Page 9

Chapter

Five

Obi

I t was astounding how quickly my life had changed, and yet I didn’t feel as if I’d changed at all.

As Argus created a doorway to take us back into my father’s world, I rested a hand over the bump where my growing egg was.

Just a day before, I’d been an ordinary, young omega prince, held captive by my father, who had his ancient councilor following me around like a jailor.

Now I was the bonded mate of a dragon and papa to an egg that would also grow into a dragon.

But I still felt like myself. I still wanted to make a place for myself in the world and to fight for the people of my father’s kingdom. I still had dreams and resented the restrictions that had been placed on me.

“It’s strange, isn’t it,” Tovey said as we stepped through the new doorway and into what looked like a kitchen courtyard at the back of some grand house. I could see the spires of my father’s castle over the garden wall, so I knew generally where we were.

I blinked and focused my attention on my brother. “Strange?” I asked vaguely, still trying to get my bearings in more ways than one.

Tovey grinned and threw his arm around my shoulder as we all walked towards a door into the house, where a finely dressed man was waiting for us. “Bonding with a dragon,” he said. “Conceiving an egg. All of it.”

I laughed without any humor. “It’s more than just strange. I barely know what to think or feel.”

“You’ll get used to it,” Tovey insisted.

“Which part?” I asked feeling even jumpier as we crossed into the unfamiliar house and were escorted down a long corridor.

I could hear several men talking somewhere at the end of that hall.

“Suddenly feeling like I’m in love with a man I barely know and being able to feel him and his thoughts or having another life growing inside me? ”

Tovey’s grin grew. “Both. All of that and more. It took me completely by surprise as well.”

I wanted to say something clever and sharp to express just how uncomfortable I was with the direction fate had pushed me in, but we entered a large parlor filled with men, most of them alpha merchants from the city that surrounded my father’s castle.

I wasn’t particularly inclined to talk to my brother about how it felt to be newly mated in a room full of alphas.

The merchants from my father’s city weren’t the only ones in the room.

Cousin Osric was there with some of the men I recognized as his closest advisors from when we’d spent those few, precious hours in his camp.

I even waved at Nikkos, the energetic young omega who was part of Osric’s inner circle.

My other brothers, even Misha, and their mates were there as well.

Even Rumi, though I was surprised he’d made it out of our castle bedchamber in order to attend the meeting.

I broke away from Argus and headed straight for my brothers in the corner of the room as Rumi’s Emmerich greeted my dragon and Tovey’s with, “Argus, Rufus, you’ve made it at last.”

Seeing all of my brothers again, was an instant relief. I always felt strongest when the six of us were together.

“So?” Rumi asked, turning to me from where he, Selle, Leo, and Misha had been talking, his smile wide. “How did it go?”

Despite my frustration and awkwardness over being bonded to an alpha I didn’t really know, I broke into a smile and approached my brothers belly first. “It went about as well as could be expected,” I said, unable to stop myself from gloating.

That was another odd thing about being a fated, and now bred, omega mate. I hadn’t expected to end up pregnant and I still wasn’t certain how I felt about it…except that I was filled with an enormous amount of pride anyhow.

“Oh, Obi!” Misha said, stepping forward to hug me and stare at my bump with wide eyes. “I’m so happy for you.”

“We are happy for you, aren’t we?” Leo asked, coming forward to hug me with what felt like a bit more understanding of my discomfort with it all.

“Yes,” I said unconvincingly. “I think so. I’m supposed to be happy, right?” I glanced around at my brothers. “We’re supposed to be happy when we meet our fated mates. And my mate is a dragon. And I can do this.”

I lifted my hand to my neck and brought it away with a small handful of silver nuggets.

“Yes, that’s an interesting little trick they’ve given us,” Leo said, touching his hand to the same spot just under his collar and bringing it away with a few glittering diamonds.

Someone who looked to be a young merchant was standing nearby. The man’s eyes went wide at the silver and diamonds. Leo chuckled and took the man’s hand, pouring his diamonds into it. “They’re all yours,” he said.

I handed over my bits of silver, too, but felt awkward doing it.

“I knew I was fated for one of the dragon princes and I know everything in that world is magical, but I still can’t comprehend any of this,” I confessed as the merchant hurried off, leaving the six of us to ourselves.

