Page 27 of The Dragon's Stormwoven Bond

I nodded. It wasn’t as if I was going anywhere. “I do need to know what’s going on. I mean, clearly I’m expecting. Would we be able to determine how many eggs I’m carrying?” There were a million and one questions floating around in my head, but now that the person who had all the answers was there, they were all a hair out of reach.

Vexus nodded. “Absolutely. I brought my portable ultrasound, assuming you’d want to be prepared for the correct number of eggs. I just need a few minutes to set it up.”

Vexus went and got the needed supplies. I laid down on the couch and got situated. Valen stood behind the couch, holding my hand.

“Now, when I do these things on the road, I don’t have any of the warming gel for the lubricant needed for the ultrasound machine, so you’re going to have to take it cold.”

I chuckled at the innuendo. “That’s fine.”

I rolled up my shirt, and he squirted the cold gel onto my stomach. After waving the wand around for a few moments, Vexus let out a gasp.

“What the hell does that mean?” I said. “You’re a doctor, Vexus. You can’t gasp like that.”

“Everything’s fine,” Vexus said.

“That’s not very reassuring,” Valen said, squeezing my hand. “Vexus, is everything all right?”

“Yes, sorry. I was just surprised. It’s been a while since…”

“Since what?” I said. “You can’t keep doing this to us. Pretty sure I’m not supposed to be stressed out right now.”

“Indeed, you aren’t supposed to be stressed. More so because of the news I’m going to give you. I want to assure you that your clutch is fine. Everything looks good. They’re growing, they’re the right size, they look healthy. But… your clutch is large for such a young pregnancy.”

“How large?” I said.

“Four eggs total. One looks like it might be twins. It is larger than the other three.”

Four eggs. There were four eggs growing inside of me. Four.

I counted the number of dragonets on my fingers, not trusting my first three tries. Five babies. That was a full dragon flight team. We could make our own dragon flight team.

“Oh, fuck,” I said.

“Now, now,” Vexus said, “large clutches do run in your family.”

He could say that all he wanted, but that didn’t make five dragonets sound any more feasible as a parent. That was five little ones all needing to eat, be bathed, and get diaper changes. Even if every single one of those tasks could be done with one hand, which they couldn’t, my mate and I were still outnumbered.

“So do small clutches! My brother and I were the only egg for my parents’ last clutch.”

“True, true. Clearly, the large genes seem to have taken hold for this particular one. Four—possibly five—babies.”

“Oh gods. Oh gods.” I was so not ready for five babies. I had barely wrapped my head around one or two. I looked up at my mate to see a shocked expression on his face. His mouth gaped open, his eyes staring forward unblinkingly.

“Valen.” I shook him. “It’ll be fine.” I was trying to convince myself as much as I was trying to convince him. “We can handle this.”

“You can,” Vexus said. “But you don’t need to do it alone. It takes a village to raise a child, and when there is a clutch this large, you need a large village. Your families will be important, and I’m certain they will offer any assistance you may need. You’re not the first set of dragons to have a large clutch. You’ll be fine.”

I took a deep breath. He was right. But holy scales. Five babies.

I smiled and mused, “Five little Valens running around.”

“Five little Peps,” he said. “A set of twins, like you and Rhythe. We’re going to have our hands full, mate.”

“And we’ll love every minute of it,” I said.

Vexus chuckled. “That’s the attitude. Now, in reality, you won’t love every minute, but most of them will be wonderful. Stop by tomorrow, pick up your prenatal vitamins, try to remain relatively stress-free. Whatever this issue with your father is, don’t let it stress you out. Do you understand?”

I nodded. Now more than ever, we needed to clear the air… although I didn’t know how.

---