Chapter 20

Chapter

Twenty

U ncle Cosmo. Come and play.

Cosmo had gone out to see the dragons and get some fresh tomatoes, kiss the babies, maybe see the boss, if he wasn't busy. Jules was pregnant again, and Gavin was busy becoming mayor of the town or something.

Regardless, Cosmo was craving fresh tomatoes, and the ones that came from the grocery delivery just weren't as good. It was winter in the human world, and everything was hothouse and just unpleasant, but he knew that Myk would have ripe tomatoes.

Uncle Cosmo, come and play. Kynan and Katrina—everyone called them the kibbles and bits—stood together, looking for all the world like exact replicas of one another, even though one was a boy and one was a girl.

They had given up their human forms altogether, it seemed, once the human world had been closed to them, and they sparkled, bright orange and floating without even moving their wings. They were a sight to behold in the sunshine.

"Kynan, Katrina, how are you? What are we playing?"

They twined their tails together, heads tilting, smiles almost vicious as they turned their gaze to little Stella, who was flying around Penny and Cali near the snapdragons. "Bite the changeling."

He waggled his finger at them. "You two be nice to Stella. I won't have that. That's not kind. What would your fathers think?"

They rolled their eyes and cackled a little bit. "You're supposed to be fun."

"No, not me. That's my brother. Cullen's the fun one."

In his head, he heard. Yes, but you see things like we do. You see the things that will be.

He could tell that they were used to overwhelming other dragons with their joint will.

But much like little Stella, who the twins were viciously jealous of, he did have access to the well of peace that somehow came with being partially fae.

"Mmm. I do. But that's not a reason to be mean." He held out his arms. "Come and don't bite me. I want to go get tomatoes."

Are you going to love your baby more than you love us?

No one loves us like you do.

"Oh, guys. Love isn't halved—I could never love you less."

They curled into him, and he poured out all his love to these two amazing dragons.

They sighed, leaning into him. It's been so nice here, Uncle. It's kind of boring.

He had to laugh. These two were used to a vast underground cavern that was their family's to explore. Village life might be odd.

"It is, loves? I bet you're right. Are there no exciting caves here?" He carried them through the sunlight.

"No. Not one. And there are such nice mountains behind us."

"Then there must be somewhere. You just need to get your uncle Ty to take you looking." Or Gavin. He had a talent for it.

"Can you take us?"

Oh, Hawk would love that… "I'll try, yes."

"Yay!" He got kisses on both cheeks.

"But not today. Today is for food."

"Tomatoes. Your?—"

"—baby likes?—"

"Tomatoes!"

"Yes, my beautiful loves! The baby likes tomatoes!"

"They're poison, you know."

He snorted. "Like Corbin hasn't told me that. Nightshades. Maybe my baby will spit poison like Austin."

Two sets of eyes went wide. "Ohh."

"Poison."

"We could teach the baby to spit."

"Poison. At whoever."

"We wanted them."

"To. And no one."

"Would know it."

"Was us."

He chuckled at them, stroking their scales. He and Myk seemed to be the only two who weren't a little bit worried about this pair. They weren't bad. Just powerful. And together, in a way that seemed very unusual to most people.

Cosmo didn't find it unusual at all. Their mother said he and his brothers hadn't spoken a single word that wasn't in unison for the first dozen years of their lives. They truly were one mind and three different bodies.

The twins liked to play that up. Naughtiness got them attention. It got them a little bit of shock. And it healed the wounds that were caused when other dragons didn't really want them.

Now if he could only get them to understand that in that way, Stella was sort of one of them.

"So where is Uncle Myk? Weeding the gardens? Or is he with the children?"

"Uncle Myk says his place is in the gardens. Growing things, and so he let us build our own garden. There's nightshades and wolfsbane. Foxglove. Hemlock. Jimsonweed. Mistletoe. Oleander. Belladonna. We promise not to use it. Promise not to share it. They said we could have a fence and a gate with a lock."

"Oh, that's very exciting. How grown you are to have your own special garden with such powerful plants."

Kynan nodded. "Uncle Myk trusts us."

Katrina agreed. "And we trust him. It's an agreement. And one does not break agreements."

"Very true. It's all about loyalty, you know, and trust. I would love to see your garden. But if you don't mind, of course, I'll stay on the outside of the fence. Because of the baby."

"That seems wise."

"Yes, wise, because we don't know what happens deep in the garden."

