Page 34 of The Emerald Dragon Prince
“But how?” Obi burst, catching up and wedging his way between me and Osric. “How is it possible that you’re a dragon living in this world? I know you said your family has been here for generations, but aren’t dragons only allowed in the magical world?”
The castle was relatively quiet, though the freed prisoners were dashing through the halls, looking for a way out, so Osric stopped and pulled us all into an alcove off to one side.
“Obsidian dragons have lived outside of the magical realm in more places than just this world for generations,” he explained quickly. “As you might imagine, we are shadow dragons. We move in secret and keep out of the way of the magical community. My great-great-grandfathersettled the family in this world when he was young. His brother settled in an entirely different world.”
“Does that mean there are more dragons in this world?” I asked. “More than just you?”
Osric smiled, then laughed and rested a hand on my shoulder. “My dear cousin, there are secret dragons everywhere. Some of them have been closer to you than you might have realized.”
“What does that mean?” Misha asked, glancing around worriedly, as if one of those dragons might pounce on him at any moment.
Osric smiled broadly. “Have you ever wondered why the six of you make such perfect mates for dragons from the magical realm? Why they were drawn immediately to you?” He looked at me in particular, as if he must have known Emmerich found me before any of his brothers claimed my brothers.
“We have something to do with the dragons of this world, don’t we,” Selle said, seemingly delighted by the possibility.
Osric grinned and nodded at him. “You come from dragon stock.”
“Papa?” Misha asked, eyes going wide.
“Your papa was the omega son of an obsidian dragon, a distant cousin of mine,” Osric said, looking absolutely delighted to tell us the truth. “All six of you have dragon blood running through you.”
“But that’s impossible…isn’t it?” Leo asked, looking simultaneously delighted and confused by the idea.
Osric shrugged. “No more impossible than my papa, Freslik’s own brother, falling in love and running away with an obsidian dragon.”
“But Father caught your father and had him killed,” Isaid, trying to remember family history with everything else swirling around me and time breathing down our necks.
“He did,” Osric said, grief momentarily hanging heavy on him. “My father was caught unawares and killed before he could use magic to save himself. He had enough left to cloak my papa with it so that he could make it to my family’s home.”
“But if we have dragon blood,” Tovey said as Osric gestured for us to start moving again, “does that mean we have magic?”
I hadn’t even thought of that. The idea thrilled me. If my brothers and I had any sort of magic at all, we might be able to save Emmerich and the others.
“What do you think?” Osric asked, marching through the castle as if he knew exactly where he was going. As far as I could tell, he was heading toward one of the castle gardens.
“I feel so much more at home in the magical world than I do here,” Misha said.
“Diamant and I had incredible luck when we were fighting against Rottum and my father last year,” Leo said.
“We got away with so much, even though Father kept us locked in our room,” Selle said. “Were we controlling him in some way without even knowing it?”
“You might have been,” Osric said, turning a corner and heading toward an open doorway that led to the garden.
“If we do have magic, how do we use it now?” Obi asked as we all followed Osric through the doorway and out into one of the larger of the castle gardens.
His question went unanswered as soon as we saw what awaited us in the waning light of evening. The garden was full of Osric’s soldiers, but they all merely stood around,looking as confused and vacant as my brothers’ mates had after Nazeing cast his spell over them. The doorway the soldiers had come through was gone, but it looked as though at least half of Osric’s army had made it through.
“What’s wrong with them?” Tovey asked, stepping up to one of them and waving a hand in front of his face.
Osric went to examine another of his men. “They’ve been stupefied,” he said. He checked on another of his soldiers and another, then came across Bronnen, who just stood there helplessly. “They’ve all been stupefied. Nazeing is as powerful as ever, it seems.”
“Was he powerful back then?” I asked, uncertain what sort of answer I wanted to hear. “When he was…together with Emmerich?”
Osric walked back to me, an apologetic look on his face. “He must have been,” he said. “Sorcerers don’t become this powerful overnight.”
“How do we defeat him?” I asked, more determined than ever to win my mate back and make Nazeing pay for what he’d done.
Osric looked momentarily uncertain. “Magic like this takes an even greater magic to overcome. We will all need to work together.”
