The Sleeping Omega Prince
Hemlock Fairy Tales Book 1
Maggie Hemlock
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and events are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2019 by Maggie Hemlock. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means.
For Pete and Poodles. May you both find peace in the Other World.
Chapter One
Rhett
“Once upon a time in a faraway land someone was in need of a noble hero. The innocent party was cursed and their immortal soul in danger from a villain thought to be less than human. Once upon a time. It’s a phrase we toss around every day, but how long ago was once upon a time?” I asked.
The lecture hall full of hand selected university students stared expectantly back at me. Each semester the classes started the same way. Students stared at me as if I were an internet search engine ready to hand over answers. It never took more than one class for my university students to learn the difference. I wasn’t a professor who wanted to fill their heads with knowledge. By the time they reached my classes they acquired most of what they needed to succeed in the world of archeology. To thrive in the study of the past they needed to use their knowledge and connect the pieces of the ever-expanding puzzle.
Like every year, I rifled through stacks of applications to find the twelve students who showed the most promise in the field of historical restoration. Looking at them now gave me second thoughts. They were bright eyed and bushy tailed, but they weren’t field tested.
“They’re never field tested until we’re finished with them. We’ll go to the same island as always and put them through their laps. Then we’ll get back to our project,” my wolf said filling in the silence my students left. “You know the one we can afford to follow because of our tenure here?”
As always, my wolf had a point. When his belly was full, he was a single-minded beast. Finding our true-mate was our soul mission in life. To do that, we’d need more cash than our meager inheritance left us. Our tenure allowed for paid time off and as long as I didn’t go hog wild the dean didn’t mind paying for travel and supplies for my side projects. The academic papers I published paid the school more in accreditations than I spent in the pursuit of happiness.
“Feel free to jump in and take part in the conversation. This isn’t your run of the mill class. In a few weeks you all will be out in the field collecting artifacts and searching out historic clues to solve a centuries old mystery. This is not the time to be timid,” I said.
Their eyes went from blank slates to colorful orbs as their brains came to life. Some mouths hung open as if the answer danced on the tips of their tongues.
“No one knows, Professor Warren. Once upon a time is just an expression,” Matthew Tidmore answered.
I noted his participation. Each year I broke the students into two groups of six and assigned team leaders. They were earning and losing points before they knew my system existed. To survive in a field which constantly wanted to be left alone and keep its mysteries to itself meant not waiting for opportunity to knock.
“True, but as history majors it’s your job to assign meaning to such expressions. How long ago did the phrase “Oh my, Juda,” come into use?”
“At least three thousand years ago. Well before the gates to the Other World were known to more than dragons and elves,” Lisa Balt answered.
“True, but some studies say it might have been longer. Only the Hemlocks and Moonscales know their full family trees,” I reminded the class.
“Wouldn’t it be ‘tree’ singular, Professor?” Lisa asked.
“At which point did the Moonscales break from the Hemlocks?” I asked her.
“Well, no one except for their scribes and record keepers know for sure, but it is believed that at some point Cyrus’s descendants started to consider themselves separate from Syra’s. The line split where it began straight from the loins of Frost and Juda. Their firstborn twins each may claim a stake to the two most powerful shifter clans of our times.”
“So, that’s to say during his own lifetime, people uttered the phrase ‘Oh my, Juda?’” I arched a brow.
“Well, not exactly, Professor,” Matthew stood up. “The split didn’t occur with Syra and her twin brother. Their children are sited as working together to found several major cities and communities. It was their children who dubbed Hemlock Mountain and started expanding outwards. The split didn’t occur until after both of the twins returned to the Other World.”
“Back to my original question. How long ago was once upon a time?” I asked again.
“Depends on the lore you’re examining,” Molly Nelson answered.
“Exactly! In the case of the lore so creatively dubbed ‘The Sleeping Omega Prince’ how long ago was once upon a time?” I sat on my desk.
“We don’t know,” Lisa stepped back in. “It was around the time of the Hemlock and Moonscale split. Though, they’re only split by which surname they chose to take. Juda was a Hemlock and Frost a Moonscale. The actual split took centuries, but no one outside of their perspective families knows exactly when.”
“So, was Brendan, the Prince, a Hemlock or a Moonscale?” I asked the class.
“The only way to know would be to find him, wake him up, and then ask him. I mean, if the story were real,” Matthew said.
“Do you not believe the lore?” I tilted my head.
“Not really, professor. We all know it’s a shot in the dark of any of the lore being real. Juda and Frost did exist, but there is no solid proof they were the first true-mates this side of the Other World.”
“You believe in the Other World, though?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Because gateways exist?” His face screwed up in confusion.
“Have you visited the Other World?” I asked him.
“No.”
“Have you seen a gateway?”
“Yes,” he nodded.
“You chose not to go through?” I stood up.
“Not exactly. The guards wouldn’t let me enter.”
