Now Erik snorted. “As if it could ever be that easy.”
“The boy is right, though,” Snorre boomed.
“Iggy told me,” Harrison went on stubbornly, “that what others did was their business and no one else’s. That alphas could be with alphas, or betas with betas, or omegas and omegas, or with multiple people, or no one at all, and it was all okay. That me not wanting anyone was just as okay as someone else wanting multiple people.”
Matthieu smiled at Harrison. “This Iggy of yours sounds very wise. Is he a friend of yours?”
“Oh, yes! I’ve known him for years, and it turns out we’re both related to dragons and we didn’t know it! Isn’t that crazy? As it turns out, my grandfather is a dragon, and Iggy’s father is one.” Harrison scrunched his nose again in thought. “Iggy must be a Ruby, like you,” he said happily. “I hadn’t really considered it, but he does have a rather reddish aura and his last name is Boudreaux. Which is your last name, too, come to think of it. I wonder if you’re related.”
“What?” Matthieu cried out. He stiffened with shock.
Geoffrey felt a lurch in his stomach. The connection to Ignatius was something he should have brought up with Matthieu earlier, but with everything that had happened, the importance had slid from his mind. “Ignatius is my brother Alistair’s mate, Matthieu. He is also, it seems, your cousin.”
27
Matthieu
“A cousin!” Harry clapped his hands. The lizard on his shoulder flicked his tongue, looking as excited as a lizard could. The small, pink dragon on Harry’s opposite shoulder nuzzled Harry’s cheek, then dipped his head to look at Matthieu curiously with bright, multicolored eyes. “You know, for as long as I’ve known him, Iggy has always been alone. When he left home to attend university, he cut ties with his mother, who I understand was unpleasantly eccentric. He never once spoke of his father, but you know, that makes so much sense when you consider that he was a dragon. Most herps aren’t very good parents.”
Everard cleared his throat.
“Ev is a terrific father, of course, just like all the youngest Drakes are.” Harry adjusted his glasses, which Darwin had displaced through enthusiastic cuddling. “But traditional herps—the kind who have no ties with humanity or mammalian social structures—don’t tend to be exceptionally talented when it comes to raising young. Some don’t even stick around to meet their hatchlings at all. Can you imagine?”
Darwin, who seemed exceptionally precocious, shivered. He tucked his head beneath Harry’s chin for shelter and safety, all the while keeping his eyes on Matthieu. If it hadn’t been for how sweet he, Dmitry, and Nikita were, Matthieu would have already lost his temper. No one was giving him a chance to express himself.
“That is all well and good,” Matthieu said, his patience waning, “but I have no interest in ‘erps.’ What I want to know is—”
“Herps,” Harry said brightly.
Matthieu thinned his lips. “What?”
“They’re called herps,” Harry clarified. “I thought maybe you heard me wrong. Wouldn’t that be terrible? I wouldn’t want anyone to take what I say out of context.” With a hum, Harry surveyed the table. Matthieu’s temple twitched. “Come to think of it, the majority of people at the table speak English as a second language, so maybe I should clarify before anyone gets the wrong idea—which is funny, since the word herpetology itself is more Greek than it is English. When I mentioned herps before, what I meant is—”
“Fennel seed,” Everard interrupted, “I understand that you’re excited, and I am well aware of how important it is that you are understood, but right now, I need you focused on other things.”
Matthieu remained thin-lipped. “Like the fact that I have a cousin.”
Everard gave Matthieu a look both unimpressed and incredulous. “Or the fact that my brother is mated to an omega that, in the eyes of the law, should not belong to him.”
“And an alpha,” Harry added. “You’re right, Ev. Sometimes I get a little too excited, and I forget about what’s most important. Oh, and in case anyone wanted to know, when I say herps, all I mean is amphibians and reptiles.”
Before Matthieu could direct any amount of ire in Harry’s direction, he was startled by Snorre’s booming laugh. The old Viking slammed his hand down on the table, then lifted his mug of ale in what appeared to be a one-man toast. “My grandson is a treasure. Harry, my boy, you do the Jormun line proud.”
“Thank you,” Harry said with a small smile. “I’m very honored to be a Jormun. All my life I only considered myself a Lessardi, but I suppose that was shortsighted of me. Now I’m a Lessardi, a Drake, and a Jormun. For the longest time, I felt like I didn’t fit in anywhere, and now I have three families to call my own. It’s all terribly exciting.”
“Shortbread.”
“Yes, Ev, I know.” Harry looked at Everard with great affection. “I promise I’m focused.”
“Let the boy talk, Drake,” Snorre said after running his arm across his lips. He set his drained mug of ale on the table. “Like all Opals, he’s brilliant, but it takes him time to gain traction. If you set him and Erik in a room and gave them four hours to talk things out, not only would they solve all your personal problems, but they’d likely fix half of the world’s most pressing issues.”
While Erik did not speak, the idea visibly distressed him. Matthieu did not fault him. While Snorre and the others appeared content to prattle on about nothing, the true issues were being glossed over. Ian, Geoffrey, and Matthieu himself had come to the Opal consulate seeking solutions, but so far all they’d found was insanity.
“No.” Matthieu sat up straight in his chair and set his clenched fists upon the table. He’d been silent for long enough. “I will be the one to speak now,monsieur dragon pervers,and you will listen to what I have to say.”
The room fell silent, including Harry, who watched Matthieu with simple but heartfelt interest. While Matthieu was prickly that Harry and his Amethyst mate had waltzed in and turned an already busy situation chaotic, the look on Harry’s face rounded the rough edges of Matthieu’s anger. Harry was, without a doubt, scatterbrained and talkative, but he was earnest, too. Matthieu couldn’t stay mad at him for being enthusiastic.
“Right now, my life and the lives of my dragon mates are in danger.” Matthieu glanced from face to face, establishing eye contact where he could, and scowling at Snorre, who winked at him. “I have been raised in the Pedigree, and that means I am not unfamiliar with what happens when an omega breaks draconian rule.”
