Page 109 of Connor and the Dragons

She took a breath and turned back to Kessrin. “Well. Enough of that for today. This is Kessrin’s time, and we must focus on him. What else do you need?”

I ran a hand down Kessrin’s neck, soothing him in the spot I knew he liked. “I need to get word to my parents. Are Thyren and Leo back from their latest trip through the portal?”

Delsynarea nodded. “They have secured the club bathroom. No more accidental twinks. And they have paid the club owner for the space. He is charging rent. They have a system set up for getting messages to your loved ones.” She turned and waved a footman over, rattling off instructions that included a message to my family.

My parents had already visited once, and were considering Qoksmere for their retirement. This baby would probably seal the deal, though I very much hoped my mother did not make it here until after the whole egg situation. That part felt difficult to explain.

Delsy started talking blankets again and strode out with the steward and the last of the staff behind her, and the doors closed, and the ballroom was very large and very quiet and it was the three of us.

Oallian sat down on the floor against Kessrin’s shoulder. I sat down on the other side and put my back against him, and he was cold the way he used to be before the heat, and neither of us said anything about that. We just moved in closer.

“It is quite an elegant room,” Oallian said, after a while.

Kessrin exhaled. It moved my hair.

“There are chandeliers. The baby shall be the sort of baby who loves sparkly things, and Delsy will indulge him.”

The frost kept going out across the parquet in a slow ring and Kessrin kept being disgusted with himself for ruining the ball, and I, for one, was glad that he was to be confined to a space that was clean and warm and dry, because winter had arrived, and Qoksmere’s winters were no joke.

Six footmen filed in with their arms full, and one of them had a basket, and about half of what they set down on that floor was things Kess had made with Pip, who was quite steadfastly determined to improve Kess’s crochet skills, despite the fact that there was no sign that Kess would ever figure any of it out.

Kess, meanwhile, was the sort of person who had never been bad at anything, and being bad at something had resulted in an unhinged obsession which was only apparent once I saw all of the yarn in one room. Wool the colors of things you do not want, knotted into rectangular things that seemed to have zero rhyme or reason to them, folded and stacked in a way only he could have done.

“These were in a chest,” a footman said, lifting a particularly large and ugly crochet item. “Under the window. Her Majesty said soft things.”

Oallian took it from him. “Oh,” he said.

“There’s a second one, too,” another footman said. “It… might be meant to match?”

I had my doubts about that. Inside my head, Kessrin sounded offended, which was better than defeated, so I counted it as a win.

“What are they?” I asked, picking one up. It was tubular and about five feet long, wide enough for a man to use as a sleeping bag.

“They are for me.” He was turning one over. His hands had gone careful in a way his hands were never careful. “They go on the legs. What does Pip call them? Leg heaters? For when you want to wear shorts, but there’s snow.”

I looked at the dragon.

The dragon looked at the ceiling.

“Leg warmers?” I asked. “For a dragon?”

“He wanted to make me a gift,” Oallian said, “so that I have something of you both on me when I fly anywhere as a dragon. So that I remember, I think.”

Kessrin closed both eyes.

The mortification carried through as clear as the seating charts had, and I had to put my face in my hands for a second.

“They are beautiful,” Oallian said. They were not, but I knew, through what I’d just been told was our resonant bond, that he meant it.

He hugged them tight, then looked at Kess.

“No one has ever made me something so thoughtful before,” he said. “And I do love them, but since it’s winter, and you need to be cozy, perhaps you could borrow them from me? Just while you’re producing your egg.”

The grumpiness in my head thawed a few degrees, and Kessrin let us have his legs. We carefully pulled the leg warmers on. Kessrin was the most beautiful, most dignified creature in this land, and the leg warmers were patently ridiculous on him. But I knew without trying to read him, that he was quite pleased with the result.

“Oh, they look so warm!” Oallian said. “And beautiful. I can’t wait to try them for myself, once your confinement is over.”

Then the doors banged open a third time, and it was Pip with his boss, the palace seamstress, an elf named Lyriel, and her entire staff, and what appeared to be every piece of wool in the kingdom, and Sky and Moerrven crowded in behind them holding four pillows each. Aeldryc, Vaelith and the Grey Guard were tasked with moving furniture out of the way as everyone worked together to build a nest in a ballroom.