Page 105 of The Wild Prince’s Favorite (The Dragon Empire Saga #3)
“...Make sure she doesn’t leave until the council gathering tonight,” he hissed. “Keep her and her bastard under watch.”
Alezya’s cousin, who had followed, gave her a nervous glance, but Alezya ignored everyone, only following when pulled back inside the mountain by her father’s men.
She was just glad he was letting her be with Lumie for a few hours.
Perhaps it was because it would be easier to watch them both, but Alezya didn’t care.
They would have until tonight, and then, she would be able to take Lumie out after nightfall, which was all she needed.
Once she got her baby out of there, everything would be fine.
Kein was staying nearby, she was sure of it.
She silently prayed it wouldn’t change its mind and go back to Kassein, but the orange dragon had more often followed her than been interested in staying by its owner’s side, so she hoped it would be patient until the evening at least.
She and Lumie were taken to one of the clan’s main caves, where many of her father’s men could watch her.
Apparently, since her first escape, nobody trusted her to be alone in a narrow cave.
.. She probably knew that mountain better than most of them, but Alezya didn’t have any intention of disappearing into one of the crevices this time.
Instead, she ignored all the curious stares, settling herself against the familiar stone, and took off the fur coat to cover herself while she fed Lumie for the first time in a while.
The relief of seeing her baby girl fine and healthy was worth absolutely everything.
Alezya’s heart still ached for Kassein, but at least it was full thanks to Lumie’s warmth against her chest. Her necklace was a bit too long for her tiny neck, and her little girl had grabbed the pendant, her chubby little fingers holding onto it.
For a while, the two of them stayed like this in their little bubble while heavily guarded by half a dozen men.
People passed by, more of her clan finding excuses to come and see the madwoman who had truly returned, allegedly pregnant with a dragon’s child.
Alezya ignored them all; she only had eyes for the babe getting milk drunk against her skin.
She wished it had been safe enough to tell her about Kassein. About Kein the orange dragon, about the kind Lorey and the fierce Kiera. About that skinny man who was always funnily wrapped up in absurd layers of fur coats.
She wished she could have let her taste the things she had tasted and the herbs she had smelled. She wished Lumie had experienced the luxury of Kassein’s home, his bed full of comfy furs, the meat in his food, the warmth that always came with his embrace...
Instead, she just took in the sight of her baby girl, unbothered by the political plots at play around her and slowly dozing in her mom’s arms.
Alezya wished that Lumie could always remain this happy and unafraid.
She leaned over, pressing a long kiss on the baby girl’s forehead between her white locks of wispy hair.
“Everything will be alright, my snowflake,” she whispered.
She would make sure of it, no matter what. Lumie deserved everything and more. To grow up safe, happy, and loved. It shouldn’t have been something they had to fight for, but life just wasn’t fair like that.
Thankfully, Alezya had hopes, high hopes, that Kassein could and would provide it for her.
Perhaps it was a grand delusion she had been feeding herself over the past few weeks, but after everything that had happened, it seemed like the most plausible of all of her crazy hopes.
And she was still hoping she would make it out of this mountain and survive so she could be a part of Lumie’s future.
At least she would get Lumie outside, but what about her?
How long would it take for her father to realize she wasn’t pregnant, and what would happen then?
Alezya bit her lip, a cold shiver running down her spine. In the worst-case scenario, he would kill her. Or would he possibly send her back to try again?
This time, she wouldn’t be so foolish to come back, and with Lumie gone, there would be no more bargaining chip... so it was unlikely. If there was one thing her maker wouldn’t forgive, it was to have been tricked and humiliated in front of the other clans.
Alezya took in a shallow breath; yes, her chances of survival were slim. She could hardly see a future for herself after tonight, but she could still dream of it for a bit.
“You’re going to be alright,” she whispered to Lumie.
A hard knot formed in Alezya’s throat as more and more of her clan passed by, all assessing her with the same mix of surprise, disgust, curiosity, and hatred at different levels. The worst was the looks they were giving her child.
