Page 108 of The Wild Prince’s Favorite (The Dragon Empire Saga #3)
Alezya unconsciously took a step back, but she didn’t shy away from his murderous glare.
It felt strange to see Lumie’s biological father after so long, but her body recoiled on instinct.
How had she ever tried to love this man?
How had she been so desperate to please him, to forgive and forget the animal he could turn into?
Now, the only desire he ignited in her was to puke and crawl out of her own skin.
And then, she saw it.
The dark, unnatural veins twisting beneath the skin on the side of his jaw and neck, like roots of something rotten.
A network of sickly scars, as if his blood had once turned to poison and never fully faded.
He was still marked by it, and likely still suffering.
His fingers twitched, as if resisting the urge to claw at his own skin, but instead, he glared at her, his hatred boiling over.
Alezya forced herself to hold his glare; she wasn’t scared or ashamed. Instead, she returned his menacing expression like the witch they believed her to be. He could loathe her all he wanted, but Alezya refused to ever shy away from his glare again.
So what if she had been rejected by this man? She had been chosen by a dragon .
“You said that vixen was dead!” he insisted. “After how she humiliated me! After how she cursed me! I want her head!”
Alezya realized she now feared the man far less than she hated him, and it felt good.
It felt even better to know he hated her as much as she hated him as if it solidified her own hatred. He really thought she had cursed him, and she would gladly let him think it, because she had certainly thanked again and again the ashweaver spider that had gotten revenge in her stead.
All of the pain she’d endured made her stronger, and she could focus her hatred on two men: her ex-husband and her father.
Witnessing the hatred seeping out of the two of them, Alezya wasn’t ashamed to nurture the vicious desire to have them both dead.
After all she had suffered, everything she had been subjected to by their hands, it felt like justice.
It wasn’t something she had dared to nourish before, but now that she knew what a good man was like, she knew those two deserved no forgiveness from her.
Either by her own hands or her command to a dragon, Alezya silently took an oath to end those two men. She had suffered far too much to find it in herself to ever forgive or forget the abuse she’d endured and worse, how they’d used her baby.
“You have no say in what I do with those of my clan,” her father hissed, clearly annoyed by the interruption. “We annulled your wedding, that is enough.”
“My reputation was ruined by that whore!” Vasilias insisted. “I want her head as an apology for insulting me! And my clan! And her bastard’s too! I should have thrown that abomination off the mountain the minute it was born!”
Alezya squinted her eyes, imagining pushing him off a cliff instead.
Perhaps she could convince Kein to drop him from far higher than that. That sounded fitting.
She didn’t say anything, but his Clan Chief whispered something to her ex-husband that had him shut up, although he still had a furious expression on.
Alezya realized the Exkiu Clan Chief was no longer his father.
Had the power shifted in their clan? Was that why they could tell him to shut up and stand back?
“I hope you’ll forgive this affront, Vasilias. And as you know, I don’t usually find it appropriate to bring women to such meetings,” her father said, “but in some circumstances, it might be unavoidable. Necessary, even.”
His words were met with a couple of sour expressions, as the clans who had brought women, and perhaps often did, didn’t appreciate their meaning.
Yet, all eyes were now on their Deklaan Clan, eager for an explanation.
Very purposefully, he glanced at the skies, his dark eyes quickly finding the roaming dragon above their heads.
“See,” he said, “as one of the clans closest to the Dragon Clan, it is part of our duty to continually bring more information about them, learn about our enemy, and find critical weaknesses they might have. Our historical position puts us at a unique advantage to study our common enemy and bring to the other clans critical information for our survival.”
“Get to it, Darak,” the Clan Chief with the braided hair hissed.
“Are you unwilling to hear about our discovery?” her father sneered with an arrogance beyond measure.
“I am unwilling to hear you ramble on for hours about your so-called advantage. You harass us at every gathering with endless tales of how important your clan is and your tales of success, and yet, the dragon is still in the area, menacing us all. You’re not the only clan trying to defend our mountains, but I hear very little tales of your battles. ”
Alezya didn’t suppress her smile.
She had expected the other clan chiefs to all be as greedy and arrogant as her father, but she was discovering a very different world.
