Page 26 of The Gold Dragon Prince
Eight
Gildur
Fury hotter than anything I’d ever felt rushed through me as I watched Saoirse carry my and Selle’s egg away, giggling with glee as she studied it, her eyes alight with greed.
“You will not take my egg!” I shouted.
Or at least tried to shout. My voice was as tight and restrained as my body. I did everything I could think of to struggle against what felt like invisible bonds. I even tried to summon up every last bit of magic I had, but with a distracted wave of her hand in my direction, like she didn’t particularly care that I was there at all, Saoirse exerted her own magic to bind me further than she already had.
The noblemen that had resumed their ogre form grunted and moved in to grab both me and Selle in their beefy arms. I could feel Selle close to the point of retching as the disgusting, smelly beasts lifted us off our frozen feetand proceeded to carry us toward the nearest door in the estate’s walls as if we were logs they had cut down and hoisted over their shoulders.
It was humiliating and undignified. I was a gold dragon. I’d never been treated in such a dismissive, crude, underhanded manner in my life. But that was the least of my worries. I wanted my egg back, needed my child safe in my arms and in my lair. That was nothing to the agonized emotions I felt from Selle that poured through our bond.
Selle truly was beside himself with torment. Despite Saoirse’s strong binding magic, he managed to crane his neck so he could watch her with our egg as we grew farther and farther away from her. His arms twitched like he was trying to battle the magic to reach out for his egg. There were not words to describe the heartbreak he felt, and that I felt through him, as we lost sight of our child in Saoirse’s hands.
As soon as Saoirse disappeared into her house as the ogres plodded on, taking us out of her estate, Selle went limp. Tears dampened his face, which only made the rage I felt more acute. My darling, brave mate was paralyzed more by despair than magic. I, on the other hand, struggled harder and did everything I could think of to reach my magic so that I could fight back.
I wasn’t able to come anywhere close to breaking Saoirse’s binding spell by the time one of the ogres stepped ahead of the two who carried me and Selle and opened the door in the wall. Once he did, the two that carried us walked up to the doorway and chucked us out into the dusty village street just outside the wall.
A grunted breath gusted out of Selle as he met the ground. A moment later, I growled and hissed a curse as I fell to the ground beside him.
“And stay out,” the ogre who had carried me barked, his voice deep and unbelievably stupid.
As soon as the ogres stepped back into Saoirse’s estate and slammed the door, the magic that had me and Selle bound dissolved. I moved slowly for the first few seconds, my limbs sluggish and slow to respond to the commands of my brain. Selle rolled to his side and rested there for a few deep, desperate breaths before trying to push himself to sit.
I fought to regain control of myself as quickly as I could and sat, reaching for my still-weeping mate to pull him into my arms.
“It’s alright,” I did my best to reassure him, even though I worried nothing at all was even a tiny bit alright. “I will not let that vile woman get away with this. We’ll rescue our egg and take it back to our lair, where we will all be safe and happy together.
“My baby,” Selle sobbed as the power of speech returned to him. “She took my baby!”
There was nothing I could do but hold my beloved and rub his arms to brush off the dirt of the road we’d been tossed into. The overwhelming helplessness of the situation nearly had me paralyzed all over again.
“Good Goddess, what has happened?” Freddy’s voice sounded from nearby.
“Master Gildur, are you alright?” Alyce called out as she approached with Freddy.
Several of the serfs who had been working in the initial efforts to repair their village after the ogre attack dropped what they were doing to run and help us. I didn’t like the feeling of Selle and I wallowing on the ground when so much kindness was being directed our way, so I pushed myself to stand, bringing Selle with me.
“Master dragon,” Alyce said, pressing a hand to her stomach. “What has happened? Why are you so sad?”
Forgetting for a moment that I had led the serfs to believe Selle was the dragon instead of me, I answered with, “Saoirse is not only plotting treason against Queen Gaia, she has stolen my and my mate’s egg.”
I should have stopped to think about what I was saying. The serfs stared back at the two of us with wide, confused eyes. They’d known me as Saoirse’s gardener for months now, but they were clever people, despite their humble occupations, and I saw understanding quickly dawn in their eyes.
“You are a dragon?” Freddy asked. “I thought you were the gardener.”
“Come to think of it,” one of the other serfs, a middle-aged omega, said, scratching her head, “I believe I have seen a gold dragon circling in the skies on the days you visited us in the past.”
“Is it true?” an older beta man asked, hope in his eyes. “Are you the dragon who fought off the ogres earlier?”
There didn’t seem to be much point in denying it. “I am,” I told the good serfs with a nod.
“And this poor man is your omega mate,” Alyce put all the pieces together. “That wicked woman has taken your dragon egg, your baby.”
“We must do whatever we can to get it back,” Freddy added with a determined nod.
The others who had gathered around all agreed strongly.
