Page 2

Chapter

Two

Gildur

P utting the work I did for Mother above my own wants and desires had never been a problem. Especially when something as potentially volatile as a rebellion among some of her subjects was in the air. I’d always relished my unique position as one of Mother’s most subtle and trusted operatives, quietly finding a place for myself in the inner circle of those who sought to undermine her gentle rule and exposing their treachery for what it was.

I was brilliant at what I did, and I rarely made a misstep. I was Mother’s golden boy.

That all changed the night I met Selle, my fated mate.

I sat at my usual table in the castle’s vast library, a dozen books arranged in front of me. I’d been researching the various capabilities and limitations of whisper sorcery for my most recent mission. I’d just about figured out my plan of attack, how I intended to quell the potential rebellion from one of Mother’s craftier subjects who had dreams of supplanting her. I’d almost figured out how the man who was helping her had slipped from the cruel world into the magical world as well.

But instead of compiling my notes and drafting a plan of action, I found myself staring out the massive picture window and down the hill to the dancing pavilion. The pavilion looked entirely different in daylight than it had the other night, when I’d made my first visit there in ages only to clap eyes on the omega I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt I’d spend the rest of my life with.

Prince Selle. He was beautiful, he was clever, and he was spirited. He was everything. A month ago, I’d teased Rufus mercilessly about finding his fated mate and falling for him with lightning speed, then behaving in typical ruby fashion by rushing to claim what was his. I wasn’t laughing at my brother now, though.

I needed to claim my omega mate as fast as possible. That single-minded thought filled my mind more than ways to counteract whisper magic or how many accidental doors between worlds were known to have been created. All I could think about was the way I’d blown my first chance with Selle by doing what gold dragons had done from the beginning of time and assuming everyone wanted me and would do anything to have me.

I knew Selle wanted me. Even now, when he was back in his cruel world and I was buried in research at the castle in the magical world, I could feel the gossamer threads of our bond. Fated mates began the bonding process from first touch, and although what I shared with Selle was spidersilk-thin at the moment, it was as if Selle already had me caught in his web.

“I don’t believe I’ve ever seen you look this dreamy before,” my brother Diamant chuckled, startling me out of my thoughts, as he strode into the library.

“I’m not dreamy,” I lied, closing the book in front of me with my pen between the pages to mark my place. “I’m…I’m thinking about the latest mission Mother has sent me on.”

Diamant laughed like he didn’t believe me and helped himself to a seat at the table where I worked. “A likely story,” he said, shaking his head.

“And just why would I be telling stories?” I asked, leaning back and pretending utter casualness.

Diamant grinned, his teeth dragon-like, even though he was fully in his human form. Some things couldn’t be completely concealed, no matter how benign our human forms were. “Azurus tells me you met your fated mate at the ball the other night,” he said, eyes glinting with humor.

“What if I did?” I asked, shrugging one shoulder.

Diamant laughed. “You can’t fool me, brother,” he said. “You’ve been waiting centuries for your fated mate. I know you. Your heart has wanted nothing more than to find him at last and make a family with him.”

“Isn’t that what all dragonkind wants?” I asked, playing down my desires. “You want the same thing.”

“Yes, I do,” Diamant said. “And as soon as the time is right, I plan to claim my fated mate, whether he’s ready for me or not.”

I couldn’t help but grin. Dragons were voracious when it came to claiming what we wanted. Rufus had almost been brutal with his mate, but as the mate of a ruby, Tovey had apparently welcomed it .

Selle didn’t seem like the sort who would like to be forcibly claimed, even if the forcing bit was an illusion. It struck me that Selle would want to be wooed. He needed to be charmed and seduced and almost tricked into giving in to his dragon mate nature.

Those were perfect personality traits for the mate of a gold. Gold was all about seduction and wooing.

The sound of Diamant snapping his fingers to get my attention pulled me out of delicious thoughts. When I blinked and focused on Diamant, he laughed.

“We’re all ridiculous when we’ve found our mates,” he said. “And since it’s common for dragon kin to find mates in the same family, Mother should relieve us all of our duties now, since we’ve discovered King Freslik’s sons.”