In fact, as she looked around, she recognized clans that she had only ever seen from afar, other clans who attacked the Dragon Clan far more often than theirs did, and they all seemed in silent agreement with the braided-hair Clan Chief.
Her father’s arrogant words seemed to annoy more than they impressed.
He must have also noticed, but he only grew more arrogant as, for once, he did have the means to back his arrogance.
“Daughter,” he called. “Come forward.”
Alezya almost snorted. He hadn’t treated her like his child in a long while, and it felt quite irksome to hear him remind her of their bond now of all times.
Still, she was pushed to the front with forceful shoving from various hands, the crowd splitting between her and her father.
She was careful not to approach him from too close, instead staying a few steps behind the imaginary triangle created by the fires, and a couple of steps away from the crowd formed by her clan.
Alezya’s blood heated up; it was almost time.
She glanced up, finding Kein easily with her eyes.
The dragon was now completely still in the darkness, gripped on the corner of a mountain like a gargoyle.
No one but her had spotted it, but she could easily find the familiar pair of silver eyes.
“This is my daughter, Alezya,” he introduced her.
“We all know of your child,” another of the chiefs said. “As if anyone would have forgotten the mess she made between your clan and the Exkiu Clan, after Vasilias’ outburst. She’s the one who turned out to be a witch and a whore after you boasted of her ‘incredible’ beauty for months...”
Alezya’s spine stiffened; she hadn’t even thought anyone else would have been aware of her or her sham of a marriage. She also truly didn’t care that her father had oversold how pretty she was; it was probably not the least of the truths he’d bent for his benefit...
“Right,” Darak sneered. “As you know, she was ‘returned’ to our clan after the birth of that... child. This is why, while she was no longer capable of being wed, she was still eager to serve her clan in other ways.”
Alezya couldn’t remember being eager to do anything for her clan in a long while, but she remained quiet while her father explained, far too excitedly, how he had sent her as an offering to the Dragon Clan, with the hopes of getting her pregnant with a dragon’s seed.
It was a very freely adapted version from the truth of Alezya fleeing with her child, being beaten between the mountains, and then being rescued by Kassein. ..
She noticed some of the clans seemed aware he was lying; many were whispering between themselves, eyeing her and her father and pointing fingers. She had always wondered if other clans had been aware of her people chasing her down the mountain, and perhaps, they had.
Either way, many seemed baffled, but more seemed genuinely eager to know more.
Alezya noticed most eyes were on her father, but the female relative of the Clan Chief with long braided hair had her eyes riveted on her instead.
Alezya returned her stare, wondering what that woman’s life was like, and what she thought of standing there amongst all those men.
Meanwhile, her father was basking in the attention.
“We have succeeded beyond our expectations,” he announced. “She is bearing a dragon’s seed!”
There was a collective gasp, and most eyes drifted to her, making Alezya step back, grossed out by the sudden attention. There were many whispers, eyes drifting to her belly, disgusted expressions, and others who seemed genuinely impressed or curious.
One voice raised above the general surprise, however.
“That whore spread her legs for our enemy?” Vasilias shouted, glaring at her. “After cursing me, you sent that witch and her bastard to the Dragon Tyrant?”
“...Better his bastard than your child,” Alezya grimly muttered.
She realized as soon as she had uttered her words that this was true; Lumie’s blood relation to that man didn’t matter anymore.
Alezya had once been disappointed that he didn’t want her, but now, she realized that it was a blessing.
Lumie deserved a good father, a good man who wanted her.
She could only hope Kassein would be that man.
Reeling in the undivided attention, her father’s vicious smile spread even further, and he raised both hands to commandeer the attention back to him.
“That isn’t all,” he shouted. “Not only was she welcomed by the Dragon Clan, unsuspecting of our genius plan, but she has also learned a lot of their ways. It is a truly unique blessing that our clan has received the gift to command that dragon!”
He pointed his index finger at the sky, his words followed by incredulous silence.
After a while, someone cleared their throat, and a few laughs echoed around. Alezya wasn’t surprised; she wouldn’t have believed it either if she had heard those mad words a few weeks back.