Page 32 of Accidentally a Dragon Daddy

“It’s not that,” I said immediately, then paused, glancing around to ensure nobody else was within earshot. “It’s … she’s pregnant.”

Both eyebrows went up.

“It’s mine,” I said, confirming the questioning look, holding my breath as I waited for an outburst, a startled gasp, anything, really.

“Interesting.”

“Interesting?” I echoed. That wasn’t on my list of expected responses. Shock. Fury. Disappointment. All those were normal and to be expected. But not intrigue.

“Come,” she said, crooking a finger over her shoulder as we entered the royal archives and headed deep into the stacks. The sovereign opened a stone door, leading us into a different section. One I’d never been to before.

“I didn’t know this existed,” I said.

“This is reserved for the personal writings of the past sovereigns and other extremely sensitive material.” She turned one jade eye on me. “The sorts of things that would be best if not widespread.”

Without bothering to look, she picked up one such leatherbound book, flipped it open, and extended it to me. “Read.”

I took it, glancing briefly at the cover. It had been written by an ancestor of hers nearly six hundred years earlier.

The human woman shows no signs of illness or disease. Nor does she seem to be having any afflictions that may rise from the crossing of genes. All signs point to the child being healthy, though only a full-term delivery will of course prove it. Until then, we must wait.

But I must confess that, despite the breeding seeming to work on a DNA level, I and many others have serious concerns about letting the child live. To begin crossbreeding humans and dragons would lessen us. While I will not sacrifice any child for any reason, they will be kept under close watch and prevented from reproducing.

There must be no continued interbreeding between us.

I looked up in shock.

“It goes on to say the female child grew up to be a healthy dragon shifter. With no outward signs they were partially human,” the sovereign said.

“But …” I shook my head, remembering how she’d known exactly what book to grab. What page to turn to. “You knew this could happen?”

She smiled. “Use your head, Damon. Why do you think my main stipulation for the ceasefire was to bring human women to us? Our population is slowly shrinking. Dragon women are scarce and not exactly breeding fruitfully. We need to increase our numbers. Humans are the answer to that.”

“I—” I stopped, taking a moment to put coherent words together. “This is not the response I expected from you.”

“You figured I would be angry?”

“Probably,” I confessed, looking down as shame ran through me.

Strong fingers grabbed my chin, lifting it so she could stair at me, her platinum blonde hair rippling as she looked me over vigorously.

“You wanted me to be angry,” she said, the corners of her eyes tightening in mixed confusion and surprise. “Did you want me to order you to get rid of the child?”

“No,” I said, then stopped.

“Damon?”

I looked at my ruler, directly in her eyes as she burrowed past my composure. “What do I know about being a dad?” I asked plaintively. “I’m a killer. An assassin. A spy. I’m good at those things. Very good. You know that. I know that. But a father? I haven’t trained for that role. I don’t know the first thing about it.”

“Nobody trains for it,” she said softly, patting my shoulder in a maternal gesture, putting aside her regal persona for a moment.

“What do I do?” I whispered as all the doubts and fears I’d fought ruthlessly to hide from Elanya bubbled up to the surface. “She’s already talking about how my house is a deathtrap and all the changes I have to make to it. To my life. I’ve known for three hours I’m going to be a dad. I’m not ready for this. How do I do it?”

She chuckled. “You go home. You clean up your house, and you get yourself ready. You’re going to be a great father, Damon.”

“How can you know that?” I asked. “What if … what if I don’t want to be?”

“So, you’re going to be a deadbeat, is that it? You’re so scared of trying to be a father, you’ll just give up before it happens?” she said, challenging me, pushing my pride.

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