Page 102 of The Wild Prince’s Favorite (The Dragon Empire Saga #3)

Alezya let out an involuntary grin. She probably was like some sort of vengeful spirit, coming back every time despite their best attempts to get rid of her.

Since she had been sent to the Dragon Clan, most of her people had probably not expected her to be able to return so freely.

Her father must have been the only one to wish for her return, although it was for the most selfish reasons.

Even if he had sent her on some horrible mission this time, he might not have actually expected her to come back alive, and certainly not this healthy nor wearing such a nice, warm coat.

This time, she was the one in a position of power, and her father had no idea.

When Alezya emerged in one of their main caves, her father and some of his men were waiting for her, slightly out of breath as they had visibly arrived from another tunnel seconds prior.

She felt her stomach clench in anger, fear, and disgust. Every inch of her body wanted her out of there before something terrible happened again. The trauma of her past experience was lingering like a promised nightmare to strike again.

She stood steps away from them, unwilling to approach any further, taking in the men almost cornering her already while her back touched one of the cave’s walls. It was hard and cold.

“She really returned,” her father hissed with a victorious grin.

Alezya tried to keep a neutral expression. She hadn’t seen her father smile her way in a long time, but it was all for the wrong reasons. He was expecting to be victorious, for her to return pregnant with Kassein’s child, to be crawling back to save her daughter’s life.

For some reason, Alezya felt the urge to cover her womb with her hand, although there was no need for it. It just felt gross to see her father stare at it like he was ready to gut her for his prize.

“Where is Lumie?” she asked, silently praying her baby was fine.

“Are you pregnant?” Her father squinted his eyes.

Alezya nodded stiffly. She was hoping the herb had worked, and she couldn’t act too certain about her condition; she had only been with Kassein for a few weeks, and even if her clan believed she’d slept with him since she’d returned to the Dragon Clan, she would have gotten pregnant recently, nothing for her to be too confident about.

“Check her.”

Alezya realized the Healer had just arrived at the end of the little group that had just come out of the tunnel.

The elder marched toward her without an ounce of pity toward the young woman who had been sent like a slave to breed with their enemy.

She grabbed and pulled Alezya’s wrist out of her coat unceremoniously, and everyone held their breath.

Alezya silently prayed it would work. She knew how strong the herb was, but if anything had gone wrong, if her father had the slightest doubt, she and Lumie could be killed on the spot...

“She is with child.”

Alezya barely suppressed a sigh of relief as the Healer turned to her father with a nod. Her maker didn’t seem as confident, squinting his eyes at the Healer.

“...Are you certain?”

“It seems like it,” the old woman shrugged. “But it is far too soon to be absolutely certain. We could confirm in a matter of weeks–”

“We don’t have weeks,” her father hissed back. “We need her pregnant already. The council gathering is tonight!”

He hesitated for a few seconds, his dark eyes on Alezya like he was trying to decipher her.

“She really only slept with their chief?”

The question wasn’t directed at her but at some of the sentinels, who gave him a nod.

“She spent every night with him.”

Little did they know Kassein only touched her on one of those nights.

Alezya felt grateful that her clan’s men were far too narrow-minded to believe a man like Kassein could have spent nights with a woman in his bed without touching her, and even more grateful to Kassein for being the man that he was.

She missed him already, and seeing men who were so different from him made her miss him even more.

They had no idea that there were men like him, warriors who did not enjoy abusing women. A man putting a woman’s desires before his own was sheer heresy in their clan.

“She was only ever in his quarters or with him or their women,” another sentinel added.

Her father nodded with a satisfied grin.

“...Good. We wouldn’t want you to have strayed again,” he spat.

Alezya didn’t suppress her grimace. They still believed she had cheated on her ex-husband with whoever Lumie’s father was.

They would never accept that the precious son of the Exkiu Clan had fathered her oddly white child.

It was far more acceptable for them to push all of the faults on her than to risk another clan’s trust.

She didn’t care any longer; Kassein had been the only man to touch her since Lumie’s birth, and that was everything she wanted.

Now that her clan was only seeing her as a vessel to carry children with his blood, they wouldn’t risk another man touching her, which was a good enough outcome for her.

Alezya never wanted another man but Kassein to touch her ever again.

