Page 25
King Freslik stormed through the cold, abandoned hallways of his castle, fury pulsing through him as he approached the door to the omega princes’ bedchamber.
It was no longer guarded, as all six of the princes had somehow managed to escape him.
He wrenched open the door, causing it to bang against the wall, and stormed into the chamber.
He immediately set to work throwing open his omega sons’ wardrobes and yanking their contents out in search of anything that might provide a hint as to why the six, pitiful omegas had been able to evade his plans for them.
“Miserable, wretched whores,” he growled as he spilled his sons’ belongings on the floor. “Hateful omegas!”
When he found nothing in the wardrobes, he moved to yanking the covers off his sons’ beds and pushing the mattresses aside. Surely, whatever devilry his sons had concealed would be found in their bedchamber.
He made his way almost all the way around the room and had the bedcovers of Rumi’s bed in his hands before a strangely calm voice behind him asked, “What are you doing?”
Freslik snapped straight and whirled around to find his latest and greatest advisor leaning against the chamber’s doorframe, arms crossed. Just the sight of the man made Freslik’s skin crawl, but he knew he needed him.
“Where are they?” he demanded, marching away from Rumi’s bed and over to the sorcerer. “Where have my sons gone? What are they hiding from me?”
Nazeing pushed away from the doorframe and shrugged. “Why do you care about a bunch of pitiful dragon mates?” he asked. “We have a kingdom to conquer. More than one kingdom.”
Freslik growled, baring his teeth. “They have humiliated me. Their very lives are a humiliation. I will not let them get away so that they might spend the rest of their lives laughing at me.”
“Then don’t let them get away,” Nazeing said with a calm shrug. He looked at his fingernails, almost ignoring Freslik entirely.
Freslik bristled at the insult. “I can hardly stop them from getting away when I do not know where they are,” he said with venom.
Nazeing looked up at him. “You might not know where they are, but you know where they will be.”
When Freslik only blinked at him, Nazeing sighed and continued.
“They will be in Osric’s camp before long,” he said. “They will join him in what that upstart pretender believes is the final battle.”
“You are supposed to be preventing that battle,” Freslik said.
“And I am, I will,” Nazeing said.
“I will believe it when I see it,” Freslik snapped. “You’ve promised me the world, and so far, you’ve done nothing.”
Nazeing turned serious so quickly it chilled Freslik’s blood. A sort of darkness came over him that made Freslik want to turn and run, despite the promises the man had made him.
“I have done more than you know and will continue to do more than you see,” he said, his voice seeming to echo through the entire castle. “You will trust me or you will obey me. Your choice.”
“I want what you promised me,” Freslik said, trying to stand taller and face his ally.
“You will get it,” Nazeing said, a slippery smile spreading across his face. “You will get what you want, and I will most definitely get what I want. I will have Emmerich if it is the last thing I ever do. And once I have him, he will pay for the wrongs he’s done to me.”
I hope you’ve enjoyed Obi and Argus’s story!
There are actually a couple of different versions of the fairy tale of The Twelve Dancing Princesses.
In the most common one, the old magician who eventually discovers the princesses’ secret by following them into the magical realm wearing an invisibility cloak ends up choosing the eldest princess to be his bride in the end.
But in one of them, he chooses the youngest. That’s where I got the inspiration for this particular tale.
There’s just one more story to go in the Omega Fairy Tales!
Rumi hinted that far more has been going on behind the scenes than the rest of the princes know…
and you’ll get to find out everything about it in the next book, The Emerald Dragon Prince !
Could it be that Rumi and Emmerich have known each other for longer than anyone knows?
Is Rumi hiding something from his brothers that might change everything? Find out soon!