Page 8

Chapter

Eight

Diamant

T he moment I stepped back into the magical world, I regretted my decision to let Leo out of my sight. I could feel the lurch of separation as it hit him right before the divide between our two worlds made it feel as though we were separated by a thick wall of impenetrable water. He was still there, in my heart and soul, but when I reached out to him, all I felt was a distant echo.

“This is madness,” I huffed, turning to march straight back through the portal I’d made.

I took one step before the portal closed up without guidance from me.

“What the?—”

“Diamant, what are you doing?” my brother Azurus’s voice spoke from behind me.

I whipped back around to find that I’d somehow managed to open a doorway straight into the large, comfortable lounge in the castle where my dragon kin often spent their days when they were not busy with their own affairs.

Most of my kinsmen were incredibly busy with their own affairs these days, but Azurus and Emmerich sat at the small, polished table near the window that looked out over the magical land, playing chess.

I supposed it made sense that in a moment when I needed my kinsmen’s help, I would instinctively create a portal that would take me straight to them.

“You know Mother doesn’t like you whipping open portals between worlds like you’re plucking flowers from her garden,” Azurus went on, leaning back in his chair with a spark of humor in his bright, blue eyes.

“Azurus,” I greeted him, abandoning my plan to return straight to Leo’s side and marching up to the chess table instead. “I haven’t seen you in a while, but we do not have time to catch up.”

Azurus had opened his mouth like he would engage in the ordinary sort of banter two brothers who cared deeply for each other but hadn’t seen each other in ages would have, but when I cut him off, he closed his mouth with a huff. “It’s nice to see you again, too, brother,” he said in a wry voice.

“Don’t mind him,” Emmerich said with a grin. “Diamant has eschewed his luxuriant ways to become the slave of an omega.”

Azurus’s expression lit with amused excitement at Emmerich’s characterization of my new bond with Leo. “Is that so?” he said. “No more lounging around the kingdom, indulging in the dances at the pavilion and leading a life of leisure? ”

“I was never as bad as all that,” I said impatiently. “I was merely waiting for a cause I felt passionate about, and I’ve found it.”

“He’s mated and bonded with one of King Freslik’s omega sons,” Emmerich said with a wink.

“I’m not surprised,” Azurus laughed. “I hear that we’re all fated to one of the princes, as is the way of these things. I have no complaints.”

“As well you shouldn’t,” Emmerich said. “As far as I can tell, there’s only one omega prince left that’s unspoken for, and you’re the last of us to meet them, so?—”

“There is no time to discuss our romantic entanglements,” I said, a bit too forcefully. “My Leo has been taken prisoner, along with the three of his brothers who are not currently in this realm. They’re being taken to a work camp that King Freslik has established in some unknown location as a way to terrorize his subjects into doing whatever he says. We need to find Gildur and Rufus and return to the work camp to free the princes and the villagers immediately.”

Azurus and Emmerich stared at me. At least the teasing was gone from their expressions.

“Rufus and Gildur, along with their omegas, Tovey and Selle, saw through that handy scrying glass Prince Selle owns that the people of the village of Berk needed help,” Emmerich said. “They left hours ago to help them recover after an attack by King Freslik’s mercenary army.”

“And I assume that Argus is still working within Freslik’s court, disguised as one of his councilors,” Azurus said.

My kinsmen were maddening sometimes. “Then what are the two of you doing here, playing chess when your help is needed elsewhere?” I demanded.

Emmerich smirked slightly and shook his head. “ Always in a hurry,” he said. “Never trusting that fate will see things through to their appointed end.”

To my surprise, Azurus snorted as he pushed his chair back and stood. “Sometimes, my dear brother, your patience and your insistence on taking things slowly is annoying.” He glanced to me. “I’m ready to help whenever you need me.”

I blew out a breath of relief and turned to Emmerich, raising one eyebrow.

