Page 35 of The Diamond Dragon Prince
I smiled and reached out to take my dragon’s hand. The more time we spent together, the two of us alone or us taking part in one epic battle or another, the more I could see how good his soul was. The more I could see how much I loved him.
“I’ve seen enough,” Osric said, inching backwards andcrawling down the hill to the point where he could stand without being seen. The rest of us followed suit. “I agree that we need to attack as soon as possible. There’s no telling what my uncle’s mercenaries will do to those innocent lives if we leave it too long.”
“There are more of us than there are of them, aren’t there?” I asked as our entire group moved to stand together in council at the bottom of the hill.
It was just my luck that within seconds of finishing my question, my insides cramped with the need to expel my egg and I stumbled.
Diamant was quick enough to catch me, but not to shield me from the eyes and concerns of the others.
“Cousin Leo, are you certain you’re well enough for this fight?” Osric asked, stepping close and reaching out but not touching me.
“I’m well,” I lied in a strained voice.
For a moment, everyone looked at me with worry. I had the horrible feeling that everyone knew the condition I was in. I even felt somehow like Osric knew I was growing an egg inside me instead of a human child, though I couldn’t say why or if that was true.
“You know that nothing would make me happier than to have my cousins by my side for this fight,” Osric said. “This isn’t just my battle. This is all of your battle, too. I know the sort of cruelty my uncle has subjected you to.”
I caught sight of Misha flinching and of Azurus subtly slipping an arm around him as Osric spoke. Misha even turned to hide against Azurus, who closed him in a protective embrace.
“But if you’re…ill,” Osric went on, handling my condition delicately, “you shouldn’t put yourself at risk for this fight.”
I managed to stand straighter through my discomfort. “I have been at risk every day of my life,” I argued, “and it has all led up to this fight. I don’t know what will happen to me afterwards or who I’ll be, but let me fight for what I know is right. Let me be a part of this battle, a part of this family.”
That’s what we all were, after all. Even though my brothers and I hadn’t known definitively of Osric’s existence until that morning. We were family. Even the villagers with whom we shared no blood. Even Diamant, who was of a different world. We were all family in this struggle against a tyrant who sought to make our lives miserable for his own power and glory.
“Very well, then,” Osric said with a wise nod. He peeked at Diamant for a moment, but surprisingly, I didn’t mind that subtle charge for my dragon to look after me. “We will form a plan of attack, and then we will all go forward and take back what my uncle never had the right to take in the first place.”
“Hear, hear!” several people called out in support.
Already, I could feel the surge of battle beginning. I turned to Diamant, reaching for his hand and reaching for him through our bond. Fate had brought us together, passion had united us, and now fighting together for what was right and good would forge our souls together forever.
Chapter
Eleven
Diamant
Who knew that after centuries of indulgence and living mostly for pleasure I had the soul of a warrior within me after all? Or perhaps it was Leo that I now had within me, within my heart. Whatever the case, I was eager to ride into battle with him as we helped Osric with preparations to storm the work camp and free the remaining prisoners.
“We should make quick work of them,” Leo said as a group of us marched from where the bulk of Osric’s army was camped back up the hillside to take a look at our objective. “We weren’t in the work camp long, but what we saw of it was pitiful.”
“I never thought I would say that I was glad for our father’s greed and his stinginess,” Prince Rumi agreed witha wry laugh. “He’s gotten what he paid for with the men he hired to carry out his cruel plan.”
“King Freslik is blind to his own capabilities and shortcomings,” Emmerich said with a fond smile for his someday-mate. “He gives important positions to those who bow to him rather than those who might actually carry out their tasks competently.”
“It definitely works in our favor this time,” Leo said with a nod. “This battle should be over and done with before nightfall.”
I firmly believed he was right and I was ready to play my part to make it happen, even if Emmerich still insisted we couldn’t use magic.
Prince Misha had other feelings about the whole thing. He and Prince Obi walked behind us, along with Azurus, and as Leo spoke with relish about the battle proceeding quickly to its happy end, the poor young omega prince whimpered and fell back.
“What troubles you, sweet Misha?” Azurus asked, already falling head over heels for his fated mate.
We all paused our climb up the hill, but Azurus was the one who stepped back to rest a comforting hand on Prince Misha’s back.
Misha stared up at him with large, watery eyes. If the young man could feel the bond he was destined to have with Azurus it was buried under the fear that even I could see in him.
“It won’t be that easy,” he said in a small voice. “Nothing is every simple or easy where my father is concerned. He’s cruel and evil, and even if he isn’t smart, he’s crafty. Every time we try to thwart him, everything we attempt to help the people of this kingdom and to makethings better, Father finds some way to turn it around on us and make us pay.”
