Page 26 of The Diamond Dragon Prince
Diamant
The moment I stepped back into the magical world, I regretted my decision to let Leo out of my sight. I could feel the lurch of separation as it hit him right before the divide between our two worlds made it feel as though we were separated by a thick wall of impenetrable water. He was still there, in my heart and soul, but when I reached out to him, all I felt was a distant echo.
“This is madness,” I huffed, turning to march straight back through the portal I’d made.
I took one step before the portal closed up without guidance from me.
“What the?—”
“Diamant, what are you doing?” my brother Azurus’s voice spoke from behind me.
I whipped back around to find thatI’d somehow managed to open a doorway straight into the large, comfortable lounge in the castle where my dragon kin often spent their days when they were not busy with their own affairs.
Most of my kinsmen were incredibly busy with their own affairs these days, but Azurus and Emmerich sat at the small, polished table near the window that looked out over the magical land, playing chess.
I supposed it made sense that in a moment when I needed my kinsmen’s help, I would instinctively create a portal that would take me straight to them.
“You know Mother doesn’t like you whipping open portals between worlds like you’re plucking flowers from her garden,” Azurus went on, leaning back in his chair with a spark of humor in his bright, blue eyes.
“Azurus,” I greeted him, abandoning my plan to return straight to Leo’s side and marching up to the chess table instead. “I haven’t seen you in a while, but we do not have time to catch up.”
Azurus had opened his mouth like he would engage in the ordinary sort of banter two brothers who cared deeply for each other but hadn’t seen each other in ages would have, but when I cut him off, he closed his mouth with a huff. “It’s nice to see you again, too, brother,” he said in a wry voice.
“Don’t mind him,” Emmerich said with a grin. “Diamant has eschewed his luxuriant ways to become the slave of an omega.”
Azurus’s expression lit with amused excitement at Emmerich’s characterization of my new bond with Leo. “Is that so?” he said. “No more lounging around the kingdom, indulging in the dances at the pavilion and leading a life of leisure?”
“I was never as bad as all that,” I said impatiently. “I was merely waiting for a cause I felt passionate about, and I’ve found it.”
“He’s mated and bonded with one of King Freslik’s omega sons,” Emmerich said with a wink.
“I’m not surprised,” Azurus laughed. “I hear that we’re all fated to one of the princes, as is the way of these things. I have no complaints.”
“As well you shouldn’t,” Emmerich said. “As far as I can tell, there’s only one omega prince left that’s unspoken for, and you’re the last of us to meet them, so?—”
“There is no time to discuss our romantic entanglements,” I said, a bit too forcefully. “My Leo has been taken prisoner, along with the three of his brothers who are not currently in this realm. They’re being taken to a work camp that King Freslik has established in some unknown location as a way to terrorize his subjects into doing whatever he says. We need to find Gildur and Rufus and return to the work camp to free the princes and the villagers immediately.”
Azurus and Emmerich stared at me. At least the teasing was gone from their expressions.
“Rufus and Gildur, along with their omegas, Tovey and Selle, saw through that handy scrying glass Prince Selle owns that the people of the village of Berk needed help,” Emmerich said. “They left hours ago to help them recover after an attack by King Freslik’s mercenary army.”
“And I assume that Argus is still working within Freslik’s court, disguised as one of his councilors,” Azurus said.
My kinsmen were maddening sometimes. “Then what are the two of you doing here, playing chess when your help is needed elsewhere?” I demanded.
Emmerich smirked slightly and shook his head. “Always in a hurry,” he said. “Never trusting that fate will see things through to their appointed end.”
To my surprise, Azurus snorted as he pushed his chair back and stood. “Sometimes, my dear brother, your patience and your insistence on taking things slowly is annoying.” He glanced to me. “I’m ready to help whenever you need me.”
I blew out a breath of relief and turned to Emmerich, raising one eyebrow.
“I’ve heard about this work camp,” Emmerich said, standing. Even he couldn’t continue his insistence on letting fate choose his speed of action forever. “I thought it was merely an idea Freslik and some of his more dastardly cronies had concocted. I’d no idea it was real.”
“It’s very real,” I said. “And right now, my Leo, your Rumi, and Prince Misha, who is very likely Azurus’s fated mate, are all trapped there.”
That was all it took to spur Emmerich to action.
“If anyone has harmed so much as a hair on Rumi’s head, I’ll tear them limb from limb,” he said, walking away from the chess table and opening a doorway. He glanced back to me and Azurus, who had risen and was following us, and said, “In my dragon form.”
