Page 11

Chapter

Eleven

Gildur

T he moment Saoirse grabbed Selle and disappeared into the cruel world, my power returned in full force.

“No! Selle!” I shouted, reaching for the spot where my darling omega had been moments before.

I felt for my returned magic and let it flow through me. With a deep breath, I raised my hand to open a doorway into the cruel world.

“Gildur.” My mother’s soft, melodious voice stopped me. It came from nowhere and everywhere at once, seeming to fill the air with the fragrance of flowers as it did.

Love, relief, and deep, gripping guilt struck me as I froze, listening for more.

“Gildur, come see me at once,” Mother’s voice beckoned, as peaceful as a cloud.

She knew. She knew everything that I’d done and everything I wasn’t supposed to have done. She knew about Selle, our egg, and the way I’d shirked my duties to her in order to enjoy them. It was time to pay for my mistakes…right at the very moment when my omega needed me the most.

The squeezing shame that enveloped me was broken only by Manfred’s sharp intake of breath.

“Who is that?” he gasped, twitching this way and that as he looked around for the source of the voice. “Where are they? Is it Saoirse? How dare she leave me behind?”

The selfishness of Manfred’s concerns refocused me. I still had a mission and a duty to my mother. She’d sent me to investigate the possible threat against her. I’d found out so much, I’d found the man who had entered our world illegally, and even though I’d failed, I could bring her something by way of intelligence.

“You want to know whose voice that is?” I asked Manfred, stepping closer to him and clamping a hand around his wrist. “I’ll show you.”

Manfred let out a cry and tried to wrench away from me, but it was all for naught.

It took exceptionally powerful magic to blink from one place to another, even in the magical world. Saoirse had enough power to pull Selle and our baby into the cruel world, which was worrying. I had enough power to think of my mother and to blink out of existence in one place so that I could appear instantly before her, dragging Manfred with me.

Manfred yelped when we materialized in Mother’s throne room. That yelp turned into a nebulous sound of awe and disbelief as he looked around.

My mother’s throne room wasn’t anything like the sort of throne room any king Manfred would have known might have. It was not a vaulted, stone room decorated with gold and jewels and filled with eager courtiers. It was an ethereal garden overflowing with flowers and trees of every description. Birds sang happily in the air, the sky stretched above in unending shades of blue with only a few, wispy clouds, and a crystal stream of the purest water flowed through it all, gurgling merrily.

My mother sat in the center of it all, not on some grand, raised dais or atop a throne of the most precious metals. She sat on the grass, with her legs tucked under her, her back straight, and her hands resting on her knees. Mother didn’t wear heavy brocades or furs to mark her position as ruler of the magical realm and the many others. She didn’t even wear a crown. She wore a garland of flowers and leaves, and her gown was the softest, flowing white. It looked as though she was clothed in the breath of life itself.

“Mother,” I said, bowing my head slightly with love and reverence, though my heart still raced frantically for Selle. “I am here.”

Mother opened her eyes and gave me the most wonderful, loving smile of joy. It instantly set me at ease, though I could still feel my shame and the desperation to rush off and rescue Selle and our egg behind that love.

“Gildur,” she said, pushing herself to stand gracefully. She walked over to me and slipped her arms around me in a hug that I needed so deeply that I groaned as I felt her love infuse me. “Why are you so anxious, my beautiful, golden boy?” she asked, stepping back and cupping the sides of my face.

I’d let go of Manfred when Mother embraced me, but the man was too stunned to run or do anything other than watch Mother with a rapt, enamored expression.

My feelings of shame returned. Part of me wanted to hide from my shortcomings, but it was Mother. It was impossible to lie to her.

“I’ve failed you,” I confessed, feeling like a young dragon again. “You set me a mission, to observe the sorceress Saoirse and to find proof enough of her treachery for you to take action against her. I allowed myself to be distracted by a clever, brave, handsome omega. I claimed and bred him instead of answering the serfs’ cry for help when they were attacked by Saoirse’s ogres.”

