Page 10

Chapter

Ten

Selle

T he first thought that came to my mind as the world squeezed into darkness was for my egg, my baby. Could dragon eggs survive being yanked from one world into another? Were they able to survive outside of the magical world at all?

By the time we materialized again in a plain, stone hallway, I was beside myself with panic.

“My baby!” I cried out as soon as I had air in my lungs. “Give me my baby!”

“Quiet!” Saoirse hissed, squeezing my wrist tight enough to break it.

I didn’t care what she did to me as long as my baby was safe.

“Let go of me!” I protested anyhow, struggling in her hold as she looked around to get her bearings.

She still held my egg close, even though her attention was elsewhere. I pivoted and writhed in her hold, trying to move close enough to take my baby from her. I got close enough to touch my hand to the egg’s cool, golden surface.

Immediately, a burst of love and fear and longing hit me so powerfully that I sobbed.

“I know, baby, I know,” I wailed in return. “I’m right here. Papa is right here.”

Saoirse pulled her attention back to me, pushing my hand away from my egg. “It’s mine!” she snapped. “I found it and I’ll keep it.”

She’d let go of me in order to push my hand away, but instead of using that freedom to run for help, I lunged at her again, operating on instinct alone in my attempt to wrestle my egg from her.

“No!” Saoirse shouted, as if I were some sort of mangy dog trying to take a tasty morsel from her. “I found it, it’s mine!”

“You didn’t find it, you took it from me! I birthed it,” I insisted, brushing my fingers across my egg once more before Saoirse used magic to push me back so hard that I slammed into the corridor wall.

I was momentarily stunned and I half expected Saoirse to leave me there. Instead, she marched over to me, grabbed the front of my shirt, and dragged me away from the wall with surprising strength.

“Where is your father? How do I reach him to inform him that his kingdom and this world are now mine?” she demanded.

I blinked at her, still a little stunned, then glanced around. The hallway was familiar. Very familiar. We were in my father’s castle.

I wasn’t really surprised. Saoirse had done exactly as she’d said she’d do and would continue to do so. She wanted to use me as a bargaining chip in her efforts to steal more power. My father didn’t care about me so it wouldn’t work, which meant I had no reason to delay or mislead her. The sooner Saoirse had her plans foiled, however that happened, the better.

I looked around, trying to judge the time of day, since time moved differently in the magical world and my father’s world. As near as I could tell, it was morning.

“He’s probably in his throne room,” I said, breathing fast and thinking faster. “He holds court every morning because he likes to see the people of his kingdom groveling for him.”

Saoirse narrowed her eyes at me. “If you’re lying to me, I’ll crush you.”

I’d no doubt she meant it literally. However pretty and refined the woman could pretend to be when she wanted to, she was a powerful and evil sorceress.

And she still held my baby.

“Give me the egg to carry,” I said, making the demand as bravely as I could. “It’s mine. It needs me.”

Saoirse laughed. “If I give it to you, you’ll try to run off. I don’t want to waste time destroying you.”

“I won’t run,” I said. “Where would I run to? Your magic is too powerful for me to escape.” I figured there was no harm in a little flattery if it meant I could have my baby in my arms again. “Just let me hold it and I’ll follow you. I’ll show you where my father’s throne room is, and I’ll…I’ll even help you overthrow him.”

Saoirse narrowed her eyes even more.

“My father doesn’t like me much,” I added in the hope it would sway her. “Please. Just let me hold my egg. I’ll give you anything you want, do whatever you want. ”

That was probably the wrong promise to make, especially since it sparked consideration in Saoirse’s eyes.

“Alright,” she said, thrusting my egg into my chest. I immediately closed my arms around it and let out a sharp sound of relief. I also burst into tears. “You’d better follow me and do exactly what I say, though, or I’ll smash you both.”

I wasn’t about to argue with her. I barely heard what she said. As soon as my egg was in my arms, pressed tightly against my heart, all I could think about was the sweet, innocent love and trust emanating from it and the feeling that I needed to give my life to keep my baby safe.

“Now,” Saoirse said, taking a step back and looking up and down the hallway. “Which way to King Freslik?”

I swallowed, dragging my attention away from the instinct to care for my sweet baby. “That way,” I said, nodding down the hall.

“Come,” Saoirse commanded. She held her head up and started down the hall as if she already owned the castle.

I followed her. I intended to remain true to my promise to stay by her side, if only to see what would happen and whether there was anything I could do to defeat her.

“Gildur, if you can hear me or feel me, we need you,” I whispered aloud and shouted through our bond.

