Page 5

Chapter

Two

Emmerich

I was not the only one to flinch in surprise as the arrow from Freslik’s army came sailing through the air, striking one of Osric’s men.

“To arms!” several of Osric’s captains shouted as the loyal men who had come to fight by Osric’s side scrambled for their weapons. “The enemy is nigh!”

Instantly, I conjured a magical sword and moved to stand in front of Rumi, as if I could block him from his father’s entire army. The inmost dragon part of me roared at the soldiers that I could now see charging at us from across the field.

“How did they get so close without us noticing?” Prince Leo demanded, drawing his sword and standing in a ready crouch by Diamant’s side.

“It must be some sort of magic,” Prince Selle said. He stood on his toes, trying to get a better look at his father’s soldiers as he pushed his glasses farther up his nose, but Gildur grabbed him and dragged him back behind the defensive line that was forming.

It was a wise move. Within seconds, another volley of arrows sped toward us.

I reached for Rumi’s hand with my free one, and as soon as I had it, I tugged my beloved mate back through Osric’s wall of soldiers.

“We should stay and fight with the others,” Rumi protested, but through our bond, I could feel that his words were more of a question than a declaration.

I shook my head. “None of us are trained soldiers,” I said. “Not like the men who have rightfully taken their places in the front lines.”

“We can’t just sit back and do nothing,” Leo protested. “This is the battle we’ve all been waiting for.”

“There are other ways we can aid the fight,” Rumi said, letting go of my hand and marching determinedly back toward the camp and its supplies. His brothers all followed him.

I held back, staying near my own brothers as we found a more tactical position to survey the opening moments of the war.

“Leo is right,” Diamant said with a dark scowl. “Freslik’s men should not have been able to reach us so quickly or without anyone noticing.”

“It’s the traitor,” Rufus growled. “We’ve spent too much time on tactics and gathering weapons and not nearly enough on discovering who the traitor is.”

“We know it’s a dark sorcerer,” Argus said, looking particularly frustrated that he hadn’t figured everything out well before that dire moment. “There’s a good chance that he’s influenced us all with magic to care about other things.”

I huffed and balled my hands into fists, searching out through the lines of Osric’s men as they braced for the arrival of Freslik’s charging army.

Magic that manipulated someone’s thoughts and emotions was the very worst kind, as far as I was concerned.

I wasn’t even happy that Argus had used that very magic against Freslik all these years, although I was well aware that Argus’s manipulations had kept my mate from grievous harm.

“There’s still a chance we can find the bastard and take him out before he does too much harm,” I said.

“If you think you can,” Diamant said, shifting his sword from one hand to the other then back again, a flash of excitement in his eyes as he stared at the front lines. “It looks as though blood is about to be shed.”

“This entire mess could be cleaned up easily if Mother would allow us to use our magic,” Azurus said with a sigh. “With all of us working together, we could disarm both armies, banish Freslik to the corners of the earth, and install Osric on the throne while the people of this kingdom cheered.”

I didn’t disagree with him. In fact, I wanted exactly what my brother had just spelled out.

“Mother has made it clear that we are not to intervene with magic and that she’ll be forced to punish us if we do,” I said.

“Has Mother seen what we’re up against?” Gildur asked incredulously.

No one had time to answer his questions. Seconds later, the first of Freslik’s men met the front of Osric’s army. With ear-splitting cries and the crash of steel against steel, the battle well and truly began .

I exchanged a look with my brothers before we split apart, each of us going to find our mates to protect them and assist them.

Not only should Mother have allowed us to use magic to end the conflict before it began, she should have found a way to keep our omega mates out of the fight.

We should have found a way to keep them out of the fight.

“Rumi!” I called out when I didn’t find my mate within my line of sight.

“Lord dragon!” Osric’s omega aid, Nikkos, called back, running up to me. “Lord dragon, we need you at the front. King Freslik’s forces are stronger than we thought they were.”

Those few words had my gut twisting. Just hours before, we’d all been confident that we could win this war easily. Now, with the clash of swords ringing all around us and arrows zipping down on us, I was filled with doubt.

I had to protect my omega at all costs.

“We need you,” Nikkos repeated, grabbing my wrist in a wild-eyed attempt to pull me along with him.

