Page 36 of The Gold Dragon Prince
“It’s mine!”
“I have to have it!”
I pushed to the side, only to be jostled back again. There were too many courtiers in the room, and even though my brothers tried to shield and protect me as we attempted to reach the doors, I knew we would be overpowered at any second. There was nothing we could do. We would probably be trampled, and my egg would likely be crushed in the?—
Before the first tears could do more than sting my eyes, there was a loud roar, and out of nowhere, the slightly reduced dragon form of Gildur appeared close to the ceiling. He stretched his wings and breathed a plume of fire that curled down toward the courtiers, singing the feathers on some of their hats.
“It’s a dragon!” someone shouted completely uselessly. “Run!”
Chapter
Eleven
Gildur
The moment Saoirse grabbed Selle and disappeared into the cruel world, my power returned in full force.
“No! Selle!” I shouted, reaching for the spot where my darling omega had been moments before.
I felt for my returned magic and let it flow through me. With a deep breath, I raised my hand to open a doorway into the cruel world.
“Gildur.” My mother’s soft, melodious voice stopped me. It came from nowhere and everywhere at once, seeming to fill the air with the fragrance of flowers as it did.
Love, relief, and deep, gripping guilt struck me as I froze, listening for more.
“Gildur, come see me at once,” Mother’s voice beckoned, as peaceful as a cloud.
She knew. She knew everything that I’d doneand everything I wasn’t supposed to have done. She knew about Selle, our egg, and the way I’d shirked my duties to her in order to enjoy them. It was time to pay for my mistakes…right at the very moment when my omega needed me the most.
The squeezing shame that enveloped me was broken only by Manfred’s sharp intake of breath.
“Who is that?” he gasped, twitching this way and that as he looked around for the source of the voice. “Where are they? Is it Saoirse? How dare she leave me behind?”
The selfishness of Manfred’s concerns refocused me. I still had a mission and a duty to my mother. She’d sent me to investigate the possible threat against her. I’d found out so much, I’d found the man who had entered our world illegally, and even though I’d failed, I could bring her something by way of intelligence.
“You want to know whose voice that is?” I asked Manfred, stepping closer to him and clamping a hand around his wrist. “I’ll show you.”
Manfred let out a cry and tried to wrench away from me, but it was all for naught.
It took exceptionally powerful magic to blink from one place to another, even in the magical world. Saoirse had enough power to pull Selle and our baby into the cruel world, which was worrying. I had enough power to think of my mother and to blink out of existence in one place so that I could appear instantly before her, dragging Manfred with me.
Manfred yelped when we materialized in Mother’s throne room. That yelp turned into a nebulous sound of awe and disbelief as he looked around.
My mother’s throne room wasn’t anything like the sort of throne room any king Manfred would have known mighthave. It was not a vaulted, stone room decorated with gold and jewels and filled with eager courtiers. It was an ethereal garden overflowing with flowers and trees of every description. Birds sang happily in the air, the sky stretched above in unending shades of blue with only a few, wispy clouds, and a crystal stream of the purest water flowed through it all, gurgling merrily.
My mother sat in the center of it all, not on some grand, raised dais or atop a throne of the most precious metals. She sat on the grass, with her legs tucked under her, her back straight, and her hands resting on her knees. Mother didn’t wear heavy brocades or furs to mark her position as ruler of the magical realm and the many others. She didn’t even wear a crown. She wore a garland of flowers and leaves, and her gown was the softest, flowing white. It looked as though she was clothed in the breath of life itself.
“Mother,” I said, bowing my head slightly with love and reverence, though my heart still raced frantically for Selle. “I am here.”
Mother opened her eyes and gave me the most wonderful, loving smile of joy. It instantly set me at ease, though I could still feel my shame and the desperation to rush off and rescue Selle and our egg behind that love.
“Gildur,” she said, pushing herself to stand gracefully. She walked over to me and slipped her arms around me in a hug that I needed so deeply that I groaned as I felt her love infuse me. “Why are you so anxious, my beautiful, golden boy?” she asked, stepping back and cupping the sides of my face.
I’d let go of Manfred when Mother embraced me, but the man was too stunned to run or do anything other than watch Mother with a rapt, enamored expression.
My feelings of shame returned. Part of me wanted tohide from my shortcomings, but it was Mother. It was impossible to lie to her.
“I’ve failed you,” I confessed, feeling like a young dragon again. “You set me a mission, to observe the sorceress Saoirse and to find proof enough of her treachery for you to take action against her. I allowed myself to be distracted by a clever, brave, handsome omega. I claimed and bred him instead of answering the serfs’ cry for help when they were attacked by Saoirse’s ogres.”
