Page 155 of Her Tortured Beasts

“Dry her off,” Sissy gasps, looking at the hatchling but groaning again, going onto all fours. “The other one won’t be far.”

I set the baby in the towel and on the carpet, the cord still connecting her to Sissy, and gently rub her dry. Her little face is screwed up like she’s in pain.

She gives a little, gurgling cry and I roll her onto her side, patting her back to try to clear the water in her throat.

Sissy gives a low moan of pain. Quickly, I wrap the first hatchling in the towel and set her aside.

“Is the other one coming?”

The second hatchling comes a few minutes later, this time legs first. I stare at the little blue legs in horror until Sissy screams and the baby’s head finally comes out. I catch him in the nick of time.

This time, the little boy is blue and limp like a ragdoll. Panicking, I blow into his face. “Sissy, what do I do!”

But she’s not answering me, crumpled on the floor on her face. “Sissy!” I cry. My power whips out in two directions and the little baby in my arms draws its legs up and gives a tiny cry. I set him down beside Sissy and roll her onto her back. She’s pale as a sheet, but her eyes flutter open.

“Thank you,” she says.

The first baby cries and she perks up, looking for her hatchlings. “Pass her to me.”

At that moment, the room door slams open and Ragnar Firewing storms in, the midwives and doctors rushing in behind him, their eyes wide in urgency.

“Why are you here?” Ragnar says to me, his yellow eyes wide with fury. “Get the fuck out!”

“I was helping her give birth, you fucker!” I snarl as a midwife pushes me out of the way with her elbow. Ragnar grabs my collar and hauls me to my feet, looking between me and Sissy. “Did you—” he snarls as he realises what’s happened and he hauls me out of the door, getting out his phone. “You’ll pay for this.”

“You’ll fucking pay for what you did to my sister, you sick fuck! We’ll kill you! My father will kill your whole family!”

Ragnar presses his hands to my face, and it feels like hot irons on my skin. I scream, stumbling away from him. “You think your dad is going to be happy about you being inappropriate with your sister? That you saw her,touchedher?”

“What?” I gasp in horror. “I was helping the hatchlings!” I leap onto him, throwing a mighty fist drenched in fire.

Ragnar cries out as I strike his jaw, before he grabs me around the waist and takes me to the floor. I throw punches left and right, but Ragnar is bigger, stronger and dodges two of them, his hands finding my throat and squeezing.

I choke under his fiery pressure, kicking and grabbing at his wrists. But it doesn’t matter. His face is red, his mousy hair flopping over as he focuses all of his rage into my neck. Within seconds, everything goes black.

Some time later, my Uncle Fabian and Ragnar throw me at my father’s feet in the entrance hall of Drakos Estate.

Groaning, I roll onto my side, rubbing my burnt neck. My father glares down at me, towering and imposing as heat waves roll off him, scalding my sore face.

“You’ve brought great shame to our family on what was supposed to be a happy day,” he booms.

“I was helping,” I choke, rubbing my throat as I get to my feet. “She was giving birth early becausethatasshole beat her up and I was helping.”

My father strikes me across the face, making my head snap so hard to the right that I fall to the ground. “That was not your place.”

“He covets her, he always has,” Ragnar snarls.

I right myself, gaping in outrage at the lies. “I do not! She’s mysister. It’s my job to protect her from monsters like you!”

My father’s eyes glimmer. “You’ve always been unstable, son. But this is a step too far. You attacked your sister’s mate, the father of the hatchlings.”

“Fuck you!” I cry at Ragnar. “And fuck you, Father! You let him beat her! You married her off. She has bruises all over andshe’s pregnant! You told me we need to protect our women atallcosts!”

Father glances at Ragnar, irritation flashing across his eyes. “I will deal with you later.” He returns his dark eyes upon me and I see the force growing behind them, becoming massive. Possessive, dominant draconic power fills up the room, overwhelming me, pushing on my shoulders so hard.

“You can’t do this!” I say, panicking at the silence in the room. “I’m your heir. I’m going to take your throne after you. You know I’m going to be more powerful than the other dragons. You know it!”

He narrows his eyes, the words registering as a threat, and I know I’ve made a grave mistake. His visage turns ugly. “And yet you won’t even be rex of a nest. You have aregina.”

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