Page 32 of The Ruby Dragon Prince
Like the coward he was, Groswick ignored Tovey, rushing after the king, likely to lick his boots. I was glad the man was such a sheep, however. It meant my omega remained unharmed and I didn’t have to kill anyone and ruin the festival for him.
“That was close,” Prince Obi gasped as the omegas moved on.
Prince Leo snorted. “Father doesn’t have the balls to harm us in public.”
I could feel from my beloved Tovey that he didn’t believe that to be true. “Why don’t we all go our separate ways for a while and see if we can speak to some of the townspeople?” he suggested. “We need to warn them about what’s coming.”
“Indeed, we do,” Prince Rumi said.
The princes broke into two groups, three of them heading in one direction and two of them in another. I noted that neither group looked as though they would do as the king had ordered them and take up places in the town square.
Tovey stayed with me. He grabbed my hand with a sudden, mischievous smile and said, “Come on. Let’s explore the festival.”
I went from seething with anger to ready to laugh so quickly that my head spun. The human harvest festival was nothing to some of the markets and celebrations we had in the magical kingdom, but I loved seeing the excitement in my mate’s eyes as he dragged me around, pointing out the wares of various craftsmen.
“Aren’t these boots lovely?” he asked with a fond sigh, poring over a table with children’s boots. “Someday, our babies will wear things like these. Perhaps I should purchase some now.”
“Whatever you wish,” I said. I didn’t need to tell him that I could have half a dozen elven shoemakers custom sew boots and shoes in every size and of every description that would put even the finest wares Tovey was looking at to shame.
He moved on without buying boots, crossing the street to look at a tray of sweet buns and tarts instead.
“Don’t they look delicious?” he asked, licking his lips.
They were fine. The confections and treats that the servants in my mother’s castle made for the nightly balls at the pavilion were of a much higher quality, but taste was different for all.
“I’m going to get one,” Tovey said, reaching into the pocket of his jacket and pulling out a few coins. “Do you want one, too?”
The young woman standing behind the baker’s cart blinked in surprise when she perceived me standing with Tovey. My partial concealment was working.
“Yes,” I said, smiling at the woman. “But I’ll pay.”
Tovey looked surprised. The baker woman was even more surprised when she handed Tovey two swirled cinnamon tarts and I paid her with a handful of rubies that I conjured out of nowhere.
“Thank you!” she gasped, staring at the gems in her hand. “This is…this is…this is enough to buy the entire bakery and the store across the way!”
“Then perhaps you should do just that,” I told her with a wink as Tovey and I moved on.
“I’m not certain you should have done that,” Tovey told me once we’d walked away, turned down a side street, and found a place to sit and eat our pastries.
I frowned at him. “Why not? She looked like a good woman. Her life will be forever improved now.”
“Unless people say she stole those rubies,” Tovey said thoughtfully. “What will she answer when she tries to use them to buy the bakery and she’s asked where she came by such wealth? Will people believe her when she tells them a man paid her in rubies for two cinnamon swirls?”
He had a point. Humans were forever suspicious of where each other came across their wealth. It was ridiculous, really,since so many of the wealthiest among them were thieves, that common people were questioned and penalized when they earned their living by the sweat of their brow. Or, in the case of the baker woman, when she stumbled across a stroke of good fortune.
I nodded, sending a stream of magic back to the woman. “There,” I told Tovey. “When she reaches into her pocket to see her rubies again, she will find coins of your realm, old and new. People will think she has scrimped and saved, but the value will be the same.”
Tovey smiled at me, then, since we were seated side by side, he leaned into me, resting his head on my shoulder.
“I do love you,” he said. “I know that love came about magically?—”
“Not magically,” I corrected him. “It was fated.”
“Whatever the case,” he said, sitting straighter, eating the last of his pastry, then finishing with his mouth half full, “I love you more with each passing day.”
I laughed at how funny he sounded confessing his love with a mouth full of pastry. Once he swallowed, I leaned in and kissed him soundly, wiping the sugar and cinnamon from his lips with my tongue. We both laughed, and my heart felt so light. The only thing that would have made the moment better would have been if our children had been there with us.
I was about to tell Tovey as much when a commotion from the courtyard behind the building we were sitting in front of snagged our attention. I’d vaguely noticed several men walking down the short alley near our bench and into the courtyard, but as I turned to check, it was clear to me the men were gathering for a meeting.
