Page 20 of The Diamond Dragon Prince
“Agreed,” Rufus said, a deadly sort of fire in his eyes. “I should have squashed that bug when I first had the opportunity.”
“No one is squashing anyone,” Gildur said, holding out his hands. When we all turned to stare incredulously at him, he said, “Mother has rules. We cannot—” He glanced to the alpha and the woman, then cleared his throat. “We must obey the rules of engagement and find another way to resolve the situation.”
Meaning we couldn’t simply charge through the cruel world using magic to do the work for us.
It would have been infinitely more convenient to resolve the entire situation with magic.
“We should begin by helping these people restore their homes and livelihoods,” Prince Selle said, as if he’d already decided what he wanted to do.
“It’s a shame Rumi and Obi went back to the castle, otherwise they could have helped us,” Prince Tovey said.
Leo seemed to light up. “Rumi and Obi,” he said. “We need their help. And Misha’s, too, though this whole thing would probably terrify him.”
“I don’t see how putting more of you in danger is going to do much to find the captured villagers and rescue them,” Gildur said.
“This is their kingdom, too,” Leo insisted. “I know they want to be part of the efforts to save it. Besides, Rumi is the eldest of us and knows more about how Father thinks than the rest of us do.”
“He really would want to be a part of the efforts to fight back against Father’s tyranny,” Prince Selle pointed out, pushing his glasses up his face.
“Very well,” I sighed. Aside from the fact that my omega was stubborn enough to get himself into trouble if he didn’t get his way, I had to admit that involving Prince Rumi and Prince Obi could lead Emmerich and Argus to join our cause as well. “Where are the other princes now?”
“Back at our Father’s castle,” Prince Tovey answered. “They returned there hours ago.”
“Then I suppose we’re headed straight to the lion’s den,” I said. Admittedly, I felt a thrill at the possibility of facing King Freslik on his own turf. There was no telling what I would do if the two of us ended up alone in a room, though.
Leo grinned at me, clearly sensing that I wasn’t asopposed to the idea of continuing our crusade on the most dangerous ground possible. “Should we fly?” he asked, excitement rippling from him.
“No,” I said with a wry laugh. “Not in your condition, and not when we’ll be heading into a highly populated area.”
I could sense my beloved’s disappointment, but it abated a bit when I raised a hand subtly and caused a doorway straight into King Freslik’s castle to appear off to one side, out of view of the villagers who had gathered to plan a course of action with us.
“We need supplies first,” I gave the excuse for our departure to the villagers completely unconvincingly. I gestured for Leo to follow me to the alley where I’d created the door.
“What can we do to help you here?” Gildur asked the villagers as we left, drawing their attention away from us.
As the alpha answered, Leo and I slipped off, traveling through the doorway and straight into what looked like a seldom-used servant’s hallway in the castle.
“Mother will have words with me when she learns how many doorways I’ve created in the last few days,” I muttered, careful to close the door behind us before Leo and I started down the hall.
“From what Selle tells me, Queen Gaia is aware of everything that happens in the magical world, and this one, too,” Leo said. “If she didn’t want you meddling in things, she could find a way to stop you.”
“True,” I said. Although that had me wondering why she didn’t stop so many bad things, like King Freslik coming to power, in the first place and solve us all a lot of trouble.
As if my thoughts of King Freslik summoned thebastard, Leo and I heard his sharp voice moments before we were about to turn a corner that would have brought us face to face with the man.
I threw out an arm to push Leo and myself up against the wall, using a bit of magic to make us difficult to notice as the man passed.
“—don’t care what sort of army he has with him, I want him neutralized, even if I have to do it myself,” he was saying to a pair of advisors.
“Your Majesty, these are rumors only,” one of the advisors, a youngish alpha who already looked debauched beyond his years, said. “The only army within your kingdom is the one you hired to round up peasants and take them to the work camp.”
“The work camp is coming along nicely,” the other advisor, an older beta, said. “It will achieve so much more than simply bribing your people to behave on threat of their loved ones being hurt. I’ve already found a buyer willing to pay top dollar for the barrels and tools the prisoners, er, the workers have made.”
The man had more to say, but the trio moved too far away from where Leo and I hid for us to hear more.
“My father is evil,” Leo growled as we slipped back into the main hall and hurried on, Leo taking the lead. “He’ll pay for the cruelty he’s inflicting on his own subjects.”
“I’ve no doubt he will,” I agreed, though in my gut, I knew that it sometimes the arc of justice was long.
