Three eggs sat waiting for their parents to return for a night’s rest, and many more before they’d hatch.
Epilogue
Varis
The scent of late summer wafted through the open windows of the estate, and Varis did his best to summon cool mist from his breath. The eggs protested, but Varis wasn’t a fan of the unreasonable heat, reminding him too much of his years aboard the abandoned ship.
A sweet scratching noise drew Varis’s attention, and he touched the top of Auril’s egg. A struggling chirp of sound squeaked free of the shell, and Varis sat up straighter, shouting out as the shell bulged and rocked. “Ghreid! Come! Someone!”
Varis flapped his hands anxiously as he whispered soothing words to his little one, begging them to wait for their father. “Please. Wait for him!”
The egg, Auril, had no intention of doing so and a single point bulged on the egg, a talon pushing outward, struggling before another sharp chirp. Panic rocked the inside of the egg, and Varis called out once more. “Graylan! Slath?”
Galatan was the first to respond, jogging into the room with hair mussed and eyes wide. “What’s going on?”
“They’re scared and struggling.” Varis covered his mouth as another fierce swipe of limb from within bulged the shell.
As if the panic of Auril drew their attention, the other two struggled, Kine and Ine in turn, clawing at the inside of their shells more fruitfully, pale lines forming from the inside of their shells.
“No! Wait for—” Varis waved his hands and moved from one shell to another until Galatan muttered a hurried apology, his hulking form vaulting over, claws drawn.
With a quick prick of his claw over the top of his shell, a split formed and a single flailing scaled arm thrust free.
“Well, that’s unexpected.” Galatan grinned as bright-gold scales glimmered in the sunlight, a rainbow sheen caught in their pattern as slick albumin dripped.
“I’m coming!” Ghreid shouted down the hall, flocked by hurried whispers, brothers filing in, Graylan circumnavigating the lot of them.
“I’m here. Apologies.” Graylan rolled up his sleeves as Varis glared toward him.
“Where were you? You knew they were hatching soon!” Varis bristled as Graylan gave him a placating gesture.
“I was visiting Falustus. He’s on his way.” Graylan slid into their nest to finish what Galatan started, shuffling to the side to let Ghreid slide in as a pretty, slick face pushed free with a soft cough and sneeze, bright-blue eyes opening to blink up at them.
Graylan gave a quick gesture to Varis, encouraging him to lift their young one up, and to nobody’s surprise, the little one, Auril, chirped happily, rubbing his sticky self over Varis with enthusiastic noises. From Varis’s arms he slid to Ghreid’s, the child so similar to his father in appearance, a golden beauty, uncommon among dragons to sire young that shared their colors.
“I would hazard to say that our little Auril is a new soul, wouldn’t you, Gal?” Graylan glanced at Galatan.
“I would agree.” Galatan opened his arms and allowed the little one to leap from Ghreid to snuggle into his chest and chirp enthusiastically.
Wasting no time, Ine tore free of their shell, scales a pretty sea green, like jade but with an opalescent sheen that told everyone at a single glance, he would be a bearer. He crawled over Varis’s lap then Ghreid’s, purring adoringly before climbing out, seeking another before headbutting Slath’s leg with a chirp.
Slath cradled the little one, smiling down at him with a complex expression. “Hey, Ine.”
He nuzzled and buried his face in Slath’s neck and took a deep breath, a huffing sigh that had him deflating in utter contentment.
Kine was the last to emerge, shredding his egg in a flailing fit of anger and spit that left him bristling in place, silver eyes darting from one dragon to another. Scales a dark blue, darker than even Rath shone in the sunlight, patterns of silvery specks at the tip of every scale, like stars in a night sky. Kine spit and coughed, doing something Varis wasn’t aware a hatchling could do, magic clicking at the tip of his tongue, a spark like starlight itself.
“A night dragon.” Ghreid stared at the little one and opened his arms, accepting the reluctant affection of a haughty little prideful hatchling. The babe licked himself a few times until he glanced about and spied Graylan.
Graylan, returning the babe’s stare, opened his arms as if the hatchling would come to him. Kine, surprisingly, did, slithering from Ghreid’s arms, nudging Varis on his way in an affectionate gesture before posturing himself haughtily before the red-scaled healer. Graylan didn’t close the gap between them, but rather knelt down, leaving his arms open as he quietly spoke, “Hello, old friend.”
Kine spit a spark of his starlight dragon fire at Graylan, a pop of blinding light missing him to scald the floor with a molten-hot spot in the marble. He grumbled and stomped forward as Graylan did his best not to flinch away.
Kine stomped his way over Graylan’s lap and into his arms, claws pricking expensive garments before he huffed with an utterly annoyed expression.
With Ine in his arms, Slath knelt down beside Graylan and leaned in, whispering something to Kine that Varis couldn’t hear.
Whatever he said made Graylan turn his head in surprise, eyes wide.