“Tonight, your homework is to find every scrap of information on the lore of The Sleeping Omega Prince. By tomorrow afternoon you should have a comprehensive case for where on Moonstruck Island we might find Brendan’s resting place. Whether or not you believe in the lore your final grade depends on this first case study. Have a good evening!”
“Bigger bunch of idiots than usual,” my wolf said.
Matthew’s attitude left a sour taste in my mouth. His attitude wasn’t anything new. There was always one naysayer in the class, but they usually bowed out before the trip. Hopefully, he’d follow suit.
“Shush up,” I told my wolf after the students cleared out of the lecture hall. “They don’t know what we know.”
“Brandy to take my edge off?”
“Don’t mind if I do,” I chuckled and pulled the bottle out of the desk drawer.
Chapter Two
Brendan
Another tree crashed down outside. I lost count of the days, but it was too cool to be the stormy season. Storm season always washed in on humid heat waves. Perhaps, the war raged on and it wasn’t a tree at all. It could’ve been the fall of another tower. Hopefully it wasn’t the east tower. It was my favorite for stargazing.
“Quit worrying about what’s going on outside. It’s time to wake up. My left wing has been cramped up for the last century. So, either help me break the curse or shut up and go back to sleep,” my dragon roared inside
my head.
Before my stepfather cursed me, I enjoyed the company of my inner beast, but then locked inside my head he became a burden to bear. He was crunchier than ever. Omega dragons aren’t known for their cuddliness, but he’s sunk to a new low over the centuries. At least, we estimated centuries had passed. The salty lizard liked me best when I was asleep. Only that wasn’t the correct word. A passerby would think me asleep. I’m stretched out on a comfy bed with hand woven sheets. My favorite pillow propped up my head. Someone, probably my carrier, enchanted it to never lose its fluff. I was trapped in my human vessel along with my inner beast, but I was awake until the blessed void sucks me down into its vortex once more.
Whenever the void embraced me the same dream haunted me. I could quote it word for word. Though, he doesn’t like it when I do that. He doesn’t like anything anymore.
“You should have gotten on that ship and left when you had the choice!” Corden loomed over me. He was the strongest wizard who ever came onto our island hideaway. My widowed carrier was enthralled at once. We needed a strong leader and the only way to secure one was for my carrier, the heir, to marry him. I never liked Corden. He walked around with his upper lip curled like he was always walking by an outhouse.
“Father wouldn’t listen to us,” my dragon chimed into my thoughts again.
I should’ve tried harder and this civil war wouldn’t have happened. How did he fool so many people?
“People are stupid. Humans are worthless. They didn’t know what they had. We could have protected them forever, but they chose the wrong Alpha and now they’re all dead. Everyone else on the island is dead.”
We don’t know that for sure.
“But we do. Why has no one come to wake us? Why are rodents and birds our only company? Even that wretched hound of yours stopped coming around ages ago.”
I needed to blink to stop my tears from flowing. Blu was a good boy. He was an ambitious hunter and expert tracker. It wasn’t fair that he had to grow old without me.
“He didn’t grow old without you. He was bred of fighter blood. He died taking down one of the enemies,” he said like it would soothe me. I was supposed to protect him. I was supposed to protect the people, but they were gone now. If the curse ever broke what would my life be like? What would I live for?
“Our true-mate,” my dragon sat up and tried to stretch again.
He let out a howl of pain. The roar echoed inside of my head until the void wrapped its slimy tendrils around my middle and pulled me down again.
“True-mate,” the word echoed as I slipped further and further into non-existence. Would this be the time I didn’t resurface?
***
“That was a new dream,” my dragon said when I came to sometime later.
I want to go back to it. You’re strong. Shove me back into the void. Send me back to his arms.
“No.”
Huh? You hate when I’m awake. You’re as salty as a seal and mean like a wolverine in heat.
“Heat. That’s something I never thought I’d miss. It’s all your fault, you know. The dream and all, but that’s neither here nor there. Your dream has given me an idea.”
What? It was just a dream.
“It wasn’t just any old dream. It wasn’t the same dream you’ve had every time you’ve drifted away from me for the past two centuries. It was different. Tell me everything again and don’t leave one detail out.”
Fine. I don’t know what good this is going to do, but if it’ll make you the least bit more cheerful, I’m willing to give it a try. It started in a field. I’ve never seen the field before, but it was a field like any other. It could’ve been here on the island or on the moon for all I know.
“You don’t know where the field was. I get it. Move on.”
Sheesh. You finally want to talk to me, and you won’t even let me tell my dream my way. I guess that’s part of Corden’s curse too. Isn’t it?
“What happened in the field?” He urged me onward.
I smelled the most glorious scent to ever exist. It belonged to another dragon. An Alpha.
Rose marked my cheeks. Even out cold from the curse I felt the blood rush to them just thinking about the muscular giant from my dream.
