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Obi laughed and danced around the table he’d put between the two of us to throw his arms around me. “This is child’s play,” he said. “Even our egg could fool this lot.”

“Thank the Goddess our egg is safe at home,” I said. “As encouraging as it is to see the cracks forming in Freslik’s inner circle, chaos such as this is never a good omen.”

“As long as we win, I don’t care how much chaos we create,” Obi said.

I wanted to disagree with him and warn him that any chaos was worrisome, but before I could, he leaned in and kissed me hard. I was taken by surprise but circled my arms around him and kissed him back, love and lust pulsing through me.

A moment later, Obi jerked back with a sharp intake of breath, then laughed. “Alright, kissing a wrinkly old man is where I draw the line,” he said, full of humor. “It’s just odd.”

I laughed as well and would have teased him in return, but the sound of more footsteps down the hall cut our moment of sweetness short.

“Come,” I said, taking his hand and pulling him out to the hall.

We were not as lucky with our third encounter in the castle halls as we’d been with the other councilors.

“Halt!” the rough, commanding voice of Rottum, Freslik’s chief of guards, rang out as we stepped into the hallway. “Councilor Dormas, explain yourself. You have been banished from the castle.”

My brow flew up, and surprise echoed through the bond from Obi. “Banished from the castle?” I laughed as if the notion were absurd. “Who told you that?”

“King Freslik himself,” Rottum said, striding closer, a handful of his toughest guards behind him. “And you,” he growled at Obi. “You and your brothers are to be clapped in irons and taken to the king on sight.”

“That is precisely what I am doing,” I said with a dismissive sniff, as if Rottum were beneath me.

Rottum wasn’t fooled. “You, sir, are a traitor. The king has made it known to all of us that you were seen to be in collusion with the traitorous merchants and noblemen.”

Though I was far from panicked at the accusation, I was concerned for the certainty Rottum had that I was his enemy.

“My dear boy,” I said, raising a hand and calling on my magic to sway him, “there has been a grave misunderstanding.”

Rottum twitched and stiffened, but the steel in his expression didn’t change. Worse still, he sucked in a breath as soon as I gave up my attempt to sway him and said, “You are a sorcerer! You are in league with the evil forces seeking to topple King Freslik’s rule.”

I felt indignation from Obi. “My father is the evil one,” he said. “And anyone who supports and helps him is evil as well.”

Rottum was completely unmoved. “Take these men prisoner at once,” he ordered his men. “Throw Dormas in the dungeon and take Prince Obi directly to his father.”

“You will not lay a hand on him!” I shouted, moving to stand between my mate and the guards, who lurched forward.

“You’ll never be able to catch us,” Obi said at nearly the same time, grabbing my hand and tugging me back. “Run!”

It was an impulsive decision and one that wasn’t likely to get us very far, but my mate seemed so determined to escape the confrontation, so I turned and ran with him. But not before throwing a few invisible impediments behind us.

Rottum and his guards tripped over those impediments as if the hallway was suddenly filled with boxes and barrels. It bought us time, but we had other problems to contend with.

“We have to free the merchants and noblemen my father has thrown in the dungeon and then get out of the castle,” Obi said, racing down a side hallway toward the main corridor that ran the length of the castle. “There’s no telling what Father will do if we can’t get them out in time.”

“It may be too late,” I said, skidding to a stop at a cross-hallway, then tugging Obi to one side so we could take a shortcut to the dungeons. “Your father may already have his forces gathered to oppose Osric’s attack. They can easily be used against what he sees as traitors in the castle.”

“We have to try,” Obi said, rushing down a spiral staircase with me.

I paused when we reached the bottom of those stairs and pulled my beloved close. It was the wrong time, but I had no idea when we would find the right time for what I wanted to say.

“You are magnificent, Obi,” I said, smiling. “You are every bit the warrior you want to be already. I can feel your courage and your cleverness.”

“Argus,” Obi said, flooding with affection and blushing at the compliment.

“I am proud to have a mate as wonderful as you,” I said, cradling the side of his hot face.

Obi glanced up at me with excitement and teasing glittering in his eyes. “Don’t you go kissing me again, old man. We’ve got men to rescue and a war to fight.”

I laughed and leaned in to kiss him anyhow.

My passion for my omega was fueled by the urgency of the moment and the sense that we were united in purpose and dedicated to the same cause.

We were no longer strangers thrown together by fate, we were the perfect team, and together, no one would be able to?—

“There they are!”

The shout that had me and Obi crashing back to reality and jumping away from each other to face the new threat came from none other than Freslik himself.

“Wicked, disgusting boy,” he said as he stormed forward, clutching a large medallion on a thick chain around his neck. “Do you plan to whore yourself out to this old dragon?”

Obi started to protest, but his words turned into a surprise yelp.

I shared that surprise. Freslik had called me a dragon.

“Guards, seize him!”

Freslik was not alone, a small contingent of guards hurried up the hall behind him. They were all dressed in armor, which made them slightly clumsy in the relatively narrow hall, but they were still deadly.

“You will not come near him,” I shouted, once more putting myself between my mate and the threat.

I expected Freslik and his guards to stop, for there to be a confrontation. That was my undoing. Instead of pausing and hurling more threats or getting his guards to do his dirty work for him, Freslik continued forward, removing the medallion and chain from around his neck.

“You will not twist and confuse me anymore,” he shouted, running the last few steps toward me and throwing the chain around my neck. “I have found you out!”

Like the crack of a whip, as soon as the chain was around my neck, I felt myself separated from all of my magical powers. My disguise as old Councilor Dormas melted away and I stood where I was in my true form.

Worse than that, though, my bond with Obi snapped shut, severing the two of us.

“No!” Obi shouted, rushing forward like he could defend me or reinstate our bond by touching me. He failed to reach me before two of the armored guards surged forward and grabbed him. “No! Let me go! Don’t hurt him!”

As much as he kicked and thrashed, Obi was helpless. The guards lifted him off his feet and carried him down the hall away from me.

“Throw him in the oubliette,” Freslik ordered the guards, never taking his eyes off me. “I will deal with my son as soon as I have eliminated this one.”

“No!” Obi continued to cry as he was carried away.

“If you hurt so much as a hair on his head, I will end you,” I growled.

“And how will you do that, dragon, without your magic?” Freslik asked with a toothy, triumphant grin.

I balled my fists and growled again. Dammit, but the bastard had a point.