Page 2 of The Ruby Dragon Prince (Omega Fairy Tales #1)

Chapter

One

Tovey

THREE DAYS EARLIER

F airy tales are supposed to begin with the sweet line “once upon a time”, but for me and my brothers, it wasn’t just once upon a time, it was all the times.

“I don’t suppose we could just refuse to attend the ball,” my gentle, usually quiet brother Misha said as the six of us dressed for the night’s misery.

Our brother Leo laughed as he yanked one of his more ostentatious ball costumes from the wardrobe beside his bed. “If we refused to go, you know Father would send his guards here to fetch us,” he said.

I winced and shivered. “They’d probably drag us down the hall and into the ballroom regardless of our state of dress,” I said, shoving my legs sullenly into the too-tight, too-revealing breeches that Father insisted we all wear to his monthly balls.

“I wouldn’t mind the balls so much if there were kind, heroic, romantic princes there instead of the old sycophants and glory-seekers that Father surrounds himself with,” my youngest brother, Obi, said with a sigh.

I didn’t know if I wanted to sigh along with him or shake my head at his na?veté.

“Father would never do anything as kind as inviting alphas we might actually like to one of his balls,” Rumi, my eldest brother said as he finished tying the plain blue waistcoat of his ball costume over the flouncy silk shirt I knew he hated. “He would never do anything kind where any of us are concerned.”

I huffed a humorless laugh of agreement and stood to tuck my own silly, flounced shirt into the waist of my breeches. It was common knowledge within the palace that Father hated us all. He’d married our late, beloved papa because Papa had been the only omega in a family of strong, powerful alphas. He’d believed that in marrying Papa, he would have a string of alpha sons to carry on his name and to help him not only rule the kingdom he had with an iron fist, but to conquer the neighboring kingdoms and set up his sons as rulers in each one.

Instead, Father had had six omegas before casting Papa aside. He’d tried to get sons on other omegas, both male and female, but after Obi, his seed had never taken hold. Some said it was a curse placed on him by an omega witch he’d wronged years before. Some had said Papa was that omega witch and that when Father stole him from the alpha he’d been in love with and forced him to breed, he’d vowed that Father would never get what he wanted.

There were times when I felt like Papa’s curse extended to the six of us, even though he had loved us and we had loved him until the day he’d heard his former love had died. Papa died of a broken heart days later, and the six of us were left at Father’s mercy.

“I would be so happy if Father would only invite a strong, noble alpha who has traveled the world and who has thousands of stories to tell,” Obi said, sinking to sit on his bed once he was dressed. “All I want is an alpha who has experienced everything and can tell me beautiful stories and maybe take me away to see the world.”

“I want someone brave and strong who can rescue me from all this,” Misha said, sitting on the end of his bed as well. “Though I don’t think I would ever be brave enough to talk to someone like that myself.”

“I want someone with a fierce heart who would fight back against Father’s wickedness,” I said, sitting on the bench at the foot of my bed so I could put on the tight, calf-length, leather boots that matched my dancing costume.

“I want someone wise and clever,” Rumi said with a smile. “Someone who could outwit Father instead of fighting him.”

“I would be content with someone good and noble and intelligent,” Selle, the brother that was closest to me in age, said. He pushed the glasses he wore up the bridge of his nose as he sank into one of the chairs in the center of our large, circular bedroom. “But I wouldn’t shove him out of bed for being handsome as well.”

We all laughed. It was a given that we all wanted handsome princes. What omega wouldn’t? Beauty wasn’t everything, despite what Father told people, but it was nice.

Apparently, my brothers and I were all astoundingly beautiful. Papa always used to tell us we were like flowers in the garden he’d been confined to after Father cast him aside. I’d overheard the servants in the palace and occasionally Father’s guests say that we were the most beautiful omegas in the land, but that counted for very little with the sort of life we lived.

The six of us were as captive as Papa had been in his last days. We had the appearance of freedom as we wandered the halls and attended festivals and other important events in the city, but it was an appearance only. We were constantly guarded, so much so that none of us felt free to speak our minds when we were anywhere other than in our bedroom, our gilded cage.

I hadn’t minded living a secluded life so much when I was young, but ever since coming of age and falling into heat, the need to be free and to find an alpha was powerful. I resented the feeling that I needed an alpha. I didn’t need anyone to be who I was and to live my life. My body screamed otherwise when my heats started.

