Page 32 of The Gold Dragon Prince
He didn’t listen, of course.
“It’s us,” he said, standing and joining me.
“I’m not going to let you do this,” I said, speaking both to Lady Saoirse and Gildur. I faced lady Saoirse in particular and said, “Give me back my egg.”
“Youregg?” Lady Saoirse laughed. “It’s my egg now, you fool.” She picked it up and hugged it close as if to prove her point.
“Selle, don’t,” Gildur said, moving as if he would shield me.
“He’s not a fool,” Lord Manfred said, his expression bright with understanding. “He’s Prince Selle. I knew it! He’s King Freslik’s omega son.”
Lady Saoirse screwed up her face and looked at me. “That tiny omega is a prince?”
“Yes,” Lord Manfred said, a different sort of spark lighting his expression. “He’s King Freslik’s son. If you want the king to hand over everything to you without having to raise a finger to fight for it, all you need to do is show that you have Prince Selle as your hostage. He’ll give you anything you want to get the boy back.”
Clearly, Lord Manfred didn’t know my father well.
“Is that so?” Saoirse said, stepping closer to me.
“Don’t touch him,” Gildur said, moving his entire body in front of me.
Lady Saoirse raised her hand that wasn’t holding the egg and sliced it through the air, pushing Gildur aside. Gildur fell like he was made of paper. His magic must still have been blocked.
Lady Saoirse’s eyes never left me as she advanced until she was standing right in front of me. “Well, well,” she said, avarice and cunning glittering in her eyes and making her look ugly despite her outward beauty. “It seems as though I have both a source of power and a weapon to wield against King Freslik.”
“So help me, Saoirse, if you hurt either of them,” Gildur said from the floor, where he was struggling against the binding magic to stand.
Saoirse ignored him. “You’re coming with me,” she said.
I opened my mouth to tell her I would never goanywhere with her, but as soon as she clamped a hand around my arm, everything went black, and it felt as though I was pulled through an impossibly small hole.
Chapter
Ten
Selle
The first thought that came to my mind as the world squeezed into darkness was for my egg, my baby. Could dragon eggs survive being yanked from one world into another? Were they able to survive outside of the magical world at all?
By the time we materialized again in a plain, stone hallway, I was beside myself with panic.
“My baby!” I cried out as soon as I had air in my lungs. “Give me my baby!”
“Quiet!” Saoirse hissed, squeezing my wrist tight enough to break it.
I didn’t care what she did to me as long as my baby was safe.
“Let go of me!” I protested anyhow, struggling in her hold as she looked around to get her bearings.
She still held my egg close, eventhough her attention was elsewhere. I pivoted and writhed in her hold, trying to move close enough to take my baby from her. I got close enough to touch my hand to the egg’s cool, golden surface.
Immediately, a burst of love and fear and longing hit me so powerfully that I sobbed.
“I know, baby, I know,” I wailed in return. “I’m right here. Papa is right here.”
Saoirse pulled her attention back to me, pushing my hand away from my egg. “It’s mine!” she snapped. “I found it and I’ll keep it.”
She’d let go of me in order to push my hand away, but instead of using that freedom to run for help, I lunged at her again, operating on instinct alone in my attempt to wrestle my egg from her.
