Page 43 of The Emerald Dragon Prince
“I don’t think any of us will ever need to go back,” Tovey said with a shrug. “Our lives are here now.” He smiled at his eggs, then up at Rufus.
“Our lives are very much here,” Obi said, glancing around at all of us. “This is where we belong. We all have magic running through our veins, after all. Which reminds me,” he went on with a mischievous look, “shouldn’t we all spend some time practicing our magic?”
“I’m up for it if you are,” I said, grinning at my youngest brother.
In the last week, we’d made an effort to learn more about what sort of magic we all had, how we could wield it, and how we could work together to make it stronger. I’d had more fun playing around with my brothers as we did so than I’d had in a long time. It was a wonderful thing for the six of us to be able to spend time together doing something fun instead of just keeping each other alive and sane.
“You could try using your magic to close up all the remaining doorways between our world and Osric’s,” Emmerich suggested with a smirk. “Mother wants them all eradicated as quickly as possible.”
“You should have seen the way she chastised us for those soldiers that stumbled into this world from the castle dungeons,” Argus said, laughing.
“Queen Gaia was angry with you?” Misha asked, looking deeply worried.
“Well, no,” Argus said. “Mother never truly gets angry.”
“Her disappointment is as good as a tongue lashing, though,” Azurus added, making an exaggeratedly wary face for Misha.
Misha smiled and buried his face against his mate’s shoulder.
“Fortunately, she was able to alter those guards’ memories and send them back into Osric’s world without much fuss,” Emmerich said. “But she does want all the doorways closed.”
“What about our doorway?” Tovey asked. “The one under Rumi’s bed that brought us into the magical world in the first place.”
I glanced up at Emmerich, wondering what he felt about that special doorway.
Emmerich glanced back at me with a thoughtful smile. “That one is different,” he said, his words reflecting my thoughts. “It might be interesting to leave it right where it is for a future generation of curious young omegas to discover.”
I laughed. “I can see it now. In twenty years or so, we’ll all receive a visit from our curious and baffled omega cousins as they discover all the things their father hasn’t told them about themselves.”
“I can’t wait for those days,” Obi said, bright with excitement.
“Do you suppose Queen Gaia would allow young dragonkin to find their way through that door?” Leo asked.
“I bet she’d love it,” Diamant answered. “In fact, I’d wager she?—”
Whatever Diamant wanted to say was cut short by a small but distinct cracking noise.
In an instant, the conversation was forgotten. We all turned to the eggs in their sunlit nest. My heart beat double-time in anticipation as I jumped forward off the blanket where I’d been seated with Emmerich and scrambled to the nest. My brothers all did the same, and within seconds, the six of us circled around the nest, reaching for our eggs.
“Wait! Stop!” Tovey said, pulling back his outstretched arms. “Look!”
I touched my egg before drawing my hands quickly back. Another crack sounded, and I saw a small hole appear in the side of one of Tovey’s eggs.
“Look at that!” Obi gasped.
We all looked. We watched as the hole slowly grew bigger as the dragon inside it chipped away with its egg tooth.
More cracks sounded, and with a start I realized it wasn’t just Tovey’s one baby that was hatching. Both of Tovey’s babies were fighting to break out of their shells, but they weren’t alone. As if desperate not to be outdone, Leo’s glittering diamond egg had cracked as well, and Selle’s gold one was shuddering and rocking as a small hole appeared in its shell.
But most exciting of all, even though it had only been birthed just over a week before, my and Emmerich’s emerald egg was cracking and trembling as well.
“I think they’re racing,” Selle said, laughing.
“Leave it to our eggs to be competitive from hatching,” Tovey said with a broad grin.
“My diamond baby is going to beat all of yours into this world,” Leo said smugly, smiling brilliantly at his egg.
“I don’t think so,” I laughed, then said, “Come on, baby! You can do it! Your papa and daddy are waiting for you.”