"We're taking classes. From a lady. The dragon lady. A witch. She's teaching us about new things. So you should stay out."

Now, that was a bit concerning. "But Uncle Myk gets to come in, yes?"

"Yes, Uncle Myk has the key to the lock, just like we do. That is also part of the agreement. Uncle Myk helps things grow. It helps things?—"

Both the twins paused and put their foreheads together.

Uncle Myk knows about her. And tries to keep that away from everyone else. And that is good. We will never hurt him.

"That's because you are. Good. Because you care. I'm very proud of you both."

The orange turned a little rosy. And they wiggled around a bit, obviously pleased.

Jasper, who they called J-bot, came trundling over, the chunky little boy growing like a weed. This sweet lad grew out and then up and then out and then up. And he was going to be a tall, tall dragon. Cosmo could tell already.

"Uncle Cosmo. Katrina. Kynan. I was looking for you."

"You were looking for me? Did you know I was coming?"

"No. No, I was looking for the twins. But I'm glad to find you too. Uncle Myk says the strawberries are ready, and they're so good. And he wanted me to wait for you to make sure we all got some."

That earned another of those blushing little color changes. Then the twins were off and running. Heading toward the back garden with J-bot.

"Oh-ho, deserted so easily," he said, taking his own time to get across.

"Cosmo, is that you?" Egan waved at him, smiling.

"It is. I came to get more tomatoes. I heard that the vines were heavy, and there's nothing I want more. I feel like Rapunzel's mother looking for ramps."

Egan chuckled. "You look amazing. Sweet little belly. Come on in. There're strawberries as well. The children are about to have a party where strawberry fingers can't get on books."

"I understand."

"How's your mate?"

"He's good. He's been very busy. Reading and redoing the nursery and just being Hawk." Which was, he had to admit, an utterly wonderful thing.

"Ah, good. Good. I'm so happy for you." Eagan was a lovely dragon who adored tea and antiques and who always had a moment to chat.

"Thank you. Everything is well here?"

"Normal." Eagan winked. "The twins are…the twins. Arielle has been suspended from school. In the village. For three days."

"Fighting?" It had to be fighting, right?

"Insubordination. Apparently one of the teachers said something that could be construed as cruel to a small omega dragon and made him cry, and Arielle…went all Arielle, all over."

Cosmo winced. "Was there fire?"

"There might have been fire."

"Is she grounded?"

"She's up in the mountains with her father. Brand is teaching her the finer points of controlling one's temper as an alpha. If that doesn't work, we'll send her up with Tyson."

Cosmo wasn't entirely sure that Tyson was going to be the appropriate teacher for instructing Ariel about how not to lose one's temper and set the school on fire. But, not his circus, only marginally, his monkeys. "I assume Devon is here, and I can see him."

"Oh, he's most definitely here. He spent a few days in the library refusing to leave after Arielle pulled her stunt, but he's back to normal. I think that he finds it awkward being the father of alpha dragon children, but he's getting it."

"Arielle just has a fine-tuned sense of justice, that's all," Cosmo said.

Egan chuckled. "You are their champion. You three always have been since you met them, and the rumor from Sebby is that it's not just our Estes clan. It's all of the children."

He nodded. Of course they loved the children. They were, for all intents and purposes, good dragons.

"Well, I came to get tomatoes, and to see how everybody was doing…"

Eagan chuckled as Cosmo's belly rumbled audibly. "Now there are hundreds of tomatoes. You can take as many as you want, I think. Myk's been harvesting for you, in fact."

They walked around the house to this amazing courtyard. It was protected between the mountain and the houses so that it was a safe place for children to run and explore, and a wonderful space for Myk to collect water and grow his vegetables and fruits.

There were buckets of strawberries on a long table, and many of the children sat there, stuffing their little faces with the red fruit.

Myk glanced up at him, waved. "Cosmo, I had a feeling you were coming. I gathered some tomatoes for you. Still craving?"

"Always!" he laughed. "Thank you, my friend. The strawberries smell good, too."

"Happy day and welcome!" Sebby cheered.

The sun was shining, the children were bouncing around, and there had to be hundreds of them.

He thought that was an exaggeration, but he saw so many happy little dragon children in every color and shape and size. So many of them had found their forms at a young age. It was like watching a party of light. Pure joy.

He hoped that he had the same experience with his children.

If they could ever leave the house.