“And where is this lovely omega mate of yours?” Mother asked, still smiling and radiating goodness and love.

Panic knotted in my gut all over again. “Saoirse grabbed him and forced him into the cruel world,” I said. I cleared my throat, remembering that I was a dragon and her agent. I straightened and clasped my hands behind my back so that I could report, “Saoirse plans to usurp King Freslik. Once she assumes rule of the cruel world, she intends to mount an army of King Freslik’s people to attack you.”

Mother nodded as if I’d told her the weather was turning a bit cloudy. “What has this to do with your mate?” she asked.

“Selle is King Freslik’s son,” I reported.

“And do you love him?”

Her question took me so much by surprise that I gaped at her as foolishly as Manfred was.

“Yes.” I gusted out my answer. “I have never known love like that before. Selle is everything. He is wise beyond his years and brave beyond his circumstances. I know he will make an amazing father to our egg, to our brood. It feels as though half of me is missing without him by my side.”

“Then why are you here with me instead of in King Freslik’s castle saving him?” Mother asked .

I blinked. “Because my first duty is to you,” I said, though it hurt to feel that way, like I was betraying my heart. “Because you summoned me.”

Mother took a step back. “Go,” she said. She raised her hand in a casual gesture, and a wide, swirling gateway opened to one side. “Go and save your omega. When that is done, you will return here with him and with Saoirse, and we will settle this matter once and for all.”

She glanced to Manfred, who, by the look of him, didn’t realize a doorway had been opened. I wouldn’t have to worry about what to do with him while I retrieved my love and completed my mission.

“I will end this as quickly as I can,” I said, moving toward the doorway.

“You will have help,” Mother said just before I stepped through.

I imagined she meant Argus, but there was no time to ask. As soon as I passed through the door and into what appeared to be a hallway in King Freslik’s castle, the sweet, calm feelings I’d had in Mother’s throne room vanished and the anxious urgency I’d felt before returned.

“Selle,” I whispered as my sense of him through our bond flared large within me. “Selle!” I called out, louder, and began to run in the direction I felt him to be.

I arrived in the doorway of King Freslik’s throne room just as the entire company attending the king roiled with confusion. I could feel Selle at the center of the agitated crowd filling the room, though I could only see glimpses of him, surrounded by his brothers, as everyone from Saoirse to Freslik to some of the guards snatched and grabbed at my beloved.

Anger filled me, and without worrying about the consequences, I leapt into the air, assuming the smallest version of my dragon form. I soared up to the ceiling, then turned in a circle and roared at the people below, spitting fire down on them that sent high and low scattering.

“It’s a dragon! Run!”

The already chaotic scene in the throne room burst into absolute panic as men and women ran for the doorway. They jammed together, impeding everyone’s escape. A few of the nobles dashed for the windows, trying to escape that way.

“Gildur, get down from there,” Argus’s voice sounded within me, scolding and irritated rather than alarmed. “Do you know how difficult memory erasing magic is?”

I spotted my brother in his councilor’s disguise below and frowned at him, but I followed his suggestion and descended, resuming my human form.

More than half the courtiers had managed to escape, which was for the best in the end. I was able to march straight up to the cluster in the center of the room.

Saoirse and King Freslik were the last two left reaching and grasping at Selle, or more accurately, at our egg.

“It’s mine!” Saoirse insisted, clawing at one of the princes, who stood valiantly to defend Selle. “I worked for it! I earned it!”

“He’s my son, so everything he has is mine,” King Freslik insisted, trying to beat his way around two of the other omega princes.

“Stay away from me!” Selle shouted from the center of the scrum, where he was curled over, protecting our egg with his body. “It’s a child, not your prize. Gildur!”

He spotted me approaching the melee and cried out my name. I felt his shock and joy and relief as if a hot blast of air had hit me.

“I’m here for you, my darling,” I said .

