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“Because if it stays warm, moist, and relaxed—it’s better.

” Graylan didn’t seem to be enjoying his work at Asha’s back end—Rath might enjoy it better, but something didn’t seem right about witnessing what was going on.

Still, he lifted the blanket edge and peeked.

Aside from some blood tinging the rag, all seemed relatively normal.

Some time later, when silence fell and Asha ceased his mild bickering with Lyss, a strained whimper broke into harsh pants as Asha shifted his hips.

Graylan handed off the warm rag to Rath, instructing him to keep rubbing while also holding the compress to his backside.

As Rath did so, Graylan rummaged in his sack and procured a salve, swapping back with Rath to coat Asha’s backside and rim his hole, brows furrowed.

“Things are going smoothly back here. You’re relaxing well, Asha. ”

Asha, for his part, only gave a bare nod, resuming a gentle wiggle of his hips as if trying to ward off a foreign sensation.

“Rath, move your hands a little lower onto his tailbase and rub there.” Graylan moved Rath’s hand and gestured for him to continue as Asha hissed and bunched his hands into the blankets. “Okay, Asha. Bear down when you can.”

Rath glanced over as Graylan lifted Asha’s tail, watching as his entrance spread, opening up for something pressing back against it. A dribble of clear fluid trailed his thighs and dripped into the nest.

“Can you see anything interesting?” Asha huffed between a fierce groan and a whimper.

“You’ve certainly a lovely tail, but nothing that we should celebrate or fear.” Graylan returned with a compress and let Asha breathe through the pain.

Rath did his best with the massage, hiding his frustration at Graylan’s touch, growing more by the minute until Asha’s scream broke his focus.

A flurry of motion on Graylan’s end followed Asha’s harsh movements.

His hips shook and body quaked as every muscle went taut.

He swore through a broken sob and snarled a pained cry through wounded breaths until Graylan pulled back, arms cradling something large, slick, and ovoid.

A shell the color of Asha’s scales lay in his arms, drawing Jeron’s and Lyss’s interest. Rath laid a hand on the egg, sensing the life within. Bessam. It had that feeling.

Asha glanced over his shoulder and gasped softly, his whimper more of a sob. The relief didn’t last long and Graylan was prepared. Asha screamed the next time, his body shaking, each breath coming out with wracking sobs.

“It’ll be okay, Ashen one. You’re whole and the egg is healthy.

” Graylan nestled the egg in a gathering of blankets as he went back to Asha’s backside.

Only a few coaxing pushes later, and Graylan pulled back with a second egg, smaller than the first. He sat it next to the first and Rath laid his hand upon that one, too. Naxima.

Asha wheezed through the sensations, swaying on his hands and knees until Graylan declared him healthy and whole.

Two new dragons had been born. Two eggs glistened, and Rath couldn’t help but smile as Graylan tucked them into Asha’s side.

The start of a new generation—his mate and two new princes. Or princesses.

Graylan and Jeron took their roles seriously as they cleaned. Asha, for his part, near instantly drifted off to sleep. Dawn seeped through their curtains and the gentle snooze let Rath know he could let company in.

“Could you get everyone, please, Lyss?” Rath nodded toward Asha’s lifelong friend and she, against all odds, nodded and gave a gentle curtsey before slipping out of the room and down the hall to Rath’s personal sitting area.

Graylan worked to get Asha seated on a towel and pulled a tunic over his chest. His belly, still slightly swollen, slackened lower in his pelvis, the swelling sure to go down within a week or so.

That’s what Graylan promised, at least. Jeron, for his part, approached Graylan with a serious expression, the two chatting quietly with Jeron nodding in deference to the dragon.

Whether Asha realized it or not, even Graylan bore a godlike role in the world.

He bowed only to the king, who Jeron had served in all facets.

When Asha stirred groggily and rubbed a hand over the shells of Naxima and Bessam, he glanced toward Jeron and invited the male over. “Get over here before I change my mind.”

Jeron’s face went pale then bright pink in flush, utter joy at what Asha offered.

For all that touched the eggs would hold a lifelong bond with his young.

Jeron slid into the nest ever so slowly and rested a hand on each of them, grinning with tears streaming from his eyes.

“This is the strongest I’ve ever felt a dragon’s magic! ”

“And they’ll always feel you.” Asha smiled and yawned, closing his eyes once more. “I can’t keep my eyes open. So tired.”

Lyss wouldn’t want to touch the eggs. Knowing where they’d just come from, she’d wait her turn.

When Lyss returned, she held her head bowed low as six dragons filed in after her, not the five he expected.