Like every other omega, when I was in heat, I would have done anything, been with anyone, just to have the heat urge quelled. I would have thrown myself at one of the guards when I was in heat just to have the carnal need that cursed all omegas soothed.

But Father was either cruel or calculating or both. Instead of giving us a way to satisfy our heat urges, when we so much as started to feel a bit warm, he would have us taken away and locked in a cell in a remote tower at the far end of the castle. The three days of our heats were pure agony as we were forced to suffer the pain and anguish of an empty heat.

Father gave us the option of an alpha partner, of course. The entire purpose of his monthly balls was to parade us in front of alpha noblemen from our kingdom and others with the promise that if they played their cards right and gave him what he wanted, he would give them one of our heats.

I had never succumbed to that temptation, but I knew some of my brothers had, especially the older ones. I didn’t know if I would be able to hold out forever myself, since each heat was progressively harder to bear alone. I didn’t blame my brothers who had allowed one of Father’s disgusting favor-seekers to take them. I knew that day would come for me, too, and I dreaded it.

“What about you, Rumi?” Obi asked, drawing his knees up so he could hug them as he sat on his bed. “What sort of prince do you want?”

Rumi had gone to the single window in the room, a window that looked out over the garden where Papa had lived. He gazed out, his body tense with expectation. When he glanced back at us, he had an excited look in his eyes that seemed completely wrong for the misery we were all about to endure.

“I don’t have to imagine a prince for myself,” he said, keeping his voice low and impish. “I already have an alpha.”

The rest of us gasped and sat up straighter.

“You do?” Selle asked, his glasses skewing as he jerked up.

Rumi nodded, smiling as he stepped away from the window. The other five of us got up and joined him in the center of our room. “I’ve fallen in love,” he said quietly, his eyes flashing with mischief.

“With a prince?” Misha asked.

Rumi shook his head. “With a completely ordinary man.”

“But how?” Leo asked. “When do any of us ever get to meet completely ordinary men?”

“Do you remember when we went riding through the city to the botanical gardens last month?” Rumi asked. When we all nodded, he said, “Remember when my horse threw a shoe and I had to stop to have it fixed.”

“I remember,” I said. “I thought a guard waited with you at the farrier.”

Rumi shook his head. “Father’s guard saw to the shoe. I stepped out into the street to breathe on my own. That’s when I met him.”

“Who is he?” I asked. “What sort of man?”

Rumi shrugged. “Just an alpha. He didn’t say who. He had the most arresting, green eyes, and he was wonderfully clever. We bantered, argued, and laughed for an hour before the guard realized I wasn’t waiting quietly for my horse. Once the guard noticed, my alpha had slipped away. But before he left, he promised he’d be looking out for me, and he said he would come to the palace during the next ball.”

“How exciting,” I said, wishing I had some sort of amazing love story like that developing in my life. “So he’s going to be here to?—”

Before I could finish my question, there was a short, curt knock on our door before it was thrown open. Rottum, the head of our father’s guards, marched into the room uninvited, half a dozen guards behind him.

“You’re to be brought to the ballroom at once,” he said, then looked around, rubbing the bottom half of his face, like he was disappointed he hadn’t caught all of us naked and presenting to him in the mating pose, our holes dripping with slick.

Without a word, the six of us got up and formed the dutiful line that we were always forced into when we walked through the palace. None of us were allowed to walk side by side, because Father didn’t want us speaking to each other or seeing each other’s faces when we were being paraded around to suit his vile purposes.

There was no point in arguing or resisting. I was a thousand times more excited than usual about the prospect of that night’s ball after Rumi’s story, though. As we were paraded from the quieter, private part of the palace into the crowded, noisy, teeming, public part, I kept my eyes open, searching the throng of guests to see if I could figure out which of the hungry alphas gawking at us might be Rumi’s completely ordinary man.

I didn’t see anyone ordinary before we were marched into the ballroom and up onto the small dais, where Father waited for us.

“It’s about time,” he snapped, glaring at the six of us as if we had purposely held up the opening of his ball. “Wretched, disobedient omegas, all of you. I’ll see that you are brought in line if it’s the last thing I ever do.”

I ignored Father’s cruel words. He said more or less the same thing every time he saw us.

“Lords and gentlemen, alphas and betas,” he called out to the guests filling the ballroom. There were no other omegas, of course. Father despised omegas of every kind. And there were only a few women, because Father despised them as well. “Welcome to my mid-spring ball.”