Whether it was surprise at my appearance or Argus’s magic, Saoirse and King Freslik both lurched back, giving the omega princes space.

“You!” Saoirse gasped, her eyes going wide at the sight of me. “You cannot be here. I neutralized you!”

“The moment you left our world your powers over me broke,” I said, not that I cared to give her any explanation.

I had eyes only for my beloved mate and our egg. I rushed the last few feet to him as Selle broke away from his brothers and flew into my arms. He still held our egg tightly and couldn’t put his arms around me, but I made up for it by wrapping him in my embrace and holding him as if I could hold the world together and make everything right by enveloping him.

“Gildur, you came!” he cried out, pressing his face into my shoulder. “You’re here.”

“I’m here, my love,” I told him, breathing in his paper and honey scent. “I’m here, and everything will be alright.”

“Who the devil are you?” King Freslik demanded. “Unhand my son and give me that gold at once!”

He attempted to take a step forward, but his progress was arrested while he still had one foot in the air.

“You certainly do know how to make a scene,” Argus said, striding forward as quickly as he could in his current, withered form, the staff he used clacking on the marble floor.

“If you’ve been here this entire time, why didn’t you stop things sooner?” I demanded.

Argus shrugged. “I have my orders from Mother. They include not interfering unless absolutely necessary.”

I stared incredulously at him, wondering what constituted absolutely necessary in Argus’s mind.

“Counselor Dormas?” King Freslik said, gaping at Argus with a look of utter confusion. “What do you have to do with any of this?”

“He’s a dragon,” Saoirse gasped, seeming to suddenly make sense of the situation she was in.

Her surprise turned quickly to fear. She glanced around the room as if more of us would appear at any moment, then turned to run.

Her flight stopped as soon as it began when she raised her hand, presumably to create some sort of door back to the magical world, but nothing happened. She skidded to a halt, then shook her hand out and raised it again. When her magic failed again, she let out a desperate whimper and turned toward us.

“Give me back my magic,” she demanded, though she sounded more like a child who wanted their toy back than anyone with power. “You cannot do this to me. It isn’t fair!”

“I have orders to bring you before my mother, Queen Gaia,” I told her, letting go of Selle long enough to step forward and face her with the authority that had been invested in me.

“A queen?” King Freslik snorted. “Queens are useless and powerless. Don’t listen to him,” he charged Saoirse.

Saoirse made a sound of desperation and frustration as she glared at Freslik, then looked at me. “Let me go and I will give you whatever you want. I will make you rich and powerful beyond your wildest dreams. When I take over the Universe and am ruler of all the worlds, I will make you my right-hand man. You can have anything you want, just let me go!”

I would have laughed if I wasn’t so disgusted by her ploy.

“I do not care for riches or power,” I said stepping slowly toward her. “Gold means nothing to me. I’ve no interest in controlling others and making them bow to my whims for my amusement. Such things are hollow, temporary power at any rate.”

“Then what do you want?” Saoirse asked, at her wit’s end. “Anything. I will give you anything at all if you let me go.”

I stopped and turned back to Selle, smiling. The warmth and comfort I felt for him through our bond was stronger than any wealth or power even my mother could offer.

Selle softened into a smile as well and walked over to stand with me. The confidence and love I felt from him made me feel more powerful than I’d ever felt before.

“I have everything I need right here,” I said, cupping the side of Selle’s somewhat smudged face, then resting a hand on our egg. I felt our baby thrill at my touch. “I have love and comfort. I have someone who believes in me, even when I don’t deserve it, and who gives me a purpose greater than the accumulation of mere things.”

“I love you, too,” Selle said quietly, tears of affection making his large eyes sparkle.

“Yes, yes!” Freslik blurted. “I’ll give you my son in exchange for the gold. Take the wretch and do whatever you want with him.”

I frowned and dragged my gaze away from Selle to stare at King Freslik. “He is not yours to give away,” I said. “Selle, all of your sons, are their own men. They will choose their own mates and their own destinies.”

