Page 15 of The Gold Dragon Prince
My mind had started to make lists of the topics I needed to research as I lay, only halfway awake, in my dragon’s bed, but I was jolted into full wakefulness by a sudden knock on the bedchamber door. It startled me, and the egg, because I wasn’t aware that anyone else was in the house.
“What is it?” Gildur demanded, grumpy in his drowsiness.
I thought it was adorable, until a male voice answered, “If you please, Your Highness. You must come at once. Ogres are attacking Lady Saoirse’s serfs!”
I felt a pulse of alarm and…guilt from Gildur through our bond. He was immediately fully awake and sat.
“Who is that?” I asked, waking up quickly as well. I sat, pulling our egg close to my stomach.
“It’s my steward, Lambert,” he said, scooting to the side of the bed and getting out.
Gildur grabbed a robe that looked as though it were made of gold threads from a hook beside the bed and put it on. The fabric pooled and shimmered around his body as if it were made of liquid. Once he’d secured his robe with a sash, he headed for the door.
I sat straighter, gathering the pillows and blankets around me to preserve my modesty as much as possible and finding my glasses amongst the bedcovers. When I nodded to Gildur as he grabbed the doorhandle, he pulled the door open.
“Your Highness,” the middle-aged beta on the other side of the door said, bowing low.
The man startled when he straightened and saw me cocooned in the coverlet and pillows of Gildur’s bed. His eyes went even wider when he saw the top of the egg, which poked out above the covers.
"I'm terribly, terribly sorry, Your Highness," Lambert the steward stammered. “I didn’t know.”
“What is this about the ogres attacking Lady Saoirse’s serfs?” Gildur asked, his irritation at our quiet time being interrupted spilling over into his mood as he addressed his servant.
Lambert took a moment to glance between the two of us before deciding, I assumed, that the most important thing he could do in that moment was discharge his duty. “They attacked at dawn, when half the serfs were still asleep. They may still be attacking.”
“And who sent this word along?” Gildur asked.
“Galahad the Centaur, Your Highness,” Lambert said, bowing slightly. He took another peek at me.
I could still feel annoyance from Gildur, but strangely, it was directed mostly at himself and not Lambert.
“As you can see,” Gildur said, stepping aside slightlyand acknowledging me, “I have just found my fated mate. We have been blessed with an egg already. I know that the people of Lady Saoirse’s estate have been relying on dragonkind for help, but I’m not certain I can simply rush off to assist them at this moment.”
“What?” I asked, sitting straighter.
The covers slipped down around me, revealing even more of my egg. Lambert stared at it with a strange look in his eyes, like he wanted the egg. That caused me to hunker down and hug my baby tightly.
“We cannot go rushing off to fight ogres when you’ve just birthed an egg,” Gildur said, rubbing his forehead like he had a headache. “As much as I might want to,” he added quietly.
“What should I tell Galahad?” Lambert asked warily.
Gildur sighed, throwing his arms out and letting them flop to his sides. “I don’t know,” he said. “I…I should…I cannot…my omega and my egg need me.”
“Tell them that we are coming,” I said, holding my egg close and shuffling to the edge of the bed. “Tell them we will help.”
“Selle,” Gildur scolded me with a frown. He turned to Lambert and said, “Tell Galahad to?—”
“Tell him to let the serfs know we are coming,” I said so firmly that both Gildur and Lambert glanced to me with surprise.
I scrambled off of the bed, clutching the egg to me with one hand and a pillow over my genitals with the other. That left no hands to straighten my glasses, which I’m certain made me look ridiculous.
“Those people need us,” I argued with Gildur. “We cannot let them fend for themselves against a clump of ogres.”
Gildur sighed in exasperation, but it was the deep, strange guilt that I felt most strongly from him. He turned to Lambert and said, “Fine. Tell Galahad to let the people know we’re coming.”
Lambert bowed and backed out of the room, saying, “Yes, Your Highness.” He spared a small, approving smile for me as he went.
“And just how do you propose we fly off to fight a clump of ogres when you’ve just birthed an egg and haven’t fully recovered yet?” Gildur asked me, coming over to help me untangle from the edge of the covers that were still wrapped around my leg.
