Page 9 of The Ruby Dragon Prince
“I’m still not entirely certain how this forest can exist underneath my father’s palace,” I said as the steps of the dance brought us closer together.
“It’s not under your father’s palace,” the alpha explained. “It’s nowhere that is a part of the cruel world you inhabit. It is somewhere else entirely, separate in time and space, from the world you know.”
I sighed longingly. “Can I stay here, then?” I asked. “I don’t want to be part of that world anymore.”
The alpha chuckled, and I felt it within me once more. “Of course you can stay here, my gem,” he said. “You can stay here with me forever, as far as I’m concerned.”
Feeling more confident by the moment, I sent him a sly look. “I don’t even know you,” I said.
“Of course you do,” he argued. “You’re wearing my mask, after all.”
I had one hand free as we took a turn in the dance, and I touched it to my mask. Now that I thought about it, the design and patterns of my mask matched those of the alpha’s clothing and his mask. Had I picked this particular mask for a reason?
“I put on the first mask that came to my hands,” I said, trying to be coy.
He smiled, and again, I thought his pupils changed shape. “All the more reason to believe fate has brought us together,” he said. “Fate is rarely wrong about these things.”
“Fate is speeding things along a bit, don’t you think?” I flirted. “I’ve only just got here, and already you’re talking about me spending the rest of my life here, with you. Shouldn’t we do all the fun things in between, like learning about each other, spending time together, and discovering if we have any shared interests?”
“I like to dance, you like to dance,” he said with a shrug. “I like clever, spritely omegas with soulful brown eyes and kissable lips, you like?—”
He raised his eyebrows, leaving the second half of the sentence up to me.
“I like brave, kind alphas who would allow me my freedom,” I said, thinking of the life I knew waited for me back in my father’s palace.
I was beginning to question why any of us would ever return to that prison and that life when some unseen clock began to chime loudly, filling the joyful space of the pavilion.
“What does that mean?” I asked, jumping closer to the redheaded alpha, as if I instinctively knew he would protect me from whatever danger I had to face.
“It means the ball is coming to an end,” the alpha said, breathing in my scent as he slipped one arm around me. “But that doesn’t mean our time together must end.”
I could feel what he wanted in my heart and in my womb. My hole fluttered, and I panicked that slick would leak from me so obviously that navigating the room of people would be an embarrassment. I wanted him, though, and for a moment, I toyed with the idea of giving everything up and pledging my life to a completely unknown alpha.
“Tovey, come on!” Rumi called to me from the side of the room, shaking me out of those thoughts. “We have to go.”
My brothers had all gathered at the end of the grass bridge over the lake that would return us to our forest path. They’d returned their masks to the table.
I’d only just met the redheaded alpha, but already, I felt torn in two. Every instinct I had told me to stay with him, that we were destined for each other, and that my life would be so much better once I came to know my fated mate.
I loved my brothers, though, and I couldn’t abandon them when things were so bad for all of us.
“I have to go,” I said, prying myself away from the redheaded alpha and dashing toward my brothers. I had to run, because I knew in my soul that if I faltered or turned back for one second, I would stay with the redheaded alpha forever. Taking off his mask and returning it to the table was painful.
“It looks as though I’m not the only one who’s found someone,” Rumi teased me as he took my hand and led me across the bridge and into the forest.
I laughed. “Now I know why you were willing to risk everything for your beau,” I answered.
The journey back through the forest was quicker than I thought it would be. Maybe the forest sensed the urgency with which we wanted to get home. Surely, Father or one of the guards would have tried to get into our room, with breakfast or just to shout at us some more. There was no telling what Father would do when he discovered the magic door.
But by the time we called for the golden staircase and ascended into our bedroom again, everything looked exactly as it had the moment we’d left. Instead of the light of morning shining through our bedroom window and the sound of morning larks in the garden, it was still dark, and we could still hear the faint sound of our father’s ball.
“Only five minutes have passed!” Obi exclaimed, gaping at the clock on one side of our room. “We’ve been gone for what feels like hours and hours, but only five minutes have passed here.”
“Thank the gods,” Leo said, flopping onto his bed with a groan. “I’m so tired I don’t know if I could face tomorrow without more than a full night’s sleep.”
“It looks like we’ll be able to get that,” Misha said, sitting on his bed with a yawn.
“I’m glad,” I said as I helped Rumi push his bed back over the door, which glowed far less now than it had, “but I want to get back to that magical kingdom as soon as possible.”
