Page 107 of The Wild Prince’s Favorite (The Dragon Empire Saga #3)
Alezya had lost track of time, but by now, she was freezing, shivering, and grateful for the shoes she had taken. She had fed Lumie once already since they began their descent from the mountain, and her baby was back asleep, thankfully protected from the cold by the large fur coat.
Selfishly, Alezya had taken the thickest of them, a gorgeous white-gray one made of snow leopard fur, and she was surprised no one from her clan had tried to take it from her yet.
Perhaps with a dragon at her beck and call, they had decided it wasn’t worth the risk.
.. A lot of them around her were also shivering under the ice-cold temperatures but trying to keep a strong facade.
Alezya tried to look around, but the night was dark and the surroundings unfamiliar; she had never ventured so far from her home mountain before.
They were still in the heights, but now, they were following the line of a river that ventured between the various mountains, most likely fed by melting snow, and seemed to stream all the way to the edge of the continent.
The area was flatter and far safer to walk as a group now, although they had to watch out for crevices.
Alezya knew the snow-covered land was more treacherous than it seemed; a fresh coat of white snow could crumble at any moment to reveal a deep, neck-breaking crevice underneath.
For that, she was glad to be positioned in the middle of their procession, with her father’s men inspecting the ground long before it was her turn to step there.
On the other side of the river, they soon spotted another clan heading in the same direction, and Alezya witnessed as her father greeted them with a stiff nod and a hand salute.
Their group had gone quiet, tense, and despite the sounds of their men in the snow, Alezya soon heard more coming from other clans who were arriving in the area. Inevitably, she felt the stares on her too.
She was the only woman in a large group of thirty men, not only escorted but also carrying a very noticeable white-skinned child.
Lumie, now fully awake, was gripping her mom’s dress and glancing around with wide, curious eyes no matter how much Alezya tried to shield her from prying eyes.
While her baby was blessed with ignorance, Alezya was filled with nerves.
No woman could be comfortable amongst this many men and not a single other woman in sight, but it was worse to know the ones she knew hated her.
It was a strange thought to think the creature she feared the least was a man-eating beast flying in the skies above.
Although Kein was flying high and quietly, Alezya, along with men from her clan, glanced up every now and then to check where the orange dragon was.
It was reassuring to confirm, every time, that the dragon was far enough that her clan wouldn’t freak out and yet close enough that if she screamed, it would dive to their position and be there in a matter of seconds.
She held onto that thought and quietly kept following, her stomach filled with dread as more and more men gathered.
It was a strange sight to see so many different clans, some bearing physical markings she had never seen before, strange tattoos, facial piercings, different types of jewelry, clothing, and weapons.
Some kept their heads tightly shaved and covered with tattoos, while others had their hair braided in impressive lengths and intricate designs.
Some were half-naked despite the biting cold, and others were showing off magnificent leather and fur clothing.
There was even a clan that held some sort of mountain wolves on leashes, their jaws held shut by muzzles.
The sight of them made Alezya hold Lumie a bit tighter, feeling anxious with those strange pets near her child.
To her surprise, she realized some clans did bring women with them.
She was taken aback for a few seconds; she had always been told that women were forbidden at the gatherings, but now she realized her clan might have just entertained that lie to avoid their women coming.
She counted three clans that had brought a couple of women with them, most likely important figures in their own clans as each woman was beautiful, clothed expensively, wearing ornaments or intricate hairstyles, and escorted by one or two men holding their arm or hand.
She had expected the gathering to be full of awful men like her father, but that wasn’t the case.
If anything, she was witnessing for herself how different the clans could be, and it was a shock.
They were now gathering around three large fire pits, each clan keeping a good distance from the other, many members whispering between themselves, eyeing the other clans as much as they were eyeing the roaming dragon above.
The clans genuinely had no trust in one another, Alezya realized.
There were a dozen different clans gathered there, but none seemed closer than the others, and all the men who had shown up were armed. Some who could see her among her father’s goons were giving her curious glances, frowning at the white-skinned child they could see in her arms.
“Mama.”
Alezya turned her eyes to Lumie, who was toying with the necklace again while keeping her big white eyes on her.
“It’s almost over, my snowflake,” Alezya whispered, pressing her lips against Lumie’s forehead.
She had to hope her plan would work. She was almost there...
She was out of the mountain, with Lumie, and Kein was staying close. She nearly felt grateful to the clans for being so brave and maintaining the gathering despite the dragon nearby.
Now, all she needed was the right opportunity as soon as this gathering started. Alezya was barely suppressing the need to call Kein now, but she couldn’t risk a commotion when two or three hundred men surrounded her. Moreover, she was slightly curious to see how the gatherings actually went down.
There was something so tense that she couldn’t help but want to see what the other clans had to say, what else her father had lied about. It felt like something big was going on, something she shouldn’t miss.
So she decided to wait quietly, holding her baby a bit tighter and making sure Lumie was wrapped in the fur coat.
“We shall start,” an older man with a long silver beard that reached all the way to his belly announced, stepping into the triangle created by the three firepits. “Welcome to the gathering, dear friends, neighbors, and allies!”
After he spoke, a handful of men stepped into the same triangle, including Alezya’s father—the clan chiefs, she guessed.
A few of them checked the sky before they spoke, and though it was still around, Kein wasn’t showing any sign of coming down yet. One by one, they greeted the others, acknowledging each other with tense nods.
The tension was so palpable that Alezya had a hard time believing in their “friendship.” Every clan was there because they felt the need to, this much was obvious.
The gathering started with pleasantries, with each clan mentioning how little the weather had affected them, their good hunting results, weddings, and births.
It was all for show, as Alezya could tell, aimed to present each clan as far more wealthy and well off than they actually were.
There were a few mentions of daughters and sons of age to marry, a couple of promises of marriage talk in a more private setting later.
Still, while the discussion went on, Alezya noticed her father spoke very little, instead keeping on a barely concealed smirk. She could guess he was dying to gloat and only biding his time for effect.
“Darak, Chief of the Deklaan Clan!” the silver-bearded man finally called him. “How unusual for you to be so quiet!”
“And for you to bring a woman,” another clan chief, the one with long braided hair, frowned.
He was from one of the clans that had brought women with them, and because he resembled one of the women, Alezya guessed it was his relative, perhaps a sister or mother.
Craning her neck to see past the heads of the men surrounding her, Alezya inspected the faces of the other clan chiefs, and sure enough, several were staring at her.
Some were frowning at the child in her arms or at her, but none seemed offended by her presence; Alezya truly realized her father might have distorted a few truths about the gatherings to keep women out of it.
.. or perhaps to spin other tales to his advantage.
Alezya had always believed her clan was one of the strongest, or so she had been told since childhood.
It might have been true in terms of numbers, but seeing the other clans, she definitely found that their people were lacking in other areas.
Some of the other clans boasted warmer outfits, better-crafted items, improved weapons, intricate hairstyles, unique accessories, and so on.
Compared to others, Alezya even thought her people seemed…
unrefined. Maybe their obsession with war with the Dragon Clan had stalled their cultural growth.
Either that or their pathological misogyny, Alezya thought darkly.
“How dare you bring that witch here?! You said she was dead!”
All eyes turned toward a man behind one of the clan chiefs, and Alezya’s blood instantly went cold, a shiver crawling up her spine.
Her ex-husband.
Vasilias, son of the Exkiu Clan Chief, had just stepped out of the thick crowd that represented his clan to point an accusing finger her way.
Either he hadn’t seen her before or had not recognized her sooner, he was now looking absolutely beside himself with anger.