Page 59 of A Dragon's Miracle (Fires of Fate)
Finn
As Ryan's pregnancy progressed, he started needing more and more of the medicine his ex made. One time I caught him trying to ration it, and put an end to that immediately. Yeah, he wasn't happy about me going to see Jin, but I wasn't going to watch him suffer so I could save some money or skip an unpleasant trip.
Sadly, we hadn't been able to recreate the drug by ourselves yet, and so I found myself on a plane off the island with increasing frequency.
Mostly, my meetings with Jin went fine. I gave him whatever he'd asked for, he handed over a vial with medicine, and then I was on my way again. Simple as that.
It was on my fifth or sixth visit--I'm not quite sure, but it was sometime late February--that things went a little out of hand.
“You've been coming quite often,” Jin said, eying the piece of jewelry I'd brought him. An old ring with a large green gemstone. My mother had received it from my father once upon a time, and I was loathe to give it to the slimebag, but sacrifices had to be made. If Ryan could lose all his hair, I could lose a few objects.
“I'm coming as often as necessary,” I said. “If you don't want to see me as much, I'd be happy to trade you for more than one vial at a time.”
“Oh no, that's not what I'm saying.” Jin gave me a false smile that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. “Why wouldn't I want you to come?”
My jaw set. “Because this is a waste of both our times?”
He laughed, although his laughter didn't sound honest. “Not at all. I'm only wondering. Ryan never needed medicine this frequently before, what are you doing with it?”
“Nothing. It's all for him.” Apart from the small amount we'd given over to the alchemist, anyway. But Jin didn't need to know about that part. No telling how he would have reacted to the fact that we were trying to remove him from the picture. And by the Gods, I couldn't wait for the day we finally reached that goal.
“All for him, you say?” Jin rubbed his chin. “He must have gotten worse. Maybe he needs more of a personal touch? You could bring him by any time.”
“Never.” I nearly spat the word. “He's not getting worse.”
“No?” Jin looked intrigued, and I got the feeling that I'd said the wrong thing, that I'd somehow given too much away. It wouldn't have been the first time that I'd spilled a secret without realizing.
“We're fine,” I said through gritted teeth.
“Oh, you're more than fine, aren't you?” Jin's gaze intensified. “I've been thinking a lot about your constant need for medicine, and there's really only two reasons why Ryan would need more now than he did before. One, his cancer's spread farther, which you say it hasn't, so that only leaves us with option number two--he's gotten himself pregnant.”
Shit.
I pressed my lips together. Ryan's pregnancy wasn't a secret, not exactly. At this point, anyone who caught a glimpse of him could tell he was pregnant, but still, I hadn't wanted to share this news with Jin. What if he got the wrong idea and thought--
“Could it be mine?”
Well, exactly that.
I glared at Jin.
Apparently that was all the answer he needed.
I groaned. Why was I never able to keep a secret? “It's not yours,” I snapped. “It's mine.” Mine and Ryan's, but never his.
“No, I don't think so.” Jin shook his head. “Your reaction to my question tells me enough to know that there's at least a chance it could be mine.”
“It's not--“
Jin held a hand up. “Shush. Do you know the gender yet?”
“It's none of your business.” But no, we did not. The mystery was killing me, but Ryan claimed to enjoy it. Probably just enjoyed seeing me bubble over with impatience.
Jin raised a single eyebrow at me. “Remember how I said I was going to make an additional request of you?”
I narrowed my eyes at Jin. This couldn't be good. “You're not seeing the baby, and there will be no paternity tests.”
“It's cute that you think you can make the rules. Almost like you forgot that youneedme.”