Most of the courtiers applauded, not because there was anything to applaud, but because they would have bent down to lick Father’s boots if they thought it would win them favor that would lead to a trade deal here or an exemption from taxation there. Or, of course, a heat with one of the princes.

“At last, my wayward, whorish sons have deigned to join us,” Father went on. “They were probably lazing about in their room, preening and discussing ways to offer themselves to beggars in the street. We all know how omegas are.”

The courtiers laughed and sneered at us, the alphas among them with hungry looks and lust in their eyes.

“You can probably smell how close to heat some of them are,” Father went on. “Wouldn’t it be a laugh if one of them went into heat while dancing with one of you? I’d be tempted to let you have the hussy right there in front of all of us were that to happen.”

The courtiers laughed. My face heated with shame, even though it was Father who should have been ashamed. Treating omegas like chattel was bad enough, but hinting that he would condone the public rape of one of his sons was horrific.

I closed my eyes for a moment and wished more than I’d ever wished for anything that there was some way to escape from this cruel, disgusting life. Father would only make jokes about us for so long before he would attempt to make one of those jokes a reality.

“But enough about these omegas,” Father went on, moving his hand like he could brush us away. “It’s time for dancing and wine!”

The courtiers cheered, and moments later, not only did the orchestra in the corner begin to play, but a veritable army of servants came out of the small side doors with trays of wine and sweets.

Father wasn’t completely done with us.

“I want you all to behave tonight,” he growled. “I need you to be biddable with my guests. A war is brewing with the southern kingdom, and I need the support of every one of these noblemen if I am to conquer it.”

I fought not to roll my eyes. There was no war, at least not one instigated by anyone other than Father and his ambitions.

“I may need to offer some of these noblemen more than just your heats,” he went on. “The time has come when I will offer all of you to secure long-term alliances. So be on your very best behavior or else.”

“Yes, Father,” We all answered dutifully. We had long since learned that it was easier to pretend to go along with Father so that we could keep to ourselves later.

“Now go and make yourselves available,” he ordered us.

I swallowed as all six of us turned away and faced the eager, frightening horde of untrustworthy alphas who wanted to paw us and slobber over us. Rumi set off right away, as if he’d seen his ordinary man and planned to go to him. Obi and Misha clung to each other as they stepped warily into the throng of guests. Leo held his head high and marched right into the center of the alphas, daring them to touch them.

I exchanged a look with Selle, who shrugged, adjusted his glasses, then sighed and stepped forward, knowing he didn’t have any choice but to comply.

I was about to do the same when Father grabbed my arm and yanked me back.

“You’re slower than the others,” he growled, tugging me to the side, where a particularly sour-looking, middle-aged nobleman with a too-large nose was smiling at me with crooked teeth. “You’ll do for Lord Groswick.”

I swallowed, dreading what he might mean by that.

“Your Majesty,” Lord Groswick bowed as Father dragged me close to him. “You do me such an honor with your favor tonight.” He glanced up at me with a lewd look.

I thanked whatever god or goddess ruled this miserable world that I was not in heat or anywhere close to it.

“It is you I have to thank for your ingenious plan, Lord Groswick,” Father said. I wondered what sort of plan it was. “As promised, I give you the entertainment of one of my sons for the night. It’s a pity none of them are in heat, but this one will do for a dance or two, possibly more, if I think about your idea and decide I like it.”

“I am most pleased, Your Majesty,” Lord Groswick said, bowing low from his waist.

He sniffed while still bent double. His huge nose was far too close to my crotch.

He straightened, smiling, and offered me a hand. “Come,” he ordered, like I was a dog. “We’ll dance.”

Internally, I grimaced. I knew there was no point in resisting. Not at that moment. A dance couldn’t hurt me, and despite everything, I did like dancing. The one activity my brothers and I had been allowed growing up had been dancing. We were all quite accomplished at it. Dancing reminded us of better times and the hope for a better future.

I was grateful that the dance currently being played was the sort that required intricate steps and not much contact. I had no desire to touch Lord Groswick at all.

“You should know that I intend to have you,” Lord Groswick said when the steps of the dance brought us closer. “Your body will look beautiful splayed across my bed.”

I said nothing. It was not the first time something lewd or suggestive had been hurled at me in the ballroom.

