Page 13 of The Emerald Dragon Prince
“That was before the dark sorcerer,” I said, trying hard not to lose my temper. “Now Freslik has a weapon on his side that we cannot counter without a weapon of equal strength.”
“And if you did call upon your magical powers to attack, what do you think would happen then?” Mother asked.
I opened my mouth to say that we would win, but a different thought sparked in my mind. If we countered the dark sorcerer with magic, it was likely that the sorcerer would use even darker magic to try to defeat us. My brothers and I would then pool our power to fight back, and the sorcerer would do the same. We would escalate the fight to an exponential degree, and there was a real chance that we would destroy the cruel world in the process. Other worlds had been destroyed in similar manners throughout time.
I blew out a breath and sagged, squeezing Rumi’s foot to comfort myself.
“You see?” Mother said as if I’d spoken my train of thought aloud. “Escalating power never leads to good ends. If I allowed you to fight back with magic, there is no telling what sort of destruction would follow.”
“But it feels as though we are doomed to fail if we don’t try everything in our power to win,” I said, appealing to her one last time with a look.
Mother smiled and rested a hand on the side of my face. “You are more powerful without magic than you know, my love,” she said, her words like an embrace. “You have resources at your disposal that the forces of darkness could never comprehend. That is the sort of power that the likes of Freslik and this sorcerer cannot counter or defeat. They are what make you, your brothers, and your mates so strong.”
“It doesn’t feel as though we’re strong right now,” I said, trying not to sound like the sullen, sulky teenage dragon I once was.
“That is because you have not looked inside yourself to find your power yet,” Mother said. She leaned forward to kiss my forehead, then rose. “Do not fear, my son,” she said. “The forces of darkness always defeat themselves in the end, with or without magic. Greed and selfishness can only gain temporary footholds. The world is not enough for people like that, and since they will never be satisfied, they will never rest or hold dear the joys and blessings they already have. Evil is its own greatest enemy.”
“I suppose so,” I sighed. “It doesn’t feel that way when you are actively fighting it, though.”
“It might not feel that way, but you and I both know that good always triumphs in the end, even if the battle is a long one.”
Mother was right, though I didn’t like the part about the battle taking a long time.
I wanted to say more, but Rumi stirred. I twisted quickly to look at him and to put both my hands on him so that I could feel the life pulsing through him. When I turned back to say more to Mother, however, she was gone.
I blew out a breath and shook my head. “You always dothat,” I said. “You always leave before the argument is over so that you don’t have to defend your final word.”
“No, my son,” her lighthearted voice said from nowhere. “I leave so that you are spared from tying yourself into argumentative knots for the sole purpose of soothing your ego.”
I grinned and shook my head. Mother was probably right.
I didn’t have time to dwell on it. Rumi made a plaintive sound in his sleep and his face pinched. He squirmed a bit, and in no time he drew in a breath and stretched a bit as he awoke.
I moved quickly up the bed so I could sit by his side and take his hand in one of mine. With the other, I smoothed back the hair from his forehead.
“Rumi, my love,” I said, then leaned down to kiss his lips quickly. “You’re awake.”
“Where am I?” Rumi asked breathlessly, squirming a bit and blinking as he looked around the room.
“You’re in my room, our room, in the dragon castle,” I said, cradling the side of his face. He was warm to the touch, and I didn’t know whether it was a good thing or a bad one. Mother had healed him, which meant there was almost no chance of infection.
“In your room?” Rumi asked, more awake with each passing second. He sucked in a quick breath, his eyed finding mine. “The battle,” he said. “Nikkos.”
“The dark sorcerer turned him against you,” I said with a frown. “He turned all of Osric’s army against itself.”
“We have to find him,” Rumi said, attempting to sit up. “We have to fight back.”
A moment later, his face pinched, his hand wentto his stomach, and he let out a moan. It wasn’t a moan of pain, though. It was more like a moan of longing and desire.
“Emmerich,” Rumi panted, glancing up to meet my eyes.
I drew in a breath, finding the honey and lavender scent of my omega rich and strong in my nose. The warmth that radiated from him suddenly made sense. So did the increasing wet spot on the coverlet where Rumi sat.
Somehow, against all odds and even the laws of nature, despite already being with egg, now that my sweet omega mate was no longer paused, he’d gone right back into heat.
Chapter
Four