My dragon was still in the magical world. I could feel him there. Our bond was still intact, but it was so stretched and thin that it felt like I was shouting down a long, echoey well. I also had the vague sense that my beloved had moved somehow, that he was no longer where I’d left him. I hoped that meant he was on his way to rescue me and our egg.

“Halt! Who are you and what business do you have here?” One of the castle guards stepped forward, trying to block Saoirse from striding up to the open doors to my father’s throne room. Already, I could see the usual crowd of sycophantic nobles packing the room, and I could just see my father sitting atop his ostentatious throne on a dais at the other end of the room.

“I’ve no need to explain myself to the likes of you,” Saoirse said, barely slowing down, despite the thick guard blocking her way. “I am your new queen,” she added, then made a sweeping motion.

The guards in front of the door immediately fell away, like a strong wind had blown them over. A few of the nobles near the door noticed, but it wasn’t until Saoirse strode into the throne room, pushing more people aside as she cleared a path straight to the throne, that they realized they were in the presence of a great power.

“…don’t care if you have to sell your firstborn child to pay the tax,” Father was telling some unfortunate merchant on his knees before the throne, “all taxes must be paid. If you do not give me what I am owed immediately, maybe I will take your firstborn—” He glanced up as the commotion in the room grew too loud to ignore. “What is the meaning of this?” he demanded as Saoirse marched up to him, me trailing her.

“King Freslik,” Saoirse addressed him. “Your pitiful reign is over. You will step down at once and hand your crown and your authority over to me. If not, you will be destroyed.”

Dead silence followed Saoirse’s pronouncement.

Then my father laughed. It started as a smirk, then a chuckle, then he burst into full laughter, gripping his belly as he remained seated in his throne.

“You dare to march into my throne room and make ridiculous and treasonous demands of me?” he asked through his laughter. “You? A woman ?” He burst into laughter all over again.

“Silence!” Saoirse shouted. “You will not laugh at me, old man.”

She raised her hand, clearly intending to use magic to harm him in some way, but nothing happened. My father continued to laugh, and several of the anxious courtiers around him laughed uneasily as well.

Saoirse frowned, shook her hand out, then gestured to Father again. Still, nothing happened. She turned to me with a look of rage and hissed, “What have you done?”

“I haven’t done anything?” I said, clutching my egg protectively.

Past Saoirse’s shoulder, in the crowd of my father’s councilors standing close to the dais, I noticed an old man with a wispy beard staring intently at Saoirse, one hand raised slightly, muttering something. My brothers and I had known for some time that one of our father’s councilors was a dragon in disguise. I would have bet anything just then that it was the wizened, old councilor and that he was somehow blocking Saoirse’s magic.

Saoirse must have known someone magical was in the room as well. With a frustrated shriek, she turned away from me, trying to find who was interfering with her plans.

Her search and my father’s laughter stopped abruptly.

“Is that one of my worthless omega sons?” Father snapped, rising from his throne.

A different kind of dread filled me. I hurried to conceal my egg as much as I could as Father glared at me.

“What are you doing out of your bedchamber?” Father demanded. “And where is that wretched brother of yours, Tovey? You’ve discovered a method to escape your confinement, haven’t you?”

It was a mad idea that couldn’t possibly work, but I didn’t have any other options.

“I’m not Prince Selle,” I said, hoping that my lack of glasses would make it plausible that I was telling the truth. “I know I look a bit like him, but I’m not him at all.”

“I think I would know my own son,” Father said, glaring at me.

“I’m not him, I tell you,” I insisted, knowing my plan would fail.

The white-haired councilor flicked his wrist slightly.

My father’s expression changed from fury to suspicion. “I can prove that you’re my son,” he said. He glanced to the back of the room, where the confused guards once again blocked the throne room doors, and shouted, “Bring me the omega princes! Fetch them straight here.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” the guards said, then disappeared to retrieve my brothers.

Father looked at me again and said, “If the real Prince Selle joins us along with his brothers, then I know you’re telling the truth. If he is not with them, then clearly you are him. Either way, you will be punished, boy. Severely.” His expression lit with glee at the idea of punishing me.

Dread filled me. If I’d had time to talk to my brothers, I was certain they’d come up with some way to make it look like I was with them. As it was, I would have to trust they would help me once they got there.

I hoped against all hope that Gildur would arrive to save me, too. I didn’t know where he was or how to reach him, and the situation was growing more dire by the moment.

“And now for you,” Father said, turning to glower at Saoirse. “How dare you come into my throne room and threaten me? ”

Saoirse had been shaking and wringing her hands through my whole exchange with Father, as if she were trying to get her magic flowing again. Nothing she did seemed to be working, which was quickly sending her into a temper.

“You will answer me when I speak!” Father boomed.

