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The underlying truth of what Argus said was news to me. “So fated mates aren’t definitely fated without any choice in the matter at all?”

“They are not,” Argus said. He immediately pinched his face and tilted his head to the side and said, “That is somewhat of a matter for debate. Is there such a thing as fate? Can fated mates be rejected? If they are rejected, were they truly fated to begin with? It is not as simple as it seems on the surface.”

“So I could have rejected you,” I said, thinking through the whole thing. “Even though I felt inexorably drawn to you, I could have dug in my heels at any point and said no.”

“You can always say no,” Argus said with a grin. “But I am irresistible.”

I laughed and elbowed him. It might not have meant much to him, but the idea that I could have changed the course of my fate at any point and done whatever I wanted instead of being dragged along like a dog on a chain meant a lot to me.

An uncanny feeling of peace settled over me.

I’d been wrong to think Argus had been close to me this whole time without doing anything to help.

Just because I didn’t know how hard he was working to stop my father from unspeakable cruelty didn’t mean he’d done nothing.

I felt horrible about my earlier accusations.

Well, almost. It was hard to feel anything other than contentment and relief sitting there in a huge, comfortable bed with my amazing alpha and our brand new egg.

I wasn’t certain how long we rested there, snuggling and watching our egg as it slept.

At least, I think it was sleeping. It didn’t look any different, I just had an internal sense that my baby was slumbering away.

I was tempted to drift off as well, and I might have for a while until there was an urgent knock at the door.

“My lord,” a woman’s voice sounded from the other side.

“Yes, Veronica?” Argus answered. He pulled the bedcovers up over both of us, then said, “You may enter.”

Argus’s grey-haired housekeeper stepped gingerly into the room, her face full of concern. I felt Argus’s worry before I felt my own.

“My lord,” Veronica said. “Your brother, Lord Emmerich, has just sent word that King Freslik has begun arresting the merchants and noblemen who he believed were at the meeting held earlier.”

I went stiff with alarm and clutched my egg closer.

Argus sat straighter as well. “Did he say how many of them have been captured or what Freslik has done with them?” he asked.

“They are being taken to the castle dungeons,” Veronica said, her face lined with concern.

“Only one or two have been rounded up so far, but according to your brother, they are all innocent and know nothing of the meeting. That has not stopped King Freslik from vowing to torture them for information, however.”

Argus let out a heavy sigh. “We cannot allow that to happen,” he said. He shifted as if to get out of bed but stayed under the covers as long as Veronica was in the room. “Do you want to come with me to sort this mess or would you prefer to stay here with our egg?”

Veronica stood on her tiptoes with an expectant look, as if trying to peek at the egg.

I would have rushed to show our baby off, and I might have even let her hold the egg, but I had a huge decision to make.

“You would allow me to be a part of this battle?” I asked. “Even though I now have an egg to take care of?”

Argus moved closer to me and raised a hand to cradle the side of my face.

“Love, this was always your battle to fight as much as it was mine. Perhaps even more so. It is your kingdom that is at stake and your life that Freslik has tried to ruin. You do not have to take part in the coming war if you don’t want to, but it is not my place or anyone else’s to tell you not to fight. ”

I smiled, brimming with gratitude that my mate, my dragon, would put so much trust in me. Then I glanced down at the brand new egg in my arms. How did my brothers do it? How did they leave something so precious that felt like so much a part of you? I didn’t ever want to let my baby out of my sight.

But then again, it was my baby’s future that I would be fighting for. It was the future of every child born into my father’s kingdom, every life that would be affected if my father won the war. I couldn’t sit idly by while that fight raged on.

“Is there someone who can take care of the egg?” I asked, my voice shaking far more than I thought it would.

“I can see to it that the finest nursemaid in all the land is brought in to care for it, my lord,” Veronica said. She stepped toward the side of the bed and held out her arms. “I will care for it myself in the meantime, if that is suitable to you.”

It was surprisingly painful to hand my egg over into the arms of the matronly woman, but I trusted her with my life. My egg was my life at this point.

Once Veronica took the baby away, both Argus and I got out of bed and rushed through washing and dressing for everything that was to come.

“That was extraordinarily brave of you,” Argus said, stealing a kiss as he helped me button a thick, protective jacket he’d conjured out of nowhere.

“I don’t know if it was the right thing to do,” I confessed. “Everything within me wants to stay and take care of my baby.”

“And everything within me wants to take care of my mate,” Argus said with a smile.

I let out a breath and some of the tension I’d been holding with it.

Maybe having a fated mate wasn’t so bad after all.

I knew that as long as Argus had breath in his body, he would protect me and our children.

I would do the same for him. Already, I couldn’t wait until this entire war and the chaos my father created in his wake was over.

“Let’s go free some merchants,” I said with a bracing breath.

Argus laughed, kissed me one last time, then turned to create a doorway out of thin air. I could see at once that it opened into the cold, grey, stone hallways of my father’s castle.

“Come along, little omega,” Argus said, transforming into Councilor Dormas before my eyes. “You’ve been caught out where you aren’t supposed to be, and it is my sworn duty to get you back to where you belong.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. That would be our excuse for wandering the castle, then.

Even though we had a plan, as we stepped through the doorway into a world I didn’t feel as though I belonged in anymore, my heart shuddered with worry. It felt like I was stepping into the last and most important battle of my lifetime, and there was no guarantee we would win.