Page 8 of Dragon Prince of New York

“Not originally.” Midas looks out the window at the crowd of people gathered on the balcony. “Jeslyn isn’t trying to pressure you into anything. You can spend your birthday however you want.”

“No, she can’t.” My sister tries to cross her arms over herchest, but between her massive belly and full breasts, it just looks comical. When I laugh, she glares at me. “If I leave you to yourself, you’ll wallow. I know how you were on your last birthday.”

“I’d just broken up with a long term—”

She stops me with her hand against my lips. “Trust me, Fin. All I did was arrange a few blind dates. They’re good guys. At the very least, it’ll get you out of the house. If you’re really uncomfortable, you can bring Sora. Give it a chance. I think you’ll have fun.”

“Who are these guys?”

“That, I’m definitely not telling you.” She smirks. “I want you to be surprised.”

My mind conjures an image of Cyrus in a nice suit taking me out to dinner. Cyrus, in jeans and a fitted tee, taking me to a dance club. Cyrus, with a picnic basket, taking me to lunch. Cyrus, making me pancakes.

I’m probably a masochist for hoping that her hot-and-cold brother-in-law is one of these birthday dates, but I can’t help it. The man is like a flame that keeps drawing me in, even though I’m pretty certain he’s the kind to leave third-degree burns. I should know, I already dated one guy who gave off mixed signals.

I sigh. Whatever Jess has planned, I can tell she's not gonna let it go. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to meet some people.”

Chapter 5

Cyrus

“You can’t be serious!”I shoot out of the leather chair in Midas’s office, needing to move, to shake off this anxious energy. “What the hell do you mean?”

My brother sits behind his desk, hands steepled under his chin, expression as severe as always. He repeats himself as if speaking to a child. “I’m completely serious. I want you to stay here while we’re gone, and look after Finley.”

It isn’t the words I’m having trouble processing. It’s how the hell I’m going to survive doing what he’s requesting. Staying here with her would be pure torture, to live with her and not be able to have her. Is this cosmic payback for all the shit I pulled when he got together with Jeslyn?

I shake my head and pace past his desk to the window. “She can look out for herself. She’s a grown woman, for fuck’s sake.”

“Not yet, she isn’t and—”

“She’s human!” I spin around to face my brother. “She’s a human adult.”

“She’s part of this horde, and that means she’s not an adult for two more weeks.”

“How can she be part of the horde if she doesn’t even know about us?”

Midas pushes back in his seat and crosses his arms. For a moment, he’s silent as he stares at the bookshelf across the room. “We’d planned to tell her, but then she went to art school in Prague, and after that… it’s never seemed like a good time.”

I lean my shoulder against the floor-to-ceiling window and give my brother a death stare. “The longer you wait, the more upset she’ll be when she finds out.”

“I agree, but Jeslyn…” He pinches the bridge between his nose. “She has this idea in her head that Finley will think she’s not her sister anymore, that she’s some kind of dragon clone or something. Honestly, I can’t even follow the logic. I think the pregnancy hormones are making her a little irrational.”

I laugh dryly. “Don’t let her catch you saying that.”

I haven’t spent much time with Jeslyn, but Iknow her well enough to know she’d kick his ass for saying she’s being irrational.

“What we choose to tell Finley has nothing to do with you. All you need to know is that Jeslyn isn’t ready for her sister to know about us. Period. And regardless of what we have or haven’t told Finley, someone needs to stay here with her.”

“What about Lennox?”

The slump in Midas’s shoulders is slight, but it feels massive since he always presents himself as larger than life. “I need Lennox and Yeva to come with us.”

Narrowing my eyes, I assess my older brother. There are circles under his eyes that I hadn’t noticed before. His chin is slightly stubbled rather than freshly shaved like normal. But it’s that slump in his shoulders that really has me worried. “Why?”

“Yeva is the best midwife we have, and Jeslyn…” His voice cracks, and the sound is like a whip across my heart.

“What’s wrong?”

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