“We will?” the youngest of the princes said, looking curiously at Argus.

Argus chuckled at the young omega. “It isn’t our time yet, sweet one,” he said. “But be patient, it will come.”

“What does that?— ”

Prince Obi’s question was cut off as he and everyone else in the room, save Argus, Selle, and me, suddenly froze.

“Very fancy,” I told Argus with a smirk. “Stopping time is a braggart’s way to show off.”

“It was necessary,” Argus said. “It truly isn’t time for Prince Obi and I to join together. We need to end this and return things to the way they are supposed to be.”

I frowned slightly. “And how do you suggest doing that?”

Argus shrugged one shoulder. “Memory magic is difficult, but it is one of my strengths.”

“You plan to convince everyone that none of this ever happened,” Selle said, sucking in a breath.

Argus grinned. “Your mate truly is intelligent.” He turned to Selle and said, “None of this was supposed to happen. Saoirse has been flirting with magic that she does not understand in her attempt to take what she wants. Because of that, it should be an easy thing to change the memories of everyone who was present today, including your father.” He grinned, then added, “Including my adorable fated mate as well.” He glanced amorously at Prince Obi. “I would hate for him to see me in this ugly old form and think a withered old man is the one he’s destined for.”

“You can erase his memory, too?” Selle asked.

“I can do a great deal,” Argus said with a wink.

“Enough boasting,” I said. “I will take Saoirse back into the magical world and bring her to Mother. Selle will come with me and return with our egg to our lair.”

“What about my brothers?” Selle asked. “I have to make certain they’re safe.”

I huffed out a breath, as impatient as Rufus to have my mate question a solid plan .

“Let your love see to his brothers,” Argus said, as if he could sense my feelings on the matter. “They have a way to get into our world, thanks to Emmerich. You can meet up with them all in a bit.”

I didn’t like the plan. I didn’t ever want to be separated from my omega again.

“Please,” Selle said. “Once time is unfrozen, we might be able to help recreate a plausible memory that will help Father to forget any of this happened.”

“Clever and strategic,” Argus said, smiling at Selle approvingly.

“Very well,” I sighed, rubbing a hand over my face. “But do not delay in rejoining me. I have plans for you.”

Selle blushed as the heat of those plans washed over him. It would take many long, enjoyable hours in bed with my omega to wash away the anxiety that the whole ordeal had left me with.

“Are you ready?” Argus asked.

When Selle and I both nodded, he waved his hand.

“—mean,” Prince Obi finished his sentence. He then blinked as if he had no idea what he’d just said or where he was.

“What is the meaning of—” King Freslik started, equally confused. He spotted Saoirse, who had come out of her trance and was shaking her hands again, and growled. “Guards! Arrest that woman and take her to the dungeons! She has attempted to kidnap my sons!”

I glanced to Argus, who wore a self-satisfied smile. He was already at work changing the narrative of what had happened in the throne room.

“At once, Your Majesty,” I said, pretending to be a guard and grabbing Saoirse’s arm.

King Freslik didn’t seem to have the first idea that I wasn’t a guard. He disregarded me entirely as I marched Saoirse off toward a small door that I hoped led somewhere we could slip back into the magical world without being seen.

“And you lot,” King Freslik turned to the omega princes. “How dare you leave your room? Who let you out? I’ll have them thrown in the dungeon as well.”

“You called for them, Your Majesty,” Argus said, his voice wavery and old once more. “When the illness swept through the room, laying your courtiers low, you called for them all.”

“I did?” Freslik asked, frowning.

I didn’t get a chance to hear the rest of the alternate memory Argus was spinning. Saoirse and I reached the door. When I opened it, I conjured a doorway of my own leading into the magical kingdom.

“Your grasp for power is over, Saoirse,” I told her, feeling as though I’d done my duty at last. “It’s time to face Queen Gaia.”