Page 114 of The Wild Prince’s Favorite (The Dragon Empire Saga #3)
“What’s wrong is that you cannot remove one of the pillars this Empire has been leaning on for centuries and not expect the economy to collapse,” Shenan replied.
“Cessilia’s wedding in the east gave our economy the boost it needed to endure the first changes, but that was ten years ago.
Trade has slowed, and a lot of people with very loud mouths are spreading the word that slavery would be a perfect solution to a lot of our problems, including the riots in the west.”
“And how is Kassian dealing with that?”
“In the Kassian way... and unfortunately, he is nothing like Aunt Shareen.”
“Aren’t you here to help?”
Shenan gave him an amused look as if Kassein had said something unexpectedly funny. Then, he patted his brother’s shoulder.
“Get back to the north, Kassein.”
Just like that, he was dismissed, his brother leaving him alone in the corridor.
Kassein let out a faint sigh. He had only spent minutes in the palace, yet none of his siblings had stayed to ask more than needed about his life in the north.
Perhaps he had come on a bad day, perhaps it was because of the terrible weather, but he still felt the sting of disappointment.
Yet, after reflecting on it for a few seconds, he realized that he missed Alezya more.
He loved his family; he loved all of his siblings and his parents, and they had grown up together with a bond that would be unbreakable.
However, things were different now. They had all grown up, and after living with seven siblings, most of them had felt the need to find their own aspirations, their own people, their own goals.
This was the first time Kassein genuinely felt like his life had a clear direction, and Alezya was his north star.
Kassein decided to wait for Tievin by Kiki’s side under the rain.
His sister’s dark gray dragon didn’t mind the downpour at all, and neither did he. The Capital was hot and humid, and it wasn’t like he would fall sick or anything.
While he waited, he let his thoughts drift back to the memories he had of this place.
The hours he had spent by the lake, with their mother or their older sister reading to them.
This was his happy place when he was young.
Not just the lake, but the imaginary lands his sister’s stories would take them to.
Things had never been the same after Cessilia’s abduction, and that was when Kein had turned on him and when his father had begun to restrict his dragon so he wouldn’t be able to attack Kassein.
Either an older dragon was around to keep Kein from attacking him, or he would simply be bound by heavy chains.
He wondered where Kian, Kassian’s dragon, was.
Kian was a magnificent silver dragon, third in size after Kein and Dran, their second-oldest brother’s dragon.
But Darsan and Dran were both ridiculously oversized, even for their tall family.
Kian had always been a long, tall, elegant, and majestic dragon.
And it had hardly ever been seen anywhere but by its owner’s side.
Kassein had expected to see it in the throne room along with Kassian; that place had been designed ridiculously large for the sole purpose of letting the dragons in, but Kian wasn’t there.
Was their older brother in bigger turmoil than he had let on?
For the first time in a while, Kassein regretted that he no longer felt close enough to his older brother to lend him a helping hand. Perhaps his taking ownership of the north would do that.
It hit him then that he had gotten what he came here for: the north.
The north was now his, along with the Onyx Castle, and the chance to change things with all the Northern tribes none of his ancestors had ever managed to submit.
Perhaps he would be able to kill two birds with one stone, taking that issue off his older brother’s hands and revitalizing their childhood land.
“My lord!”
Tievin’s arrival brought Kassein back to the present, and he frowned as the Grand Intendant came back with a sour expression, new fur coats on, and a bag that looked heavier than when they’d arrived; Kiki noticed too and welcomed him with a growl.
“Already?” Kassein frowned.
“Father was awake,” Tievin snorted. “He interrupted my reunion with Mommy, who, by the way, was the only parent in the room delighted to see their child’s face after so long without, and he most rudely told me to ‘ get back to my duties and not come back until I shall be done with it all ’—his words, exactly. ”
Kassein was hardly surprised. Tievin had been his mother’s only child, very pampered and spoiled, and his relationship with his father had always been a strange combination of jealousy and egotism.
Still, he didn’t question it, knowing Tievin could go on very, very long rants about his father, and they had a long journey ahead.
“Are we flying back straight away?” Tievin asked with a sigh.
“Yes.”