Saoirse whipped to face him, head held high. “You will not speak to me in such a manner!” she shouted right back at him. “You have no idea who I am.”

“You are a weak and deranged woman who should be thrown from the highest tower as soon as possible,” Father snapped. “Your audacity knows no bounds.”

“You have no idea what sort of power you are facing,” Saoirse threatened him in turn. “This kingdom, this entire world, will be mine! You will rue the day you ever insulted me.”

“The only one who will rue any day is you,” Father shouted. “Guards! Seize this woman and take her to the dungeons!”

I was stunned by the blustering futility of the two power-hungry tyrants throwing insults and threats at each other. They clearly believed they were powerful, but to me, they seemed like nothing more than two children fighting in a nursery.

The few remaining guards in the room came forward, but Saoirse turned to them, flung out her arm, and said, “You will not come anywhere near me!”

Whether some of her magic returned or whether the guards were simply too surprised to be given an order by a woman, I couldn’t tell. They stopped halfway across the room, blinking at each other and glancing at my father for instructions.

“Don’t just stand there, take her!” Father bellowed .

The guards started forward again, but there was no speed or coordination in their movements. I wouldn’t have been surprised if the men didn’t even know their own names.

I peeked back at the old man, and sure enough, he had his hand raised slightly toward them. If he was the dragon in our castle, I owed him so much. And I worried that he would be exhausted from using so much magic to control the mad situation.

More chaos arrived moments later as the guards who had been sent to fetch my brothers returned. I was so happy to see them that I nearly sobbed with relief. They spotted me right away as well, and despite the guards’ efforts to keep them in line, they broke away to join me.

“Selle!” Rumi called out, hugging me tightly as soon as we were all together. “What’s going on?”

“I was so worried when you didn’t come back with us last night,” Obi whispered, crowding close to me.

“Is that…is that an egg in your arms?” Misha asked, eyes wide.

I wished I had time to show them my egg properly and to explain everything that had happen since we’d parted ways. More time had passed for me than them, and so much had happened in that time.

Unfortunately, their reaction to me proved exactly the thing Father had intended to prove.

“You are my son,” he shouted, stepping down from the dais and striding over to us. “How did you escape from your room? Where is Tovey? How dare you defy me and escape your confinement?”

“You should not be keeping us prisoner in the first place,” Leo snapped back at him, stepping forward as if he would defend us all .

“Sniveling omega!” Father growled, raising a hand like he would strike Leo.

Leo stood bravely, as if he intended to take the blow simply to prove that Father was every bit the tyrant we had always said he was, and in front of his courtiers.

Father’s hand never descended, though. Instead, his eyes went wide as he looked at me. Or rather, as he looked at the egg I cradled against my chest.

“Is that a golden egg?” he asked breathlessly, his eyes filling with greed.

“No,” I said, pulling away as much as I could and shielding my baby again.

“It’s my golden egg!” Saoirse shouted, moving toward us. “I found it first.”

“Give it to me!” Father said, lunging for me.

I pulled back, and as I did, Leo and Rumi stepped forward to be my guards. They did an admirable job, but they weren’t intimidating enough for Father to give up his attempts to snatch at my egg. He pushed into them, his eyes trained on my egg as if he didn’t notice anything else in the room.

“I want it,” he growled. “It must be worth a fortune. It must be mine.”

“No, it’s mine,” Saoirse said, coming at me from the other direction.

Misha and Obi tried to block her, but they weren’t fighters. I had to duck and turn to the side, then attempt to make a break for the door.

There were too many courtiers in the room for me to reach the doors and escape. More than that, as soon as they saw the egg, they, too, seemed to think it had to be theirs.

“It’s a golden egg!” one woman said, reaching out like she could just take it .

“It must be worth more than anything in the kingdom,” another man said, pushing the woman aside like he could come forward to snatch my baby.

“It’s my child,” I wailed, dodging this way and that as more and more people noticed my egg and tried to come after it. “It’s a new life, not some possession for you to drool over.”

“I want it!”

“It’s mine!”

“I have to have it!”

I pushed to the side, only to be jostled back again. There were too many courtiers in the room, and even though my brothers tried to shield and protect me as we attempted to reach the doors, I knew we would be overpowered at any second. There was nothing we could do. We would probably be trampled, and my egg would likely be crushed in the?—

Before the first tears could do more than sting my eyes, there was a loud roar, and out of nowhere, the slightly reduced dragon form of Gildur appeared close to the ceiling. He stretched his wings and breathed a plume of fire that curled down toward the courtiers, singing the feathers on some of their hats.

“It’s a dragon!” someone shouted completely uselessly. “Run!”