Page 19

I was miserable without the bond connecting me to Emmerich.

I missed him so deeply that I had to stop and lean against the castle walls a few times as my brothers and I followed the soldiers who had Osric.

The feeling of being hollow and lost was so overpowering that I almost wept a few times, and I was not usually a weeper.

“Are you certain you can do this?” Leo asked, standing close behind me, one hand on my shoulder for support.

Strange as it was, my brothers’ support as we hurried on our mission meant everything to me. It kept me going and gave me strength. Real, tangible strength.

I straightened and looked back at my brothers. Everything was always better when the six of us were together. “I’m alright. I’ll be better once we rescue Osric and get our mates back.”

Leo nodded gravely. “Nazeing will pay for this,” he growled.

I sucked in a breath and nodded. Nazeing would pay. He would pay for deceiving us all into thinking he was a harmless ally. He would definitely pay for trying to break me and Emmerich apart. Nothing and no one would stand between me and my fated mate if I could help it.

We continued on, but as we reached the other end of the hallway we’d been hurrying down I nearly stumbled. A sharp feeling, almost like pain but more emotional, struck me from the inside out. I paused again to double forward slightly, pressing my hands to my belly.

“Rumi?” Misha asked in a tremulous voice.

“It’s okay,” I said soothingly, but not to Misha. “We’ll be okay, baby. I’m going to rescue your daddy, and then we’ll bring you into this world.”

I continued on, but I could tell that my egg wasn’t happy. I wasn’t happy either.

We reached the top of the stairs that led down to the dungeon and paused, listening for activity that we couldn’t see.

A horrible thought hit me in the relative silence.

If we failed to rescue Emmerich or if we couldn’t break whatever spell Nazeing had cast on him, there would be no way for my egg to be born.

The idea of another alpha finishing the breeding process filled me with revulsion.

But I now knew that eggs couldn’t stay inside an omega forever.

We had to succeed at our mission or my egg and I would die.

“Let me take charge,” Leo said, resting his hand on my back as the noise at the bottom of the stairs grew louder, as if someone was about to come up to our hallway. “You’re in no condition to lead this mission.”

I hated handing over the most important thing I’d ever done to someone else, but I wasn’t the only one who stood to lose their alpha if we didn’t succeed. Nazeing had done something to my brothers’ mates as well.

“Alright,” I panted, sagging against the wall and nodding to Leo.

It was a good thing Leo was quick on his feet and in his mind. Only seconds later, the four guards who had taken Osric down to the dungeon came trudging up the stairs, shoulders stooped and footsteps heavy. They jumped in surprise when they found the six of us waiting for them in the hallway.

“The princes?” one of them said. “What are you doing here?”

Leo acted at once, leaping forward to punch the guard in front square in the nose.

The guard cried out in pain but was slow to defend himself.

The other three guards were too stunned at their compatriot being attacked by an omega to react at first. It was the break we needed to get the upper edge on the guards.

“What do we do with them?” Tovey asked as the rest of us swarmed the guards and took their weapons. “It’s six against four, but they’re alphas.”

“Yes, we are!” one of the guards growled at us and lunged for Selle.

I leapt on the guard’s back, pulling him away from my brother. I’d be damned if I’d let any of these brutes so much as bruise one of my brothers.

“I know what we can do!” Obi shouted, leaping ahead of us as we did our best to grapple with the heavy guards. “Bring them this way. ”

Obi rushed ahead and the rest of us couldn’t do much but push, wrestle, and stumble after him with the guards.

We had only a tenuous hold on them, and since the guards didn’t seem particularly motivated to capture us or to have the energy for it after the long, long day we’d all had, they lumbered along with us.

No one had any idea what Obi had in mind when he flung open the door to what looked like a supply closet halfway down the hall that ran perpendicular to the one near the dungeons. “Yes!” he shouted. “It’s still here. Hurry!”

We manhandled the guards up to the supply closet.

Once we got there, everyone gasped in surprise at the tall, oblong swirl of light and magic that took up the back part of the closet.

My brothers and I knew a doorway into the magical world when we saw it, of course, but the guards were shocked and stunned at the sight.

Their shock was exactly what we needed. It was far too easy to push each one of them at the doorway in turn and to watch them disappear into the magical world.

“Queen Gaia isn’t going to be happy about us shoving four of Father’s soldiers into her world,” Selle said, adjusting his glasses.

“Maybe the magical world will lead them to a better life,” I said, taking a step back.

Leo slammed the door shut, then turned to the rest of us. “Let’s go free Osric,” he said.

We hurried back to the dungeon stairs the way we’d come. There was no telling who or what else was waiting for us at the bottom of the stairs, but we didn’t have time to sit and listen. We rushed down, pausing at the bottom to peek around the corner into the long row of dungeon cells.

I was surprised to find most of the cells occupied. The men we passed as we searched for Osric were all dressed in rich clothing, but that clothing had grown soiled and ragged. The men were all thin and sallow, like they had been there for ages.

“It’s the princes!” one of them called out, rushing to stand and throw himself against the bars of his cell as we passed. “Hail the princes! Save us!”

“Save us! Save us!” more shouts echoed from the cells as we looked for Osric.

“I’m here!” Osric’s voice came from the end of the row of cells.

“Osric!” I shouted, stepping ahead of Leo as we found the cell that contained our cousin.

Osric looked as hale and hearty as he had when he’d walked away from his camp. I couldn’t believe that had only happened a few hours ago. He was weighed down by a thick chain around his neck.

“I knew he would make another chain to use against you,” Obi said, pressing himself up against the bars of the cell. “We can take it off, can’t we?” he asked, reaching for Osric through the bars. “It won’t affect us, right?”

“Let’s see,” Osric said, lurching closer to the bars.

As soon as Obi touched the chain a wave of nausea passed through me.

It made no sense, but I hated the idea of my brother touching something that had been made with dark magic and I had a physical reaction to that revulsion.

It was minor, all things considered, and even though the chain was heavy and Leo had to reach through the bars to grab it as well, with the two of them holding it, Osric was able to crouch down and move to the side, freeing himself from the horrible thing.

“Aah!” Osric made a deep sound of relief as he straightened, looking instantly better. “That thing is poison. ”

Leo and Obi dropped it, and immediately, I felt better too.

“Now,” Osric said grasping the bars of his cell…which dissolved into dust in an instant. “It’s time we end this war once and for all.”