I caught the scent of something sweet and familiar. It was like the cherry cordial I had loved so much a hundred years ago, when I was a younger man. A wealth of memories, good and very bad, rose up within me at that scent.

A moment later, the scent was gone and the screams of the first wounded rushed in to distract me.

“Come on!” Nikkos shouted, anger pinching his otherwise sweet face. “You’re needed.”

He wasn’t wrong. My omega needed me.

I pulled out of his grip. “I have to find Rumi,” I said, then darted off toward the tents, following the pull of our bond.

Rumi and his brothers were circled around the largest of the supply wagons Osric’s men had prepared for the battle. Rumi stood atop the driver’s seat, gazing out over the battle with wide, alert eyes.

“To the left!” he called out. “Father’s men are making advances to the left. They need more swords!”

Two of the other omegas gathered up handfuls of weapons and handed them to some of the army porters who were standing by.

“Men down on the right flank!” Rumi called a second later. “Can anyone rescue them.”

“Aye!” someone shouted, then rushed off in the direction Rumi pointed.

I smiled, proud of my omega for finding a way to actively assist the battle, even though he wasn’t trained to fight in any way.

His brothers did the same, rushing supplies back and forth behind the lines and taking waterskins to the captains of the army who needed them.

My brothers, their mates, shadowed them, and even though we’d been forbidden to use magic, I could see that some of my brothers had cast shields of protection around their mates.

An arrow bounced off of nothing in midair above Prince Tovey without the omega even noticing.

“We can do this!” Rumi called to me as I climbed up onto the wagon with him. “Look! Already we’re advancing!”

My brave omega was right. From our perch, we could see most of the battle spreading before us. Freslik had only a modest-sized army. Osric’s outmatched it in numbers by more than enough to end the conflict quickly. Whatever advantage Freslik had through surprise was already vanishing.

“The battle will be over in no time,” I said, hooking my omega around the waist and tugging him close. “Freslik will be deposed and Osric set on the throne. A new and better era for this kingdom will begin.”

I could feel Rumi’s joy at the prospect through our bond. I could feel a lot more when my omega surged into me, grabbing me behind the neck and pulling me down for a deep kiss.

It was mad, but I loved it. I loved Rumi, and finally, once the clash and roar of battle was over, the two of us could be together for good.

It was a beautiful thought, but before our kiss had ended, a roar of fury rose up from the men around us. It began with one voice, but soon it was joined by others.

I let go of Rumi, breathless from our kiss, and turned to see what had caused the shouting. There was an increase in the sounds of swords clashing against swords and the thumps and thunder that came with battle.

“What in the Goddess’s name?” Rumi gasped as we looked around.

In the space of our kiss, everything had changed.

The battle, which had been dozens of yards away in the emptier spaces of the meadow, was suddenly all around us.

Men as close as a few feet from us were slicing their swords and knives through the air, as well as punching and kicking anyone who came close to them.

I realized with horror what was going on. “They’re attacking each other,” I said.

Elation turned to dread as I watched two of Osric’s soldiers, men who I had seen laughing and eating together not an hour before, locked in deadly combat.

Beyond them, more of Osric’s soldiers had turned to attack one another.

A few continued to battle Freslik’s men at the far edge of the melee, but all around us, friend was fighting friend .

“What happened?” Rumi asked, panic flying at me through our bond.

“The sorcerer,” I growled.

That was the only explanation. Whoever the traitor in Osric’s midst was, they’d clearly cast a spell over the entire army to cause them to fight each other.

It was bad. More than that, my vulnerable mate was in danger.

“We need to leave here,” I said, raising a hand, ready to create a doorway into the magical world to take my omega to safety.

“No!” Rumi shouted, glancing around desperately. “I can’t leave. Osric needs me. I can’t leave my brothers.”

I swore under my breath as Rumi clambered down from the wagon, grabbing one of the swords the bed contained.

“You’re not a fighter, love,” I told him, jumping down to stand beside him, like his shield.

“I’ve been practicing,” Rumi said with worry covered in thin bravado. “I can do this.”

Whether he could or not, I didn’t want to let him. “We need to leave now,” I said.

“I won’t abandon my brothers or my cousin,” Rumi said, adjusting his grip on his sword and raising it to defend himself as one of Osric’s crazed soldiers came charging at him.