“My daughter,” Alezya hissed. “You promised my daughter back.”

Her father ignored her, turning toward his sentinels.

“Inform the other clan chiefs that we have succeeded,” he said, not hiding his grin. “All eyes will be on our clan tonight. Even if we have to wait a few months, all clans will be waiting for us to have a dragon!”

Alezya certainly didn’t correct him.

She didn’t know how the dragon eggs were made, but she was fairly certain it wouldn’t come out of her womb.

Baby dragons were far too big from the nests she’d seen, and she doubted Kassein’s mother would have been able to bear eight of them.

Her father probably expected her to come back bearing some monster or that a dragon would magically appear with her child, but there was no child to be born anyway.

She was glad she had managed to trick them, but now, she had to focus on her main goal: getting Lumie out of there.

The sentinel nodded and left, but Alezya kept her eyes on her father.

“My daughter,” she insisted.

He rolled his eyes, before turning his hateful glare toward her like she was some eyesore.

“Your bastard is fine,” he hissed. “You should be grateful your cousin agreed to take that shame upon herself.”

A wave of relief crashed over Alezya’s heart, almost making her lose her balance, and she was glad she could lean on the wall behind her.

Lumie was alive and still with her cousin. Her father would have happily broken her heart otherwise.

Days and nights of worry suddenly felt like they had all been worth it. She had refused to entertain the thought for more than seconds at a time, but if Alezya had returned to find her baby was gone... She would have probably followed her.

“I want to see her,” Alezya said, hardly suppressing tears as the need to hold her baby became more urgent. “I want to see my child!”

“You do not give orders around here,” her father hissed. “The child is staying with us until you give birth to the dragon.”

Alezya’s heart dropped. She had braced herself for this, but it didn’t stop the wave of panic rising.

“You promised!” she shouted.

“I promised to give your bastard back once you give me a dragon,” he scoffed. “We’ll have to wait until you finish your part of the deal, won’t we?”

Alezya let out genuine tears. She had expected this much, but it didn’t make it any less heart-wrenching.

Thankfully, she had an idea. She had spent a lot of time, while confined in Kassein’s shelter, thinking about her plan and how to save Lumie.

She was already crying and desperate; she didn’t need to act much of her despair.

While two of her father’s sentinels came to grab her, she began fighting them, her eyes on her father’s retreating figure.

“You can’t!” she shouted. “Father, please! I need my child! I need to protect her, or the dragon–”

She stopped herself as if she had said one too many words, biting her trembling lower lip. Her father stilled and turned back to her with a gleeful expression.

“Or the dragon what, Alezya?”

She went silent, now avoiding his gaze.

Her father slowly walked up to her, and grabbed her jaw painfully with his hand, forcing her to look up at him.

“Or the dragon what?”

“I-it will take her,” she cried. “The dragon... It wants to eat my child.”

Her father’s eyes opened wide. Alezya shivered, more horrified by his greedy eyes than the thought of Kein near her baby.

The man-eating beast wasn’t nearly as frightening as the monster in human skin before her.

Alezya hated that she had to dangle Lumie’s life like a negligible treat before him, but there was no other way.

He stepped closer to her, and despite the men holding her arms and shoulders, Alezya jerked back.

“Eat your child?” He narrowed his eyes. “Why would the dragon want to eat your child?”

“I-I don’t know,” Alezya mumbled.

“Answer,” he hissed, unconvinced. “You know something, Alezya. Don’t you dare lie to me, or you will pay for it.”

“I’m not scared of you,” she retorted. “You can do whatever you want to me!”

She already knew he wouldn’t. As violent of a man as her father was, his belief that she was pregnant far outweighed his short temper.

He wouldn’t risk harming his most precious piece of the bargain before the upcoming council gathering.

However, he sneered, looking at Alezya like she was nothing but disposable vermin.

“I certainly can,” he hissed, “and that goes for your little bastard too. Should I chop off her arm so you’ll start to speak?”

Even if she had expected it, a lump of coal dropped in Alezya’s stomach.

“You...” she huffed, furious.

“Speak, Alezya,” he hissed. “The council gathering is tonight and we don’t have all night. Start talking now, or I will have to see how much the dragon wants to eat your bastard myself.”