I balked at the idea. “I love the work I do for Mother,” I protested. “I love Mother with my whole heart, and I want nothing more than to give my life in service to her, keeping her and this kingdom safe from those who think they can disrupt her peaceful rule.”

“You love Mother with your whole heart now ,” Diamant said, pointing at me like he’d made a point. “But you’ve met your fated mate. Someone else will have your heart in no time.”

I didn’t dispute the fact. Diamant was exactly right. My mother had been highest in my heart so far in my life, but my fated mate would inevitably and naturally take her place.

But what did that mean for me? I’d been her agent since I was a young dragon. My whole life was about service. Golds were highly effective and fulfilled when they lived their lives in service to a higher cause, but when they lived for themselves, they could turn into the worst sort of creatures possible .

“I may have found my mate,” I told Diamant, “but that won’t change who I am. My first duty will always be to Mother and this kingdom. No omega will ever come between me and my mission.”

Diamant laughed. “I know you believe that, but just wait until you’re in rut to match his heat, your bodies twined as you follow dragon instinct and breed your beloved. Love changes things.”

“It will not change me,” I insisted.

Diamant smirked at me. “Oh, of course,” he said, dripping with sarcasm. “Love never changes anything.”

I frowned at him, and then, to prove that I would never forsake the mission Mother had given me, I said, “There’s an entire clump of ogres that has gone missing. They up and abandoned their caves several days ago. No one has seen hide nor stumpy hair of them since. I suspect Saoirse has something to do with it.”

“Saoirse?” Diamant asked, his brow shooting up. “Is she up to her old tricks again?”

“Apparently,” I said. “Mother has had me infiltrate the staff of her estate in disguise to learn her intentions and to stop them before too much harm can be done.”

“I see,” Diamant said, nodding sagely. “So I suppose Saoirse will be your priority when I tell you that the omega princes have just arrived in our world to attend the dance tonight.”

“They have?” I asked, jerking to sit straight and glance toward the window. “Selle is here?”

I reached through the silken threads of the beginning of our bond, trying to feel him for myself.

At least, until Diamant laughed at me.

“Being happy that my omega is in this world instead of the cruel world does not mean I’m choosing him over my work,” I insisted, though I stood and moved closer to the window instead of returning to my research. “King Freslik treats his sons terribly, or so I hear. I’m only concerned for my omega’s health and wellbeing.”

“Of course, of course,” Diamant said, pushing himself to stand as well. “I’m heading down to the pavilion. Are you coming?”

“Yes,” I said without a moment’s hesitation.

As we headed across the library and into the hall, I glanced back at my table and the pile of research I’d just abandoned. I told myself that I’d reached the extent of what the books could teach me, that I’d only be able to discover Saoirse’s intentions and defeat her on Mother’s behalf by returning to her estate and finding proof of her treachery. And since I wouldn’t be able to do that until morning at least, a little dancing with my fated mate wouldn’t hurt.

“We’re all the same,” Diamant chuckled as we walked on through the palace, shaking his head.

“I don’t know what you mean by that,” I feigned innocence and picked up my pace as we reached the palace’s front door.

I knew, but I didn’t want to admit it.

I’d never felt the allure of the pavilion or the dances that were held there nightly before. As far as I’d been concerned, the dances were frivolous things designed to keep Mother’s simpler subjects happy. They were usually packed with fae and fawns, nymphs and unicorns, all of whom were interested in finding mates, or at least mates for the night. I hadn’t really considered how much the people of the magical kingdom exchanged information or kept each other informed on the comings and goings of their fellow subjects until I’d attended the dance the other night.

When I reached the pavilion, I transformed my ordinary clothing into a fine suit fit for a ball, almost without thinking. It had nothing to do with wanting to impress Selle and make him fall in love with me. The way I searched the as yet sparsely crowded pavilion, looking first to the musicians who were tuning their instruments in the hidden balcony above and then to the attendants who prepared tables of masks and refreshments wasn’t a search for my mate, it was just a normal dragon’s curiosity and intention to make certain everything was perfect.