All of them looked at Lumie like she was some aberration, a gross creature they could hardly look at, and Alezya couldn’t help but worry again. What if Kassein reacted like the man she had been wedded to did? Her own father had rejected Lumie; what if Kassein found her just as repulsive?
Alezya forced herself to breathe slowly and remember every time Kassein had shown her patience, kindness, and compassion. His own men feared him, and yet, he had been nothing but tender with Alezya.
She pressed her eyes shut. She had to believe Kassein would be the same man she had learned to love. Otherwise, she might have given up on everything. Getting her heart broken by the same man who had healed it once would hurt far too much...
For several hours, Alezya waited while her clan got ready for the gathering. She was watched by many, but no one bothered to ask if she needed anything.
She and Lumie were escorted once when she reminded them they had basic needs, and her cousin’s husband brought her some food, clearly the only one who had thought that she might need to eat at some point.
The meal felt quite lacking compared to the lavish meat chunks Kassein had been feeding her, but Alezya was now quite hungry, and she needed the strength.
“Maybe you shouldn’t have come back,” Suolk muttered, still kneeling in front of her while she ate.
“I couldn’t abandon my child.”
“...Is it true, what you said? You speak the Dragon Clan’s language?”
Alezya assessed her cousin’s husband for a second.
Despite the concerned expression he had on, perhaps he had been sent by her father to check if she still said the same things to someone she potentially trusted more.
Luckily for Alezya, she didn’t need to lie on that particular subject.
“I do,” she whispered.
He raised his eyebrows, stunned. Alezya’s eyes went over his shoulders to the busy tunnels. There was some extreme tension, worse than what she remembered from the previous gatherings.
“Why are things so tense?” she asked him.
“The dragon’s making everyone nervous,” he muttered. “It’s still in the area. Some clans have been sending messages to ask to postpone the gathering, but your father insists on maintaining it.”
“He wants to use me to make a demonstration,” Alezya scoffed.
It was just like her father to thrive on other people’s fears. Her cousin-in-law glanced around, nervous about being caught chatting with her, but cleared his throat and gave her a faint nod.
“...Thank you,” Alezya muttered after a second, “for taking care of her.”
Suolk looked surprised by her words, and his eyes drifted to the baby girl dozing in her arms, most of her white-skinned body protected by Alezya’s fur coat. He gave her a half-hearted smile.
“She’s so close in age to my son... I don’t know why your child is different, but after spending time with her, it’s obvious she’s just that, a child. As a father, I can’t help but think... What if it had been my wife’s? How would I have treated the child then?”
“You’re a good man, Suolk. Zenia’s lucky to have married a man like you.”
Perhaps it was because he had come from a different clan, like the man Alezya had been married to.
Most daughters were wedded to other clans, but women who were related to the man of power in clans or belonged to stronger clans often had the luck to bring their husbands into their clan instead of the other way around.
Zenia’s husband had been one of those cases.
Suolk came from a different clan with, perhaps, a different culture.
He let out another sigh, glancing around nervously.
“I have to go,” he muttered. “Do you need anything?”
She needed a lot of things, but none that her cousin’s husband could give her, so Alezya shook her head.
“I’m alright.”
“Alright. I... I will try to come and check on you again later.”
“Will you be at the gathering?” Alezya asked just as he was about to stand up.
Suolk froze, frowning. He seldom attended the gatherings; he came from a minor clan and had married into theirs.
Suolk was one of those men who held little authority during the gathering, so he usually only attended for the sake of seeing his former clan.
As a woman, Alezya had never been allowed to attend the gathering, but she had heard that more than a hundred men from different clans usually attended; it was a big affair for all the neighboring clans, and tonight’s promised to be one of the most important.
It was going to be Alezya’s first and, hopefully, her last. She had no doubt that her father was going to bring her, just as a demonstration, to show off his daughter that’s supposedly pregnant with a dragon’s child and, even more impressive, her ability to summon a dragon.
Alezya was counting on things going very differently from what her father had planned; she was going to call Kein, not because her father wanted her to but because she needed the dragon’s help.