Eggs?
Gasps echo across the room.
Tael stumbles off the bed.
“No! It’s not possible. They contained her magic!” Lythian gasps
“It’s a projection,” Tael mutters, but his expression is uncertain.
I stay still, staring at the eggs. My heart pounds, and my body hums with the vibration of magic that even the cloak can’t hold back.
Lythian growls. “It’s a warning, Tael. She’s been fertilized. We are too late.”
Fertilized? My mind stumbles. How could I be—
How could I—
A human woman can’t carry eggs. A human woman doesn’t give birth to dragons.
My stomach twists.
Would they tear me open?
Would they cut them out?
Would I survive it?
Another wave of cold horror rushes through me, but something else stirs underneath.
Heat. Love. Kelan’s silver eyes. Ronyn’s growl. Darial’s soft laughter against my throat.
These babies weren’t forced on me. They were created with passion and with love.
My breathing steadies. I stare in wonder at what Lythian is viewing with horror.
I’ve survived worse. Pain has never been what breaks me but losing them would.
“We’ll have to keep her until she births them,” Lythian says. “And then wedestroythem and begin again.”
“No,” I whisper, fury rising in my throat. “You’ll never touch them.”
But my dragon captors are oblivious to me. Lythian is already covering me, and banishing the males to make new plans.
I lie back, breathing hard, as my anger twists in my stomach.
They want to destroy my children. My dragons’ children. My babies.
Fear is a weight on my soul, but beneath it, I'm resolved.They think I’m powerless, but they’re wrong. They think my dragons have forsaken me, but their children within mywomb have protected me from the worst kind of violation. There is time for them to come for me.
And if they don’t?
All it will take is one mistake. Lift the cloak a little too much, and my magic will pour free.
I have survived in cages. I have survived beast-men like Gregory, Anatol, and Bruno. I have survived being broken and rebuilt.
I will get out of this place.
I will keep my babies safe.