“I’ll be like no other alpha you’ve ever had,” he went on, as if trying to tempt me. “I have a cock that has made lesser omegas than you weep with longing.”

“I believe that they have wept,” I said stiffly, searching the ballroom to locate my brothers.

They were all dancing as expected. All except Rumi, who was conversing with one of the servants carrying a tray of refreshments.

My heart sped up with hope. That had to be Rumi’s ordinary man.

“I have plans to build the grandest seaside mansion the kingdom has ever seen,” Lord Groswick went on, licking his lips as he finished and the steps of the dance brought us closer together.

I frowned and focused on him. “I was under the impression that your fortune was middling at best,” I said.

Lord Groswick’s smile dropped, proving I was right. “I have plans to increase my fortune,” he said, smiling again. “Plans your father approves of.”

“What plans?” I asked, pretending only mild interest.

“You will see,” Lord Groswick said. “Trust me, you will see. You are to be my prize for enriching both myself and the king. Your hand in marriage will be my prize.”

Fear knotted in my gut. It was one thing to have a heat given to a horrid nobleman, but marriage to one would mean a lifetime of heat. It would mean being separated from my brothers, possibly never to see them again.

“I’ve no wish to marry,” I told him, turning my face away.

The steps of the dance were such just then that Lord Groswick was able to yank my arm hard to get me to face him. “You will have no choice in the matter,” he growled. “I will get what I want from you even if I have to lock you in a room and tie you to the bed.”

I swallowed sickly. I believed he would do it.

I wanted to pull away from him and run, but when those thoughts were still new, Father suddenly shouted, “Hold!”

Everything in the room ground to a complete stop and all eyes turned to him.

And then all eyes shifted to what Father was looking at.

In the corner of the room, Rumi was standing flush against the servant with the tray. It looked to me as though they had been about to kiss.

“Guards! Arrest that man at once! Round up the princes and take them back to their room!” Father shouted.

Chaos followed. Lord Groswick tried to grab me like he would keep me, but I wriggled away from him. I slammed right into the form of one of the guards, who were never very far from any of us.

“He’s mine!” Lord Groswick shouted as the rest of the room roiled with activity. “King Freslik promised him to me!”

“I have my orders,” the guard said, grabbing my arm and yanking me to the side.

I couldn’t tell if I was happy or miserable to have the guard take me away. At least I was away from Lord Groswick, although my heart pounded with fear at the speed with which I was dragged out of the ballroom and into the hall, not knowing what was going on. I didn’t even see whether the guards had captured Rumi’s ordinary man or not.

“I cannot explain it, Your Majesty,” I received my answer as soon as I was pushed up against one of the walls in the hallway with my brothers. “He was right there. We should have captured the knave easily.”

“Search the palace for him,” Father demanded. “I want the man dead. No one dares touch my sons without paying the price.”

I glanced quickly at Rumi. My brother’s eyes were wide with fear, but they also shone with defiance. I was certain he had something to do with his alpha escaping.

“Take them to their room!” Father shouted, marching along with us as the guards pushed, shoved, and dragged us down the hall toward the private part of the palace. “You will pay for this treachery,” he went on. “Whatever freedoms you’ve had are gone. Your room will be your prison. You will only be allowed out when it suits my purposes.”

Dread pooled in my stomach. I caught sight of Misha and Obi weeping as Leo tried to comfort them and move them along. Selle had gone pale but was trying to be strong. Only Rumi seemed to be treating our impending imprisonment as if it were a joke.

When we reached our room, Rottum yanked open the door and the guards shoved us into the room. Father stepped in behind us, glaring.

“I will discover who that man is and have him eviscerated in front of you,” he vowed to Rumi. “I will have his head displayed on a spike in your precious garden.”

“If you can find him,” Rumi replied in a whisper.

“Insolence!” Father shouted, then slapped Rumi hard across the face.

The rest of us gasped and lunged forward to support Rumi. The blow had been so hard that he’d nearly lost his balance.

“Guards! Lock this door!” Father said, backing out of the room. “Put additional chains around it. I want it guarded at all times. No one goes in or out. These whelps are no longer my sons, they’re my prisoners.”

Panic filled my stomach. The only tiny freedom we princes had was our walks around the city and in the botanical gardens.

“You will rue the day you tried to cross me,” Father spat at Rumi, then turned and left the room, slamming the door behind him.