just make babies, Corbin.”
“Yeah. I think they’re made, but…” Corbin gulped. “I had to kill the vampire. He was going to hurt our Isabelle.”
“And you weren’t going to let that happen, were you?” Evander smiled, carrying Corbin back over to their home.
When they got over to the part of the house that was theirs, something was… different. Odd.
Evander turned his head one way and the other, trying to parse what had happened, what it was he sensed.
Corbin blinked, then looked at him, eyes wide, lips parted. “It’s gone.”
“I don’t understand. What’s gone?”
Corbin held his gaze. “The stain.”
“What stain?”
“The stain of Myk’s brothers, the stain of their deaths, their loss, their pain. It’s gone. Can you smell it? It’s gone.”
“I can. I don’t know what it means.”
“It means that their spirits are free to go and find another dragon form, to come together again and start over somewhere not here. It means the stain is gone.” Corbin began to cry, but he didn’t think that those were tears of sorrow.
Ev thought perhaps they were tears of sheer relief.
Finally, Corbin grabbed his arm. “It’s time to have the babies now.”
Evander chuckled. “I think you’re probably right.”
Calla glided into the room on the heels of those words, a serene smile on her face. “My amazing son. Are you ready?”
“I don’t think I have a choice. But yes, I’m ready. It’s time.” Corbin looked at his mother, his eyes wide. “I killed him. We killed him. The three of us.”
“We are safe. My good boys.” She touched his forehead, smoothing out the lines, and he relaxed. “There. That’s better.” She beamed at him. “I cannot wait to meet my grandbabies.”
Evander agreed. It was time.
The first babyseemed to come quick. He had no more than stretched out on the bed before the urge to push hit him.
And they had a daughter, lickety split, a deep brown beauty with eyes like deep pools, tiger-eye scales.
But there were two more, and the second baby didn’t want to come out.
Corbin screamed and twisted, pain racking him, but the baby was obviously frightened and didn’t want to come for free, didn’t want to meet their father and sister.
But Corbin needed them out because after this one, there was another still.
