Page 22 of The Ruby Dragon Prince
The two men walked over to a table containing decanters of wine and stronger spirits that stood entirely too close to the sixof us. I was confident that they wouldn’t see so much as a hair from any of us, though.
“The farmers of my kingdom need to know their place,” Father said as he poured a glass for himself. “They’ve become far too prosperous, have far too much sway over the rest of the peasants.”
“This is what happens when a land enjoys prosperity for too long,” Lord Groswick said with a shrug, helping himself to a glass as well. “Those who should submit get above themselves. They forget that it is the nobility who should rule over them all.”
“It is the king who should rule over them all,” Father corrected him.
“Quite right, quite right,” Lord Groswick said, though it was clear to me he thought himself better than Father. “The entire point of this new tax will be to drain any kind of profit the farmers have made and hobble whatever efforts they might be tempted to make to grasp any sort of power.”
“Poor, desperate subjects are so much easier to rule than wealthy, satisfied ones,” Father laughed.
“I can see you grasp my meaning, Your Majesty,” Lord Groswick said, saluting him with his glass. “And if we make it seem as though neighbor has turned against neighbor in order to reduce their own tax burden, it will sow discontent and distrust amongst the farmers and keep them from banding together to come after us.”
Father snorted. “Farmers are such idiots. All that is needed to control them entirely is to convince them that the ones who have moved into this kingdom from abroad are crooked villains intent on cheating those who have lived here for generations.”
“And to circulate rumors that omegas have no business being farmers at all and should be kept in their homes, making babies and serving their alphas,” Lord Groswick agreed.
“The peasants will be so busy hating each other that they won’t notice that they’re starving.”
“Or that I am building a vast and beautiful mansion by the sea with the money that should be feeding their children,” Lord Groswick laughed.
“They are as stupid as their livestock,” Father laughed along with them. He stood a bit straighter and looked delighted before saying, “Oh! Perhaps I will demand that every farmer’s family give one of their children to the castle to serve for the span of a year. I’ll choose the comeliest omega from every family. I’ll never want for an omega in heat whenever I feel like dipping my wick. And with any luck, my seed will populate the entire kingdom.”
“I should do the same,” Lord Groswick said, setting his now empty glass down and rubbing his hands together. “Though, with your leave, Your Majesty, I will start by having your son, Tovey, and putting him firmly in his place.”
“The firmer the better,” Father said, clapping Lord Groswick on the back. “And now, let us rejoin the others so that we might hear their ideas for taxing craftsmen and guilds in the towns.”
I was quivering with rage by the time the Great Hall was silent again and we all felt safe to move. I wasn’t the only one.
“That plan is outrageous,” Rumi growled as we stood. “The farmers of our kingdom have worked hard for what they have.”
“Despite the rules and taxes Father already has in place,” Selle said.
“They do not deserve to be taxed into poverty,” Rumi finished.
“We have to do something to stop Father’s and Lord Groswick’s plan,” Leo said, nodding to one of the doorways near us so we could exit the Great Hall.
“What can we do?” Obi asked with a hopeless sigh as we hurried into a narrow corridor that must have been for servants. “We’re just omegas, and we’re captives most of the time.”
“Omegas are far more powerful than anyone thinks,” Leo said, storming ahead of us like he was an alpha. “There must be something we can do to protect our people.”
“They’re our subjects, too,” Rumi agreed as we turned a corner and started down a stone staircase. I could smell the dungeon below us, and my sense of Rufus growing closer told me we’d found the right path at last. “We have to do whatever we can to protect our people.”
“But how?” Misha whispered.
His question went unanswered. We reached the entrance to the dungeon at the bottom of the stairs.
We were still trying to be cautious, but anger had caused us all to be a little lax about checking around corners and the like. We stepped into the anteroom of the dungeon without checking for guards first, and ended up face to face with Rottum and two other guards.
Only, they didn’t see us. They went about their business, Rottum sitting at a rotting, wooden desk, scribbling away on some sort of paperwork and the two guards standing at the opening of a long row of cells, oblivious to the fact that six beautifully dressed omega princes had just crowded into the room with them.
“It has to be the magic,” I whispered. I didn’t know whether the blanket of protection I’d settled over the six of us blocked sound from escaping or if it just blocked us from being seen.
My brothers looked surprised for a moment as we all clustered together, but one by one, I could see understanding dawn in each of them.
“I don’t think we’ll be seen if we walk straight through and find Rufus in his cell,” I whispered.
The others nodded in agreement, and slowly, carefully, we tip-toed past Rottum and the two guards to make our way along the aisle between the rows of cells.