Kassein didn’t feel the need to stay here for the night, and he was eager to return to the north as fast as possible.
The journey back would take several hours if the weather persisted, and he hated being that far from Alezya for too long.
He was still holding on to the thought that she might have gone back to his tent for the night, Kein by her side, and he sure hoped he would find her there when they landed in the morning.
He patted Kiki’s head apologetically, glad that the dragon was far more popular than he was and had clearly been fed while he’d been with his siblings.
Thus, there was no protest about making the trip back already.
They took off under the rain, which, luckily, had begun to slow down and stopped completely by the time they reached the halfway point of the journey.
Thanks to Kiki’s pace and the fair weather, the journey back was far shorter, and they made it back to the North Camp just before sunrise.
Surprisingly, the North Camp wasn’t quiet despite the early hours.
Kassein spotted many torches lit up, and the fire pits around the camp were lit up too, with many men outside of their tents and running in different directions.
Picking a spot for Kiki to land, Kassein spotted his sister and Lorey amongst the ruckus, both women standing close.
Not only them, but his dragon was there too, strangely flying low above them, and Kassein urged Kiki to land quickly.
The sight of his dragon brought a surge of hope to Kassein; there was no way his dragon would have turned away from Alezya. Perhaps Kein had followed wherever she’d gone.
But as he landed a few feet away from Kein and glanced around, his stomach sank; she wasn’t on his dragon’s back, under him, or anywhere nearby.
“Finally!” Kiera greeted him with an exasperated sigh. “It was high fucking time you came back. Your dragon has gone properly mad this time!”
“Where is Alezya?”
“We have no idea,” Lorey shook her head with a sorry expression. “Kein just came back a while earlier and he’s been acting... strange. He won’t land; he keeps making those loops...”
“That bastard tried to attack Lorey!” Kiera barked, keeping a defensive stance between her partner and the orange dragon. “If that bastard brings its ugly head near her again–”
Kassein turned to his dragon, confused and angry. Kiki circled the two women and growled in warning, but strangely, that caused Kein to do another loop rather than land. Kassein was equally bewildered by his dragon’s hectic behavior. It wasn’t like Kein to retreat, ever.
He waited, his feet planted in the snow and his straight, stiff stance showing nothing of his inner turmoil as the orange dragon descended.
Kassein’s eyes skimmed over his dragon’s claws and then its back again, hoping for a silhouette or a curtain of black hair to appear along its silhouette. Yet, Kein eventually landed a few steps away from everyone, and there was no sign of their woman.
“Where is she?” he hissed to his dragon.
Kein retreated slowly and issued a low, warning growl, but this time, his owner’s fury reached far beyond the dragon’s. Kassein walked up to his dragon, his fingers grabbing the rust-colored skin as if he could hold on to it and tear the dragon’s scales.
“WHERE IS SHE?!”
His outcry echoed throughout the mountains.
Then, a heavy silence fell on the plain.
Behind him, Kiera and Lorey exchanged a pained look.
All they could see was the tremble of Kassein’s heavy shoulders, shaken by his heavy panting and fury, but they could feel his anger and despair.
He heard Lorey approach him, perhaps to say something to comfort him, but he didn’t care.
He had been holding on to the hope of seeing Alezya when he returned. Worse, he had thought that regardless of where she had gone, she would be safe under his dragon’s protection.
But Kein was right here, and she wasn’t. He glared at his dragon, hating the beast more than ever. There was only one thing that should have mattered to both of them and yet...
Then, slowly and unexpectedly, Kein lay down at his feet, burying its body into the snow as if the dragon could squash itself into the ground.
Kassein watched, still angry but perplexed. His dragon let out a low growl, and then suddenly, a muffled baby’s cry broke the silence.
It was so unexpected that everyone around froze. Kiera and Lorey exchanged stunned looks, and Tievin was blinking excessively.
“Did Kein just... wail ?”
While the rest of them were still utterly confused, Kassein slowly got down on his knees in front of the dragon. Just as he did, Kein slowly opened its large mouth. They watched, stunned, as the Commander retrieved something from Kein’s jaws.
“No fucking way,” Kiera gasped.