“I’ve heard about this work camp,” Emmerich said, standing. Even he couldn’t continue his insistence on letting fate choose his speed of action forever. “I thought it was merely an idea Freslik and some of his more dastardly cronies had concocted. I’d no idea it was real.”

“It’s very real,” I said. “And right now, my Leo, your Rumi, and Prince Misha, who is very likely Azurus’s fated mate, are all trapped there.”

That was all it took to spur Emmerich to action.

“If anyone has harmed so much as a hair on Rumi’s head, I’ll tear them limb from limb,” he said, walking away from the chess table and opening a doorway. He glanced back to me and Azurus, who had risen and was following us, and said, “In my dragon form.”

I laughed humorlessly. Emmerich was, perhaps, the most even-tempered and strategic of the six of us. He’d met Prince Rumi months ago, but instead of just stealing him away, he’d given him the marble that created a more lasting doorway between our worlds. He claimed that there was plenty of time and that many things had to come to pass in both worlds before it was their time to be together.

But seeing him now, as he stepped through the doorway he’d created and straight into a wide, empty field just after dawn in the cruel world, you would think that he was as impulsive as Rufus.

I should have known that Emmerich would be able to take us straight to the work camp. Whether he was already aware of its potential location or whether he was following his sense of Prince Rumi I didn’t know, nor did I care. All that I cared about as we marched across the recently tilled fields around a set of several longhouses guarded by crude palisades were the shouts, cries, and clash of battle that came from within the compound.

“It looks like your omega prince has already started a revolution,” Azurus said as we picked up our pace.

It was difficult to tell what had happened at first. The morning light had only just reached the hovel-like longhouses. As we drew closer, it was obvious that a battle was taking place.

“For Eterra!” someone shouted.

His shout was followed by a chorus of other shouts, and as we reached the edge of the palisade, we saw a motley band of young beta and omega men in tattered work clothes charge at a cluster of guards.

The guards were half-dressed and only a few of them held weapons, as if they’d been awakened to the rebellion instead of diligently on guard against it.

“For Tunston!” another shout came from a different direction.

A second battalion of peasants ran forward to join the first group in bashing the guards with bits of broken furniture and tools.

“We’ve arrived in time for the rebellion,” Emmerich said, flexing his hands as they flashed into dragon claws.

“Don’t go giving all your secrets away yet, brother,” Azurus said as the three of us rushed to join the melee. “It looks as though this fight can be won without the help of dragons.”

Azurus was right. Whether it was because they were unprepared or simply second-rate guards and soldiers, instead of mounting any sort of organized defense, the alphas who had been put in charge of making the prisoners’ lives miserable cowered and fled. It was as likely as not that, as the worst sort of alphas, they hadn’t expected their prisoners to fight back at all.

“We have them on the run!” the leader of the first group shouted. “Let’s finish this!”

My dragon kin and I had arrived at the end of what must have been a clever and exciting fight. As we rushed in, ready to lend a hand, dozens of rough and dirty alphas poured out of the camp carrying whatever they could. The betas and omegas who were left behind at the edges of the palisades suddenly seemed more like victors defending their turf instead of prisoners held against their will.

I was half tempted to join in with their shouts of triumph as they celebrated but for one thing. I knew without seeing it that my Leo wasn’t among them.

“Hold!” a strong voice shouted. “Who are you?”

A beta with the mien of an alpha marched forward, flanked by a few others, to stop us from coming much closer.

“We mean you no harm,” I said, raising my hands to show them we weren’t armed. “Where is Prince Leo?” I blurted before I could stop myself.

The beta paused several yards away from me, letting out a breath like he was more exhausted than he wanted to let on. “Who asks?”

“I’m his fated mate,” I said .

Emmerich made a disapproving sound, reminding me that people in the cruel world didn’t have fated mates like we did in the magical realm. “We’re beloved of the princes,” he said instead. “We’ve come to help them.”

“Then you’ve come too late,” the beta said. He closed the distance between us and said, “I’m Milosh.”

