Geoffrey groaned in combined exasperation and embarrassment. Ian growled again, low in his throat, far more like a wolf than a dragon. From both of them was a resounding thought of,No!
“Just so,” Everard said. “Now, let’s look at these eggs and see if we can’t get a proper count.”
Matthieu looked up at the monitor’s screen while he tried to ignore the probe. It was easier now, with his discomfort gone. Harry jiggled and adjusted the probe until five eggs were clearly seen, just like last time.
“I swear I sense six eggs, though,” Everard murmured. He took over for Harry, but no matter how he positioned the probe, only five eggs could be seen. “Hm. I wonder…” He fiddled around a bit, like the probe was some sort of game joystick, until the largest of the five eggs was in the foreground of the image. “Peach pie, can you magnify the image?”
“Yes, Ev,” Harry replied. He went over and did something on the controls of the ultrasound machine. “Oooooh. Will you look at that, Steve? I think it’s a double vitellus! This is so exciting. Twins! Although one twin is bound to eat the other. How sad. But exciting!”
Beside him, Geoffrey and Ian froze like statues.
“Eat the other?” Matthieu squawked. “What do you mean? Explain!”
Everard cleared his throat. “This is quite rare, and while it is true, as my delightful waffle said, that eggs with double yolks don’t tend to produce two offspring, I have seen it before in dragons, but only twice. The sires in both cases were particularly high on the draconic magical spectrum and spent a good deal of time with their eggs. I speculate that the magical attention kept both whelps from competing with each other, but it is merely speculation. Once the eggs are laid, we’ll have to see who fathered our little miracles and make sure that sire spends extra time with that particular offspring.” Everard gave his brother a speculative look. “The question of parenthood is still in question, I assume?”
Ian glowered. Geoffrey looked pained and nodded.
Matthieu was ready to tear intomonsieur le dragon irritantfor making Geoffrey feel less of a dragon because of his tastes, but Everard simply nodded back.
“Good,” Everard said. “Congratulations. Five eggs and six whelps.”
“And twins!” breathed Harry. “How marvelous. Hopefully one won’t consume the other.”
“Omelet, we really need to work on that bedside manner of yours.” Everard sighed.
“Yes, Ev,” Harry said, sounding abashed, but Matthieu heard him whisper to his lizard, “Twins!” with a squeak of excitement.
Matthieu lay on the crinkly paper covering the lab bench and tried, very hard, not to worry.
29
Ian
Three months following their return from the Opal consulate, Ian rolled a halo cluster diamond ring between his fingers and agonized over its placement on the bed. Gold coins and loose gemstones were scattered across the sheets, and the headboard and footboard had been strung up with gold, silver, and platinum chains. Suspended from those chains were all sorts of things: ancient and priceless medallions from Geoffrey’s personal collection, jeweled pendants of all types and sizes, exquisite Victorian brooches, antique Tunisian cuff bracelets, and stunning necklaces with bulky, intricate designs, including a diamond and pearl collar that Ian had fitted more than once to Geoffrey’s swanlike neck.
The ring, however, was a problem.
Ian could lay it with the coins and gems on the bed. It was small enough. But if he left it on the sheets, the diamond clusters wouldn’t have a chance to properly shine.
The dilemma became particularly distressing when Matthieu entered the room and crawled onto the bed, dislodging several coins and jewels from the sheets. They struck the floor with bright, cheerful noises and joined some of the forgotten treasures that Ian had piled under the frame. Ashley the peacock, who’d been preening in front of the gilded mirror across the room, honked in irritation at the noise and craned his head to glare in the general direction of the bed. He puffed out his tail feathers as much as he was able mid-molt, seemed to notice their movement in the mirror, and swiveled his head back to see what had gone on. A few more feathers fell from his once glorious tail. Ashley pecked at them and honked disconsolately.
“You lookperplexe, monsieur dragon,” Matthieu said as he settled on the sheets. He placed a hand on his slightly rounded belly and winced, then sighed. Had Matthieu been carrying a human child, Ian would have guessed him to be approximately four months pregnant. Ian had no idea if Matthieu’s size was normal, but according to Harry and Everard, the eggs were healthy. It was all he could ask. “You’ve been in the bedroom all day fussing with this and that, tinkering with all your pretty golden things. Will you ever be satisfied?”
“I think not, kitten.” Ian lost interest in the ring. He tossed it to Ashley, who honked in glee at the tribute. Building their nest was less important to Ian than spending time with the omega who belonged in it. Any day now, Matthieu would lay, and Ian wanted to make sure that he felt as loved and cherished as he could. The uncertainty surrounding the parentage of the eggs troubled them all.
Ring discarded, Ian climbed onto the mattress to sit by Matthieu’s side. Matthieu lifted his chin and closed his eyes, silently demanding adoration, and Ian rewarded it to him in droves. He kissed Matthieu’s sweet lips, then let his affection trail down Matthieu’s jaw and neck. When he reached the dip of Matthieu’s shoulder, Ian nibbled it, then completed his thought. “My dragon demands that I adorn our bed with riches befitting both you and Geoffrey, but that’s not possible—as individuals, your value is greater than all the wealth I could ever hope to possess. Together? I can’t even begin to imagine what kind of money it would take to make an adequate nest. There aren’t enough resources in the world to rival your worth.”
Matthieu’s cheeks stained pink. “I don’t need riches to feel cherished.”
“I know.” Ian drew back and kissed him on the lips again. “But I can’t help my instincts any more than I can help the weather. Now, tell me, kitten, why did you come to bed at this time of day? I imagined that you’d be curled up in your favorite armchair in the study poring through the driest of Geoffrey’s legal tomes.”
“They areinformative,not dry,” Geoffrey grumbled from the doorway. He entered the room, stack upon stack of aged tapestries in his arms. “At the time they were written, they were the most engaging and educational books I’d ever read, and I believe they still are.”
“The dirty old man’s a liar,” Ian whispered into Matthieu’s ear, making Matthieu laugh. “My recent publications will do a much better job of holding your interest.”
“I can hear you, you know.” Geoffrey set the tapestries down on the Louis XVI style bureau near the mirror, spent a moment stroking Ashley’s head, then selected the topmost tapestry and carefully unrolled it. He went about affixing it to the wall in one of its few remaining blank spaces. Geoffrey and Ian both had worked tirelessly to decorate the room with art and other treasures. “Your recent publications are written for children, whelp. Fully grown men don’t need to be spoon-fed.”
Ian grinned and sat back on his haunches. He looked first over his shoulder at Geoffrey, who’d begun to smooth his selected tapestry down the wall, then at Matthieu, who returned his grin. “The mouth on him. I swear, if I didn’t know better, I’d tell you that jabs like those burned worse than dragon fire. Now, back to my original question—what are you doing here in the middle of the day? Do you want me to chase everyone from the room so you can nap?”
