Page 10 of A Very Denarius Christmas
“We’ll make sure to stop by in the morning with breakfast in hand.” They’ll need it. I remember how hectic those first days were, fear of leaving the eggs for even a moment kept Alex glued to the nest and me on high alert. For what, I hadn’t a clue, but it was a whole new side of me, given I had a family of my own to protect.
“Come, my love. Let’s shower and get you tucked in.” Another yawn escaped my sleepy mate. “You are beyond exhausted.”
“I didn’t even have the kids as long as you did.”
“Nope, but I had an army of dragons to help. FYI, Luna needs a replacement tutu.”
“What? I knew that would happen, so I ordered a few and stashed them in our closet.”
“Thank the goddess one of us had the forethought to do so. Merry Christmas, my love.”
“Merry Christmas, my dragon protector.”
Chapter Six
Alex
In the aftermath of our extremely excitable Christmas day, every adult in the house dragged themselves to the breakfast table on the morning after Christmas, looking like they’d been on a three-day bender. Twice the twins had woken in the middle of the night, wailing and begging to play with their toys, which I’d allowed, because screaming dragonets, usually resulted in accidental fireballs and we already had several extinguishers that needed to be refilled. Of course, the fact that I’d spent a chunk of the evening aiding in the birth of my new nephew also played into my willingness to indulge my own. They’d only be small for a short time, and I longed to treasure each and every moment.
Which meant my hair was sticking up and I only bothered to crack my eyes open to a thin sliver when I needed to ensure that my coffee reached my lips, but it was worth it, to pass my phoneto Ionus, so he could see the pictures I’d taken of them playing in the middle of the night.
“Mate, did you get any sleep at all?” He asked. “Why didn’t you wake me so I could take a turn?”
“Because you had a full day of dragonet duties yesterday and deserved a rest too,” I told him. “You are getting up there in years, dragon. Pretty soon, you’ll be joining Gramps and Great-gramps in afternoon naps.”
Two bushy heads popped up to shoot me a scandalized look, while my mate just narrowed his eyes at me. I knew I’d pay for that comment, and the whole sleigh idea at some point, and was more than looking forward to it.
“We are not napping,” Great-gramps declared.
“That’s right, we’re simply resting our eyes,” Gramps finished for him.
There were grumbles and chuckles from the rest of the Drakemyre clan, with one, muttering from behind a bushy beard, that no, he was most certainly napping. Since everyone’s eyes were on their food and trying to get it to their lips without spilling it down their fronts in their frazzled conditions, I couldn’t tell who said it.
“Traitor,” Great-gramps muttered, prompting another round of chuckles, and the passing of the coffee carafe around the table.
Because I’d allowed the twins to play the night before, only Griffin and Luna were at the table with us this morning, and they were far more interested in the steak and eggs I’d made for breakfast, now that I’d gotten over my squeamishness about medium to rare meat. That I’d had not just my mate, but my grandfather and great grandfather teaching me about the needs of dragonets and their more primal sides, as they still needed to keep their inner dragons happy, made it easier for me to barely seer the steak before sliding the cut up pieces onto their plates.
It helped that I’d discovered my dragon too and he very much liked things on the closer to rare side.
“You know,” Great-gramps said, “I just recalled a time when another dragonet torched the Christmas pine along with my eyebrows and the whiskers on the stuffed mouse he’d insisted on using in place of a star at the top of the tree.”
“I have no recollection of that,” Gramps grumbled.
I knew that tone. He knew exactly what Great-gramps was talking about and desperately hoped he’d stop talking. The moment I heard my mate chuckle, I began to wonder if Great-gramps telling this story was really going to be worth seeing the flush on my grandfather’s face grow into a full-on blush or if Gramps was going to retaliate with tales of his own.
“So, what you’re saying is that our dragonets get their propensity for burning down trees from your side of the family,” Ionus said. “And here I’ve sat being all apologetic to my dear, sweet Alex, for being responsible for the rash of flash fires we’ve sustained since the dragonets were hatched.”
Now I could feel my face heating up, while Gramps just glanced over apologetically and shrugged.
“Sorry kiddo, but you might be a teensy bit more to blame than you think,” he said.
“Uh-huh,” I groaned, slapping a hand over my eyes.
I was never going to live this down. Ionus would remind me of it every chance he got, and if he didn’t, our dragons would proudly proclaim the twins to be a glaring example of the Drakemyre temperament.
Which could actually play out in my favor. Hmm. Let’s go with that and hope for the best. When dealing with an ancient being, one needed every advantage one could get.
“Was it his temper that got the better of him?” I asked Great-gramps, while smirking at my mate. “I never thought I had much of one until my mate stuffed three giant dragon eggs inside of meand I started having thoughts of sacrificing pieces of him to the fates to ensure nothing of the sort ever happened again.”