“What do you mean we’re too late?” I demanded.

“It is an honor to meet you, Milosh,” Emmerich said, far more diplomatically, shaking the tired beta’s hand.

Milosh looked like he didn’t know whether to trust us or treat us as more enemies. “The princes are good men, unlike their father,” he said, then waited, as if testing to see how we would react to that statement.

“King Freslik is one of the most evil men this world has ever seen,” Azurus said, understanding the question and giving the answer that would let the growing group of villagers know we were on their side. “The things he has done to his sons and to you all are a disgrace.”

Milosh nodded as if we’d passed the test. “The princes were brought here last night. They were understanding and strong. They gave us hope and made us see that we can fight back, we do not have to accept this as our fate. They…they told us that you would be coming.”

“But?” Emmerich asked, sounding more worried than I’d ever heard him.

Milosh sighed, his shoulders dropping. “But Baylin, the former governor of this camp, came and took them away last night, after most of us had gone to bed.”

“He was overheard saying that someone had offered to buy the princes,” a young omega man added, glancing to the three of us as if he might never trust another alpha for the rest of his life .

“Buy them?” I asked, instantly furious. “Who would dare?”

“We have no idea,” Milosh said. “Baylin is as corrupt as could be. Well, was corrupt. He was one of the first to go when our rebellion began this morning.”

I nodded. That was all I needed to know about the fight. What the villagers did to avenge themselves was their business. I only wanted to find Leo.

I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and reached out to him through our bond. It was much stronger, now that we were in the same world. I could feel his presence to my right, though he was many miles away.

“You’ve bonded, I see,” Emmerich said, interrupting my concentration. “You lot are in such a hurry to domesticate yourselves. But I suppose bonds have their use.”

I ignored his teasing as now was not the time for it.

“They’re that way,” I said, pointing to the western horizon.

“Then that’s the way we go,” Azurus said, setting off at once. “Are you coming?” he asked Emmerich as he passed him.

“Of course.”

I turned to the freed villagers even as I started walking after them. “Congratulations on freeing yourselves. You are good and strong people, and I know that you will ultimately be victorious.”

“Thank you,” Milosh called after us.

I heard him but didn’t acknowledge him. My mind was already ahead of me, plotting how I could rescue my beloved from whoever would dare to purchase him.

Le o

For the second time in the same day, my brothers and I were tied up and thrown in a vehicle. Only this time, we were bound with ropes instead of shackles, and we had blindfolds put over our eyes.

I couldn’t decide if it was better or worse than the way our father had disposed of us from the castle. I didn’t like not being able to see and I felt as sick and sore as ever, but the wagon bed was filled with hay and blankets, and we were even given bread, cheese, and water after we were settled.

It wasn’t an ordinary kidnapping.

That didn’t stop Misha from weeping and sniffling as he lay pressed against my side. The rocking of the wagon and the exhaustion of the day had lulled us to sleep, but when we woke up as the first rays of morning light brought a hint of warmth and some small bit of light under the bottom edge of my blindfold, Misha was still breathing heavily and sniffing beside me.

“It’ll be alright,” I told him, rolling as much as I could toward him. My arms were bound in front of me so I couldn’t hug him properly, but I did find and hold his hands. “We are the mates of dragons. No harm can come to us for long.”

“I hope you’re right,” Misha said in a trembling voice.

“You might want to sit up and remove your blindfolds,” Rumi said.

I realized then how loose my blindfold was, and by rubbing my head against the bottom of the wagon, I was able to remove it entirely. I then lifted my head to see that Rumi and Obi were sitting and looking in the direction the wagon was traveling. I took a moment to struggle, helping Misha remove his blindfold with my teeth, until Misha and I were sitting with them.

“Where are we?” I asked, checking the surrounding countryside.