I couldn’t continue to fool myself when a peal of laughter yanked my attention to the far side of the pavilion and I saw Selle crossing over one of the magical grass bridges with his brothers. My heart beat twice as fast, and the blood-deep urge to take and claim surged through me as I caught sight of his smiling face and his adorable glasses.

“Best of luck, brother,” Diamant said, clapping my shoulder and grinning at me. “I hope you woo and win your omega as quickly as possible.”

“And you?” I asked, hoping, perhaps, to turn the joke around on him.

Diamant laughed. “I plan to toy with my mate for a while before making him mine. Life is meant to be a game, after all.”

He walked off, keeping to the edges of the pavilion so that he could watch the omegas as they took up their masks and glanced around at the evening’s decorations.

The omegas had arrived earlier than usual. I wasn’t certain whether I should be concerned. The castle attendants were still using their magic to complete the night’s decorations of rainbows and small bursts of gentle rain that caught the light but didn’t hit the ground. They all looked amazed at something that was, to me, pedestrian.

I took my chance to sidle up to Selle while his attention was elsewhere.

“You look as though you’ve never seen magic performed before,” I said in a low, warm, seductive voice as I leaned close to his ear from behind. His omega scent, like the sweetest paper mingled with honey, filled my senses and sent desire pulsing through me.

Selle gasped and jumped, the way I’d surprised him knocking his glasses askew. “You startled me,” he said, putting a hand to his heart. I could almost feel it racing as I stood close to him and I was pleased that it was racing for me.

I shrugged. “Omegas are infamous for their short attention span,” I said, deliberately riling him.

As I’d hoped, Selle turned fully to me and frowned. “I have a longer attention span than most,” he said, gripping his gold mask tightly. He had been too busy observing the decoration process to put it on straight away. “I have been known to spend hours poring through the books in our castle’s library.”

“That doesn’t take long,” his brother, Prince Leo said with a smirk. “Our father hates books and has all but emptied the library.”

For a moment, I was too shocked and offended to use that bit of information to continue my teasing. “I knew King Freslik was one of the evilest men ever to live, but that proves it.”

Selle softened slightly toward me. “I have my ways of obtaining books,” he said, tilting his chin up slightly as if he wanted me to be impressed with his ingenuity.

“Oh, yes, I’m certain that you require your long string of beaux to bring them to you as tribute,” I said with a sly grin .

Selle laughed. “I absolutely do not have a string of beaux,” he said. “I’ve never even had a single beau.”

I would have been jealous if he’d said he had dozens of alphas courting him. Instead, perhaps paradoxically, my heart ached over the fact that no one else had ever seen the beauty and brightness that was my omega.

“Then no one will object when I ask for you to open the dancing with me,” I said with as close to a gallant bow as I was capable of, extending my hand to him.

Selle smiled. His brothers grinned and whispered to each other as if they knew we were fated mates and my invitation was for more than just a spin around the pavilion. “I accept,” Selle said, taking my hand.

It would have been a charming moment, but Selle remembered his mask, and instead of sliding gracefully out onto the dance floor with me to join the first few couples taking a turn around the floor, he let go of my hand, fumbled his mask, then clumsily put it on, knocking his glasses sideways as he did.

“It fit perfectly the other day,” he muttered to himself. “I don’t know why it’s giving me trouble now.”

I chuckled, so charmed just watching him put on a mask that it made my heart feel like it would leap out of my chest. “Magic in this world takes its cue from the person wielding it,” I said. “If you’re clumsy and uncertain, it will be, too.”

“I’m not clumsy,” Selle insisted, his mask suddenly sliding into place as his determination to prove himself took over. “And I don’t have any magic.”

I sighed, back to teasing him. “Oh, my darling omega,” I told him stepping close and holding his jaw and chin under his half-mask. “I have so much to teach you.”

New though our bond was, I felt a rush of emotion from Selle. He liked the idea of learning, that much was certain. I could feel his pulse near my fingers increase and light come to his eyes. At the same time, I felt a level of indignation from him that made me smile. Selle was so brilliantly intelligent that even the hint that he needed me to teach him things irritated something within him.

I would enjoy irritating him in every sort of way as we began our life together.

