Page 9 of The Diamond Dragon Prince
“Don’t say that.” I scooted closer to him, resting a hand on his arm. “Diamonds are the hardest substance in nature.”
“A substance that is used for decoration and as an ostentatious display of luxury,” Diamant argued.
It was almost as if he didn’t know his own worth. “They are used to drill and carve,” I said. “You don’t have to be a silly plaything to be a diamond.”
Diamant faced me with a modest smile. “No one has ever thought as highly of me as you seem to,” he said.
My grin widened. “You’re my fated mate. Of course I think highly of you. And of course that means you are a fighter. I dare say you could fight all those incompetent soldiers on your own if you had to.”
Diamant laughed softly. “Only because they’re incompetent.”
I’d never known someone so magnificent to think so little of themselves. Diamant was the master of the dancing pavilion, but I felt in my soul that with a little encouragement, he could be the master of the battlefield, too.
Thinking of all the ways I could build my mate up affected me in more ways than one. My cock pressed hard into the ground under me, and the fleeting thought that we could slip off into the forest to truly enjoy each other before defeating my father tickled my mind.
But no, we had a mission ahead of us.
“We might not be able to stop my father from implementing his horrible plan on our own, but at least we can slow these soldiers down and stop them from taking this group of villagers to whatever camp my father plans to establish,” I whispered.
“What do you suggest?” Diamant asked.
My heart flipped in my chest. Diamant was a great and powerful dragon. He had magic beyond anything I yet understood, and while I knew from Selle’s investigations that there were actually laws and rules about him using that magic in this world, he easily could have taken charge and told me what to do. Instead, he asked for my opinion.
“It doesn’t need to be anything elaborate,” I whispered. “We simply need to foil the soldiers and make it difficult for them to move. Stealing their boots, perhaps.”
Diamant laughed. “I like your way of thinking,” he said.
“And if we can, we need to free the villagers,” I went on.
“Absolutely,” Diamant agreed with a nod.
Why no one had ever given my dazzling dragon a chance to prove himself before was a fault I would need to bring some people to task for someday. But not today.
I glanced into the soldiers’ camp. Studying what I could by the light of the few fires they’d lit and the lamps they carried. “If we move slowly and look as if we belong, they won’t question us or demand to know why we’re there,” I said.
“And a little of Rufus’s favorite trick to avoid notice wouldn’t hurt,” Diamant added.
He stood, helping me up. Touching him was exciting and sent swirls of desire through me. Whoever made the rules about how fated mates reacted to each other clearly didn’t understand the importance of focus and concentration while executing a plan to foil a tyrant. Once again, my body urged me to disappear into the forest with Diamant and to spend the rest of the night in pleasure.
Diamant laughed as if he could feel my thoughts. “Soon enough, my feisty omega.”
“Damn your eyes,” I snapped in return, though I smiled as I cursed him.
We set out carefully into the soldiers’ camp. I couldn’t feel whether Diamant cloaked me with some sort of magic, but I assumed he had, since neither the soldiers nor the villagers seemed to notice me as we walked up to the edges of the camp.
I wasn’t certain where this particular band of mercenaries had come from, but they clearly weren’t trained and disciplined soldiers. Most of them seemed more interested in setting out their bedrolls, eating the rations that a wiry, old beta was dishing out from one of the larger fires that had been made, or teasing the hapless villagers, who were in a bad way.
“Your idea will work,” Diamant whispered to me, pointing to a pair of boots that one of the soldiers had removed before slipping into his bedroll.
I nodded, then tip-toed over and carefully took the boots away from the foot of his bedroll. They were old and smelly with holes in the soles. I felt no guilt at all about throwing them on one of the fires near the edge of the camp.
Several other pairs of boots were whisked away from their sleeping owners and tossed into one fire or another, or thrown into the stream that wound near the spot where the soldiers had set up their camp. Diamant and I didn’t stop with boots either.
“What are you doing?” I whispered to him in alarm as he walked up to the horses that Rottum and his deputy had been riding earlier.
“Setting the horses free,” Diamant said, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.
“They’ll notice missing horses,” I whispered in return. “They’ll notice before morning.”