Then he was there standing in front of me by a stream. The water trickled east downhill. A waterfall rushed somewhere nearby, but not the one we used to swim under. Maybe that’s why he was but naked. Not that I’m complaining. The only way I’m ever going to see a naked man again is if he’s a dream.
“What did he look like?” He asked.
His tone was soft with enchantment.
He towered over me in a good way. His crystal blue eyes lit up when he saw me watching him from the bushes. He didn’t move to try to hide himself. Instead, he ran his fingers through his short dark hair and flexed his muscles. He was chiseled like the gods in the carvings on the walls. Like Frost himself even.
“You shouldn’t crush on our Moonscale ancestor. I’ve told you it’s weird.”
It’s not a crush. I just admire him. That’s all. He didn’t look just like Frost, but you already know that. You always watch my dreams. You don’t give me any privacy at all.
“Stop complaining and keep talking about the dream.”
Then he took me. I’m not going into those details, because you already know them. He took us and claimed us and…
I couldn’t bring myself to finish the sentence. I dreamed about meeting our true-mate. The prospect hadn’t crossed my mind in the last century. There aren’t a lot of opportunities to meet your true-mate when you’re cursed into bed with rodents and birds as your only visitors.
“It’s him. He must come wake us up. It must be the antidote. No magic is stronger than the fated bond between true-mates.”
If he were correct as dragons usually are, the only problem facing us was more waiting. Between us we had no way of leading our true-mate to our fated resting place. I nudged the void trying to find my way back inside of it. No amount of self-pity changed the fact we were stuck here with no way of contacting the one person who might save us.
Chapter Three
Rhett
My colleagues referred to my house as a shrine to lore. Books, scrolls, videos of interviews, and artifacts covered every free inch of space I can manage. I’ve collected translations and accounts. I’ve sought out interviews and jumped in front of Other World doors for a chance to ask one more question before the owner of the memories moves on. Before my parents went through their door to the Other World, my carrier told me it wasn’t healthy to be obsessed with the past.
“You’ll lose out on the present and the future if you’re not careful, son,” he wagged his finger at me like I was still a little boy.
I placated him and said I knew that. I promised to spend less time with my nose in history and more time searching for my true-mate and that’s exactly what I’m doing.
“You never told them about the after party,” my wolf stretched out along my torso as I poured another glass of brandy and turned off the lamp. Through his eyes the night wasn’t dark or quiet. Nocturnal animals scurried around my country house. It belonged to my parents before their departure, but I quickly gave up my apartment and moved in after their passing. I saved money on rent and had more space for my research. The house had been passed through three generations before me. Its long halls and numerous spacious bedrooms were the perfect place to raise children.
“We must find our mate before we have children. Though, if the bear was wrong adoption isn’t out of the question. We’re well known in our field.”
I won’t rest until we find him.
Over three hundred years I graduated from Moonscale Academy’s London Campus with a degree in history and sociology ready to conquer the natural and historical world. Me and the guys hit the keg a little too hard and I stumbled away from the bonfire. Shifter Alphas can handle their liquor well but doing three keg stands in a row when the keg is filled with dragon whisky wasn’t a br
ight idea. Hindsight is twenty-twenty.
“If you weren’t stupid enough to take that dare, we’d never have met the seer from the Other World,” my wolf yawned. “Can we sleep now or are you going to stare into the dark all damn night?”
My wolf slept like a rock, but I was too wired. I searched every inch of Moonstruck Island fifty times over in the last two hundred years. The Sleeping Omega Prince wasn’t there. I wasn’t the first scholar to find himself in a spiral of obsession, but between me and my wolf, we kept a secret. I closed my eyes and for the millionth time I performed my nightly ritual. I picked apart a centuries old mystery to look for clues I’d overlooked.
Water clung to the night air. Wet smoke from the bonfire covered my flesh. The world spun on a tilted axis as I stumbled away from the group. I needed to escape the music drilling into my temples. Laughing at the zinging buzz vibrating through my head I stumbled down the shore and up a hillside.
Two elves sat in front of a door. You could tell they were true-mates. The dark-haired Alpha leaned against the hardwood door with his pregnant mate leaning against his chest. He rested his hands on the swell of the other man’s belly.
“Hey man! Is there a bathroom in there?” I squinted through the dark trying to make out the building attached to the door.
“Alpha, another drunk wolf is trying to speak with us. Can you just shoot this one? I’m too close to deal with these morons.”
“Try the other side of the door,” the Alpha chuckled, “and move quickly before I give him the bow.”
“Dude, you shouldn’t bring your pregnant mate to a kegger. It can’t be good for the baby.”
His instructions made perfect sense to my drunken brain. I circled round the free-standing door and tried the knob. It opened not to another room, but a wide-open field. Half-men half beasts danced wildly around the biggest bonfire I’d ever seen. The man in the center of the dance looked up. His gaze locked to mine and bore into my soul. He dropped the bear hide covering his back and pushed his way through the frenzied circle of dancers.
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