The musicians finished tuning and set off into the first lively dance of the evening. More magical folk had gathered in the time since I’d begun teasing my dear, wonderful Selle, so when I took him into my arms for the amusing, animated, bouncing dance, there were enough other dancers that we had to be careful where we were going lest we jump right into them.

“I’ve been studying the magical world as much as I can while my brothers and I have been locked in our bedchamber,” Selle said, somewhat breathlessly because of the exuberance of the dance, as we made our way around the pavilion.

“How quaint,” I teased him with a warm smile. “And how does one study about the magical world while trapped in a bedchamber in the cruel world?”

“The cruel world?” Selle blinked.

I winced slightly. That was not the formal name of the world my Selle and his brothers belonged to, but it was the name my dragon kin and I had adopted to describe the horrible place King Freslik had created.

“Never you mind, sweet omega,” I said, twirling Selle around. “Matters of the kingdoms are too advanced for your gentle head.”

As intended, my words enraged Selle. “I told you, I am not soft-headed or silly. I always scored higher marks than any of my brothers when our tutors set us lessons. I have read every book I’ve been able to get my hands on.”

“Books of fairy tales?” I suggested, one eyebrow raised. How else would he feel as though he had studied the magical world.

Selle’s expression went flat, confirming my suspicions. “There is a great deal of real information contained within fairy tales,” he insisted. “It has been said that the purpose of fairy tales is not to prove that dragons exist, but that they can be vanquished.” He paused, grinned, then said, “You can be vanquished.”

My heart fluttered and my cock increased in my tight breeches. I very well might enjoy being mastered by my dear Selle one day.

“There isn’t a single book in your entire cruel world that compares to just one within the castle library,” I said, nodding toward the illuminated castle on the hill, which we could see from where the dance had positioned us.

I felt a jolt of excitement from Selle. “There’s a library in the castle?”

“A magnificent one,” I said, smiling with pride. “A magical one,” I added with more of a hush, mischief in my eyes.

Selle caught his breath. “A magical library.”

“Not that you would understand the books it contains,” I said, shrugging one shoulder as the dance ended, leaving us standing facing each other.

Selle frowned again, his ire unable to hide behind his golden mask. “You are supposed to be my fated mate, and yet you tease me as if you do not even like me.”

My eyebrows flew up. “What makes you think I don’t like you? The fact that I delight in teasing you?” I asked, finding the notion ridiculous.

“Love does not tease or make fun of its beloved,” Selle said. “And I dare say I’m as intelligent as you are. Perhaps even more so.”

I laughed. Not because I thought he was ridiculous, but because I knew he was right and I adored it.

Before I could say as much, or, more likely, continue to tease him, one of the castle’s pages rushed up to us.

“Prince Gildur,” the young woman said, bowing appropriately, but obviously on a mission of some urgency.

“Can I help you, Prudence?” I asked.

“It is your help that is needed,” Prudence said. “The ogre clump has been spotted, and they are on their way to Lady Saoirse’s estate.”

I caught my breath. It was as I’d suspected. Saoirse had somehow convinced a clump of ogres to do her bidding.

“The people of Lady Saoirse’s estate have appealed to Queen Gaia for help,” Prudence went on. “I have been given to understand that you are your mother’s agent in matters such as this.”

“I am,” I said with a nod. “I will make haste and go to Lady Saoirse’s people at once to see what the matter is.

“I will tell the queen,” Prudence said.

I nodded to dismiss her, then turned to Selle to make my regrets for cutting our extraordinarily enjoyable meeting short.

But Selle wasn’t there. I hadn’t seen him slip away, but obviously he had taken an opportunity and run with it. I wasn’t certain how much of Prudence’s message he’d heard, but I didn’t think he was acting on that. No, I was certain he was acting on another piece of information I’d inadvertently given him.

I glanced toward the castle, and sure enough, I saw a small shadow carefully making his way up the hillside, concealing himself behind bushes when anyone came near.

“Well, well, my sweet,” I said, leaving the pavilion and heading toward the castle. “It seems we will be together sooner than I anticipated.”

I headed for the castle, my mother’s mission forgotten.