Page 45 of The Storm of the Empire

“Will Zaria lay an egg if they have younglings?”

I barked out a laugh. “Where did that come from?”

“I don’t know. All this egg talk had me thinking, and then it just occurred to me, will Zaria have to lay an egg?”

“No,” I said trying not to keep laughing at him.

“So if they have young, they won’t be dragons?”

My shoulders sank, and I tilted my head. “I thought you said you know how our reproduction worked?”

“Well, now I’m seeing there might be more layers to it than I thought. So explain it to me.”

“If the mother is not a dragon, then there is no egg. They will have a fae gestation and birth a live youngling. While some dragons are born to dragon/fae pairings, it’s not a given. More often, their young will not carry the shifting gene.

“Also, dragons don’t have to lay their young, they are capable of live birthing in fae form, too. It’s just not the preferred method. You see, when a dragon is pregnant and they choose to live birth, then shifting in later gestation can risk the youngling. So it requires a commitment to stay in fae form throughout the entire gestation.

“If they choose to lay, then they need to stay in their dragon form for a full moon cycle in order to produce an egg. Once laid, the egg can then be cared for by the community, which is how we do it here, but in the rest of the realm, they use the priests to tend them in nurseries. That way they are given the best care and chance to hatch safely. Didn’t you learn all this in school—” I cut myself off when I realized what I’d said. “Right. You didn’t.”

He didn’t make a big deal of it, moving on. “Why don’t they let them go to the priests here?”

“Storm Dragons need the charge in the air from the storms. We can’t be hatched in nurseries,” I said. “I always felt like the kingdom providing care from the priests was just the King’s way of not interrupting a dragon’s service because they decided to have young. We all know how he feels about all dragons being in the capital if they are fit to serve. If they chose to do it on their own, he has no choice but to allow them leave, but it’s not what he wants, so he provides the perfect solution.” My stomach sank with a thought. “What if the priests have tricked us into believing it’s better to lay our young, just so they can steal them?”

Luka’s hand covered mine, bringing me back to the moment. “I’m sure that’s probably what they are doing, but to what end? What would they want with dragon’s eggs?”

“I don’t know.”

“So she’s not sitting on the egg, but does she leave it at all?”

“The females of the community take turns helping her watch it. She doesn’t just sit in the sands with it for a year.”

“So the only time the priests could take it is during their inspection, right? If it’s that guarded.”

I thought about it for a moment. “I think you’re right.”

“So we need to try and stop them somehow.”

“The priests are trusted by everyone. How can we stop it from happening?”

“We could let them take it, then follow it and steal it back?” Luka suggested.

“That needs to be a last resort. It would be too easy for them to lose us.” Even the thought had panic rising inside me.

Luka blinked at me, coming to a realization. “Could we steal an egg from the temple and switch it ourselves? Then if they do take it, we still have Alora’s safe.”

“I don’t know if that would work. What if Alora catches us switching her egg? She would never believe our story if she caught us in the act.”

“Hmm. When are the priests doing their health check?”

“Later today. It will be after the storm hours because they won’t venture to the sands until it’s cooler.”

“Then it can’t hurt to go and try to locate the eggs to at least see if we could steal one. That way, we have one, and maybe we can convince Alora to let us switch it, or maybe we will have to do it in secret, but at least we will have the option.”

“That could work.” I nodded, thinking it all through. “ Do you think the eggs are still here in Neilius?”

Luka shook his head. “I don’t know if they were ever here. Like I said, I lost them when we got here.”

“Do you think they ever came on shore?”

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