“Love isn’t about comprehending,” Selle said with a shrug. “It’s about feeling.”

“Then I don’t know how to feel,” I said. I leaned closer to my beloved brothers and whispered, “I’m mated to someone I don’t really know. At all. Isn’t that strange?”

My brothers, except for Rumi, all exchanged glances and chuckles or head shakes.

“It took some adjusting, I’ll admit,” Tovey said. “But I’ve never been happier.”

“Diamant and I are still working out our relationship,” Leo said, standing and sounding like an alpha as he did, “but it all feels good and natural. Granted, we butt heads as much as any couple, but then we make up in the most extraordinary ways.”

I flushed hot and glanced down for a moment.

That was the one thing I hadn’t had any qualms about when Argus had taken me back to his beautiful, seaside lair.

That one, glorious heat wave with him had felt as instinctively right as anything I’d ever done.

But as intimate as it had been, it hadn’t felt personal, which was something of an oxymoron I hadn’t figured out.

“Things will get better and feel more and more right with each day that the two of you spend together,” Selle insisted. “Just give it some time.”

“Do we have time?” I asked, resting a hand over my bump without being completely aware of it. “We’re about to go to war to save the kingdom from Father’s evil rule.”

My brothers all hummed and nodded, like I’d brought up a good point.

It was a point we didn’t have a chance to debate. No sooner was the question past my lips than Cousin Osric clapped his hands together to get everyone’s attention.

“My friends, I cannot thank you enough for taking this risk today and hearing me out,” he began.

My heart sped up at just those few words. I was so eager to do whatever I could to overthrow my father. I even lifted to my toes so I could see over some of the taller alphas standing between me and Osric.

Of course, as I did that, I ended up searching the room for Argus instead of paying attention as Osric went on, introducing himself and his chief advisors. I didn’t have to look far either. It was as if I just knew where my mate was. I looked directly at him without much of a search.

Argus smiled and broke away from his brothers to come to me. I suddenly felt awkward. Had I somehow called him to me without knowing? Was that how bonds worked?

As Argus reached my side and took my hand, I had the mad thought that I needed to find Councilor Dormas and ask him. Councilor Dormas knew everything about everything. Maybe he knew how dragon mate bonds worked.

That thought tumbled into others, and of all the mad things, I found myself standing there by Argus’s side, wondering what old Councilor Dormas would think of my egg bump. Would he be proud? Would he be pleased?

No, that wasn’t the right thought. I wanted my mate to be pleased, not some withered old man who was loyal to my father.

A growing suspicion tickled the back of my brain and I half-turned my head to study my mate out of one eye. Something wasn’t right. My thoughts and feelings were so confused. Everything had happened too fast, and I was still reeling.

The only thing that steadied my spiraling world was listening to Cousin Osric.

“My uncle has held this kingdom in his grip for too long,” Osric said, speaking loudly and clearly.

Everyone paid rapt attention to him. “He is a cruel and evil man who thinks only of enriching himself and his inner circle. He does not care if he breaks the entire kingdom and thrusts each and every one of you into poverty and privation in order to do so. He has already attempted to turn the farmers and other good people of this land against each other. We cannot allow such wickedness to continue. The time has come to act, to take back this kingdom and restore it to the peaceful and accepting society it once was.”

“Hear, hear!” a few of the merchants agreed.

Not all of them were as enthusiastic.

“War is bad for business,” one man spoke up from the opposite side of the room as me. “Freslik might be evil, but my coffers have never been fuller. Why should I risk impoverishing myself by upsetting the balance as it is?”

“Your coffers might be full now,” another of the merchants said, “but will they stay that way? Just last year, Freslik invented some mad tax on cloth goods that nearly bankrupted me.”

A few of the others hummed and nodded in agreement.

“Why should I care about a bunch of dirty farmers and day laborers?” yet another merchant asked. “They’re all lazy and insolent anyhow.”

“They’re not lazy,” someone else defended them.

The previous merchant snorted. “They are absolutely lazy. If they worked harder, their lives wouldn’t be so miserable. The only people who end up poor are those who are too lazy to put any effort into getting out of poverty.”

A few men agreed. Several others vocally disagreed.