Page 38 of The Sapphire Dragon Prince

“We’ve already told you, Father,” Rumi said, blinking innocently. “We don’t know where our brothers are.”

“Not them, you fool!” the king snapped. “That traitor, Osric! You were with him when he attacked me, you are in league with the would-be usurper.”

Rumi and Obi exchanged wary looks. Their father wasn’t wrong, but it would spell disaster for them if he knew that.

“We were his prisoners,” Obi said, attempting to convince his father to believe the story that would go the farthest to protect him and Rumi. “You rescued us from him.”

“I do not believe it,” King Freslik said, narrowing his eyes. “But even if you were merely prisoners, you know where my bastard nephew is. You will tell me at once.”

“For what purpose?” Rumi asked, standing. Obi stood with him. “What use is the information of omegas. Aren’t you always saying that we are a lot of lying, deceiving whores anyhow?”

The king glared at his eldest son. “I will wring the information out of you one way or another,” he said. “Or you,” he added, narrowing his eyes at Obi. “You are by far the weaker of the two. One hour alone in a room with Councilor Dormas interrogating you and you would break like a dry twig.”

“Councilor Dormas is an old, feeble man,” Obi said with a cocky sneer. “He couldn’t break a straw.”

“Oh, no?” King Freslik asked. “We’ll just see about that. Guards!”

Obi and Rumi lost their smug smiles and snapped to readiness as the guards came forward.

“Take Prince Obi out of here and deliver him to Councilor Dormas for interrogation!” the king ordered.

“No!” Obi shouted as one of the guards clamped a hand around his arm and yanked him away from Rumi. “No, you cannot separate us! You cannot take me out of this room!”

The guard didn’t listen to him.

The king was unrelenting. “Now we’ll get to the bottom of this,” he growled with glee. “Now we’ll know the truth. I should have thought to separate you all from the start.”

“Obi!” Rumi called after his brother as the guard dragged him out of the room. He was helpless to stop the forced separation, though. As long as the omega princes had been able to stay together, they had kept each other strong. But now that the last two had been torn apart, there was no telling what sort of danger Prince Obi and Prince Rumi might fall into.