For most of our lives, my brothers and I had been kept close to the castle. We’d been able to ride off into the countryside closest to the castle from time to time, though not for years. Villages like Berk were so far beyond any of the places I’d ever traveled within my own kingdom. Now, as I glanced around at the rolling hills and fields of grass, the edge of a forest in the distance one way and what looked like a great, meandering river in the other, I realized that I knew far too little of my own kingdom.

If we were still in my father’s kingdom.

“We must be in the hinterlands,” Rumi answered me.

I nodded, but was too distracted by what I realized was in front of us to give him proper acknowledgement.

We were heading toward a camp. Not a work camp, like we’d come from, or a camp filled with useless mercenary soldiers, like Diamant and I had had so much fun confusing the other night. No, we were headed straight toward what looked like an organized, well-appointed army camp.

There weren’t any walls or barriers, telling me it was a moving camp. There were soldiers, however. Hundreds of them. They appeared clean and well-ordered. I could smell campfires and the beginnings of breakfast cooking. Flags on long poles flapped in the breeze marking what could have been specific areas or leaders within the camp. They all bore the same sigil, though.

They bore the sigil of a dragon.

“Who are these people?” I murmured, pushing myself to stand and balance as best I could in the wagon. My heart raced. As weak and sore and sick as I felt and as much as the lifeforce within me wanted to find my dragon so it could get out, I felt as though we’d stumbled onto something important, and I wanted to know more.

“Hullo there!” the man driving our wagon called out to a small group who had broken away from the main camp and were on their way to meet us.

Our wagon was flanked by four armed men on horseback. The two closer to the front reached into their saddlebags and brought out flags of their own. They were simple, half red and half green, but they clearly meant something to the men from the camp who came out to meet us.

“What took you so long?” an alpha with a cheery face and long, graying hair asked, his arms flung wide as if he would embrace all of us. “Osric has been on pins and needles all night.”

It was a small thing, just a name, but it tickled something in the back of my mind.

“Osric?” Rumi asked, glancing to me as if the name meant something to him as well.

“Where have I heard that name before?” Obi asked, almost as if talking to himself.

The wagon continued forward to the edge of the camp, where the grey-haired man met us. I should have been completely on my guard, since these people had bought us from Baylin. I should have been looking for a weapon to defend myself or a way to escape. But there was so little tension in the servants who rushed forward to take the horses from the guards when they dismounted, and instead of hurrying in to yank and jostle us out of the back of the wagon, a pair of servants came forward to help us down as if we were honored guests .

“What’s going on?” Obi asked one of the young betas who helped him to the ground and who rushed to undo his binds. “Who are you all and where are we?”

I desperately wanted to hear the answer to that question, but as I struggled down from the wagon and my feet hit the ground, I cried out and doubled over with a sudden burst of desperation.

“Are you alright, Your Highness?” the beta who had been helping me down asked. He knew who I was.

I couldn’t answer at first. My insides felt like they were on fire, but it was more than that.

Diamant had just returned to this world.

“You’d better take them straight to Osric,” the man with long hair said, coming around to inspect us as the rope binding us was removed. “He’s been worried sick about them.”

“Speaking of worried sick,” another alpha said, stepping around to join the one with long hair. “This one doesn’t look too good.”

He tried to touch me, but I jerked and thrashed and bared my teeth at him.

“Careful, Keegan,” the long-haired alpha said. “He clearly has an alpha, and he might have just finished heat.”

It was embarrassing that an alpha could see something like that about me, but it was the least of my worries.

“Right this way, Your Highnesses,” the long-haired man said. “I’m Daniel, Osric’s steward. He really has been anxious to meet you all.”

I was so confused that I could hardly put one foot in front of the other. I knew Diamant was close. I was walking away from him instead of toward him, and it was painful.

Even that pain was banished from my mind a minute later as my brothers and I were walked into the center of the camp. We were taken straight to a man of early-middle years…who bore a shocking resemblance to my father.

The resemblance hit home with particular strength when the man smiled at us and said, “My dear cousins, we meet at last.”