Page 68 of The Dragon at the End of This Pregnancy

As though she knew she had our full and undivided attention, the egg shook. Then, the top exploded upward and fell inside-up in the nest. A little snout poked into the opening, and the egg shook again as she tried to worm her way out.

Finally, she gave up and smacked the side of the egg with her snout. A large portion of the side fell open, and she flopped out onto her back. Her white scales stood out against her brown skin. Her tail whipped, throwing the remains of the shell against the collapsed walls of the blanket fort.

"She's beautiful," I whispered. I reached out a hand, and she scampered to me, already sure on her feet. She quickly climbed as far as she could on my arm, and she nosed her brother in the flank.

"We should let them get to know each other," Mac whispered.

I nodded. I didn't want to say what we both thought out loud. I was ready to create a harness to tie them together if it meant our kobold daughter would survive her first molt. I pried Slate from my shoulders while Mac removed the dirty blanket, exposing a clean one underneath. Then, I set the two little ones in the middle.

"Opal." Mac squatted beside her to pat the top of her head. She wasn't about to let him go that easy. She followed his reach and almost knocked him onto his back. "If you're going to name our little dragon after stone, our little girl is a gem," he said once he finally stopped laughing.

"That she is." I helped Mac back to his feet, and we watched as Slate and Opal turned toward each other, sniffing. Instead of circling each other, they awkwardly scampered across the rough terrain of the blanket. Slate's claws got tangled in it. Opal tackled them onto their back, knocking their claws free.

For a terrifying heartbeat, I worried I would need to pull them apart, but then I heard Slate's strange purring sound, and Opal curled up on their chest.

"No suffocating, now." Mac shifted them to their sides, and Opal curled up beside them, still draping her tail over their neck.

Mac tugged at her tail, and it unwrapped.

"They're not trying to kill each other yet, at least," I said.

Mac laughed nervously. "You don't think?—"

"No. She loves them. Look." They were already fast asleep.

I embraced Mac, and the corners of my eyes stung at the glorious sight before us. Mac turned in my arms. I placed a gentle kiss on his nape, and we watched the rise and fall of their chests.

I had already forgotten my first duty as a parent. "I need to go hunting."

"No, you don't," Mac said. "You're not leaving her until her first molt."

"How will they eat?" Our baby dragon's first meal would be a fresh bovinji, or I was already a bad parent.

Mac laughed. "Rapture's bringing us supplies, and your paragon is already hunting for us."

I blinked. "You told them? When?"

"I sent some messages after the dragon egg cracked."

I dropped to the floor and pulled him into my lap, content to watch our children sleep.

"Gods, this is magnificent," I said. "We did this."

"We did." I couldn't see Mac's face, but his voice was thick with tears. "We have two perfect little babies. I'd do anything to keep them safe and happy."

"I love you, Mac." The words rolled off my tongue without a care. I could read his mind, after all. I knew he loved me, too. We hadn't said it yet, too overwhelmed with the worries of becoming new parents. That hadn't gone away, certainly, but looking at our sleeping dragon and the adorable little kobold girl curled up beside them, I felt brave.

Mac turned in my lap, straddling my hips. His kiss said he loved me back, and more, so when he said it out loud, it was almost anticlimactic.

"I love you, too, my great grumpy dragon."

"I'm not grumpy," I argued. This is the happiest day of my life!"

"You sound grumpy to me." My paragon breezed through the doorway. They'd taken the form of a dragonet, with Rapture following closely behind them. Rapture landed beside them in the bowl.

They shifted into their kobold priestess form and swatted his snout when he leaned forward to sniff the babies.

"Wait your turn! These are my grandchildren!"

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