Page 22 of The Diamond Dragon Prince
I sucked in a breath as I realized two things. Firstly, Leo had used my magic with surprising deftness for one who was inexperienced with such things to put the thought of taking the princes to the camp into his father’s head. The second was that he didn’t want me to come with them.
“Tell the others,” he said aloud without looking at me. “You can find the camp through our bond.”
“What?” King Freslik barked. “What is that supposed to mean?”
I knew exactly what it meant. My brave omega thought he could outsmart his father. As much as I hated the idea of separating from him, he had a good point.
There wasn’t time for me to discuss or debate the plan at any rate. The guards, eager to prove they weren’t a complete waste, jumped forward to grab the princes. All I could do was stand there and watch my beloved being marched away before turning and opening a door to race back into the magical world for whatever came next.
Chapter
Seven
Leo
The plan had begun to form in my mind from the moment Father insulted me and my brothers by hinting we were no better, in his estimation, than the villagers he’d condemned to his work camp. No one we’d spoken to so far had been entirely certain where the work camp was, how fortified it was, or how the villagers who had already been taken prisoner might be freed.
But if we were on the inside, if we were taken there directly by the castle guards, not only would we learn so much more about the wretched place, we’d be able to rally the prisoners who were already there to break out.
It was a simple, brave plan and I was certain I would have finally had the opportunity to stand up as a true leader of my father’s people, but as soon as Diamant and I were separated, I discovered the flaw in my plan.
“Are you alright?” Misha asked, scooting closerto me in the stuffy, enclosed carriage the four of us had been tossed into, chains on our wrists and ankles so that we wouldn’t be able to escape the way Tovey had when Lord Groswick had tried to steal him away. “You’re looking rather grey and green.”
“I’m fine,” I lied through clenched teeth.
“I don’t think you are fine,” Rumi said, leaning toward me from where he sat against the carriage’s other side. “What aren’t you telling us?”
I could see the suspicion in my brother’s eyes. He knew, or at least he had a good guess about why I felt so horrible and struggled so much as Diamant and I grew farther apart. I could tell that my bonded mate was back in the magical world, but feeling that only added to the distress that I couldn’t tamp down completely.
“I know what it is!” Obi gasped wrestling with the shackles that bound his wrists as if he could break free of them. “He’s in the same condition Tovey was when he came back from that first night with Rufus. You went into heat with Diamant, didn’t you.”
I winced and growled, clutching a hand to my stomach where the growing ball of life inside me rested. It was almost as if it was arguing with me that it wanted out, that it wanted a nice, safe, warm place to rest so that it could prepare to…hatch.
Thinking about the strangeness of it all had me swallowing like I was trying not to be sick.
“Yes, I went into heat,” I confessed in a gust of breath, my shoulders dropping in defeat. “Yes, I have an egg in me that needs to come out, just like Tovey did.”
My brothers reacted with varying degrees of happy, supportive surprise, but somehow that only made me feel worse. I shrugged Misha off when he tried to embrace me.
“I’m not papa material,” I growled in protest. “I’m a leader. I should be a leader, a fighter.”
“If you knew you were pregnant, why did you let yourself be separated from your mate?” Obi asked.
Rumi gave him a quick, sharp, sideways look as if the question were inappropriate, but I knew my brother well enough to know he was probably thinking the same thing.
“I can handle this,” I insisted. “Diamant and I won’t be parted forever. This is the only way I could think of to gain the intelligence we desperately need about this work camp. We can save those people from the inside,” I went on, not allowing any of my brothers to second-guess my decision. “And Diamant will go for help, bring some of the other dragons, and follow our bond to know exactly where we are. This is the best possible way forward, regardless of how I feel.”
Silence filled the dim interior of the carriage. My brothers watched me. I could tell they didn’t entirely approve, but Rumi, at least, knew I was right.
“What’s done is done now,” he said. “We’ll watch out for you as much as we look out for the villagers kept prisoner in the camp.”
I grunted, pretending it was the ache in my belly, but really, I didn’t like the way I’d suddenly been lumped in with a bunch of captive villagers.
The carriage rolled on, and in far less time than I would have expected it to take to reach a nefarious, hidden work camp, we came to a stop.
“More prisoners?” a deep voice called out to us. “And these ones delivered in a fancy carriage, like royalty?”
“Theyareroyalty,” the alpha guard who had accompanied us from the castle said.
