Page 27 of The Dragon at the End of This Pregnancy

I had a feeling Punky wouldn't take the news well. I also doubted he'd tasted a mint julep. He hadn't even known what was in the sugary alcoholic drink.

"I think we should take him one, to go," I said.

Galen's eyes lit up. "Yes."

Our server returned to take our orders, and I hadn't looked at my menu once. I'd been so preoccupied with watching Galen observing the people on the street, in the little patio area, and inside the restaurant through the glass windows. His eyes sparkled as he noticed every movement.

Galen surprised me by asking the server, "What do you have that's romantic?"

Without missing a beat, she rattled off, "Rotisserie chicken for two. You get a whole fried chicken with your choice of batter. And we have five kinds of dessert to share. Peach pie a la mode, peach cobbler, vanilla bean or mint chip ice cream, and our world-famous strawberry-peach tarts."

"World famous." Galen blinked. "We'll have that."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves." I handed the menu back to the server. "Let's start with the chicken for two. Then, if you're still hungry, we can order dessert."

After a discussion of batter types, we decided on buttermilk. I knew butter and milk came from the same animal, but I didn't know how they would taste together.

Once the server left, Galen returned to gawking at passersby and listening to the conversations around us. I was still overwhelmed by the crowds at the street fair, and to a lesser extent at the lake. Punky had said the weekend would be busy, but busy for our village was not on the same level with the city. There were people everywhere. The only place we could get away from them was inside our hotel room.

Galen met my gaze, and their eyes widened. "Is everything all right?"

"How are you not overwhelmed by all the people?" I asked.

"I like people." They shrugged. "I miss the days when your village was this populous. I hope it will be again someday."

"You must be mistaken," I said. "Our village never had this many."

"There were at least two million kobolds living in and around the pavilion area before my paragon killed most of them."

Two million. I couldn't even wrap my head around that number. Our tiny village was still below ten thousand, even with the explosion of hatchlings over the last three years.

"The largest part of your village was below ground."

"That explains so much," I whispered. "Some of the tunnels in the grotto have tool marks. Priestess Alma said they'd been dug out after the collapse, but I didn't understand what had collapsed."

"You thought you were safe below ground," Galen said. "Now, you want to be aboveground because you are warm blooded like dragons."

"Warm blooded like humans," I corrected.

"If my family returns, I will protect you," Galen whispered.

The wind whipped up. Our tablecloth barely moved, but an icy shiver ran through me. "They plan to return?"

"They said they would after my final molt, to help me find a mate, but I already have you."

Galen's final molt had only been a few weeks ago. I hoped we had time to warn everyone in the fortress when we returned.

"What if they arrive while we're here?"

"They will wait for me," they said. "They will want to know why I allowed you to rebuild. If they agree with the reason, they will allow you to continue. If they don't …"

"They'll burn everything we've built to ash."

Galen reached across the table and took my hand in theirs. "Maybe they won't return right away. I molted a year early. Meeting you must have sped it up."

"Me?" My voice squeaked an octave higher than usual.

They grinned, and I recognized the open hunger in their gaze. I'd been staring at them with the same look for the last three years. "You."

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