Page 116 of The Wild Prince’s Favorite (The Dragon Empire Saga #3)

“What? Wait... No, what? Wait a minute!” Both women began running after him.

He was walking fast through the camp, and the soldiers scattered as quickly as terrified mice upon seeing Kein and Kiki following them.

“Kassein!” Kiera insisted. “What do you mean you’re going to the mountains? You didn’t mean now , did you? What about the plan?!”

“Alezya’s up there. I need to find her. She could be hurt or in danger. I’ll go and conquer them—every single one of them.”

“There are people living in those mountains,” Lorey reminded him with a nervous expression. “Children and women, like Alezya and her child.”

“I won’t harm any woman or child, ever,” Kassein glared at her as if offended she would have even thought otherwise. “I will fight the men who deserve it. I’m starting with the ones that hurt Alezya, and they will regret it. I have to find her. Bring her back.”

Kiera and Lorey exchanged a look behind him.

They had seen the tribes, and they knew women and children were never involved in the fights. If they had learned anything from being around Alezya, it was that women most likely had very little say at all in any matters, let alone battles.

They reached his tent, and gently, Kassein put the little girl down on his bed, although his thick cloak still surrounded her.

He then glanced at Lorey, who understood and gave him a quick nod before going to the child.

They switched places, Kassein tending to the fire while she kneeled to be at the baby girl’s eye level.

“Hello, little moon,” she whispered.

Then, she began to inspect the child gently, checking the toddler’s body with her hands before picking her up.

“She’s completely fine,” she declared, her eyes going to Kassein’s. “She’s healthy, a bit petite, but based on her teeth and how she can sit fine on her own, I’d say she’s probably nearing two years old. I’ll give her a bath since she’s traveled in a dragon’s mouth...”

She grabbed a little basin in Kassein’s tent and began setting everything up to clean the toddler. Meanwhile, Kiera’s and Tievin’s eyes were riveted on Kassein, both with similar confused expressions.

“What... What in the mighty dragon is going on?!” Tievin finally spouted.

“Alezya had a baby; she delivered it by dragon mail to Kassein,” Kiera sighed. “Catch up, Tievin. Hey, you know what’s actually funny? When I was still young and blessed with ignorance and asked Mom how babies were made, this is exactly what she told us: dragon delivery.”

“That’s adorable. Did you believe it?” Lorey asked with a chuckle.

“Sadly, I did,” Kiera let out a long, dramatic sigh. “My eight-year-old dumb self spent an entire evening lecturing Krai about not bringing me any more baby brothers. You bet our grandmother had a lot of fun watching that...”

Lorey chuckled and, as if she’d understood the joke, Lumie also giggled. A stunned silence followed the cute, shimmery sound.

“Damn it,” Kiera said. “Alezya’s kid is cute, I’ll give you that.”

“Her name is Lumie,” Kassein said.

He found it quite adorable how Lumie’s head whipped around back to him every time he said her name.

One could tell just by looking at her that she was a happy child; she let Lorey bathe her, giggling any time she was tickled, and let herself be clothed without complaint with one of the tunics and underwear meant for Alezya, which Lorey somewhat made fit with well-placed knots.

“I can sew her some proper clothes,” Lorey announced.

“Watch her for me,” Kassein muttered. “I’m going to the mountain.”

“Not now,” Kiera stopped him, placing herself between him and the tent’s exit.

“Kassein, you’ve already traveled to the Capital and back all night long.

In fact, you didn’t even tell us how that went, for one.

Most importantly, you need to rest a bit.

I know we have Dragon Blood and all, but even you need a couple of hours of rest before you get back out there and fight the tribes and whatnot. ”

But Kassein glared at his sister, unconvinced.

“Move, Kiera.”

“No,” his sister retorted, crossing her arms.

“Kassein,” Lorey intervened before the siblings began a fight, “Kiera has a point. You need some sleep, and you won’t be able to help Alezya if you’re not in good condition.

She’s been gone for almost a day now, and whatever happened between the moment Kein took Lumie and when you came back, delaying finding her by a couple of hours won’t change anything. ”

“We don’t know that. She could be in danger,” Kassein hissed. “She could be in pain, right this instant–”

“Wherever she is,” Kiera interrupted him, “Kein clearly cannot get to her, or we both know your dragon would have taken off already. That means you’ll have to search for her yourself, and we don’t know how long that could take.

Kiki needs to take a break too; she flew all night.

Listen, I can take Kein and survey the mountains to try and locate her, but you need some sleep. ”

“Just a couple of hours,” Lorey added, “and then I promise I’ll look after Lumie while you search for her mom, and you can–”

“ ...Ama? ”

All eyes turned to the little girl. Lumie was staring at them all with big, inquisitive eyes. She looked around as if looking for someone before her eyes went back to the adults present.

“ Ama? ” she asked again, her eyes getting teary.

Kassein let out a long, defeated sigh. The tears in the little girl’s eyes broke his heart. Slowly, he went to her and picked her up in his arms before sitting on his bed with her.

Kiera took this as her cue to leave the tent.

“I promise I’ll find your mama,” he whispered to her. “I miss her too.”

Lumie was staring at him, clearly confused, and she let out a hiccup. Lorey approached, patting the little girl’s back.

“Get some sleep, Kassein,” Lorey whispered. “Please. Kiera will look for her with Kein, and I promise I’ll wake you up in a couple of hours. Then you can take the army up there as soon as you want.”

“An hour,” Kassein argued.

“Wherever Alezya is,” she replied, “she managed to give Lumie to Kein. She sent her daughter to you, Kassein. Kein wouldn’t land until you arrived.

I’m sure she knew she could trust you with her, and I’m sure she will do everything she can to return to you both.

You need to have some faith in her. Whatever happened to Alezya last night, I’m sure you’ll be able to find her again–”

“We got a problem,” Kiera announced, suddenly stepping back inside the tent.

“What?” Kassein frowned.

“Your dragon’s gone. Again.”

They all exchanged confused glances.

“Gone?” Kassein hissed, annoyed.

“Gone,” Kiera shrugged. “He took off, and I have no idea where. The guard I grabbed said he went south, so I don’t know what Kein’s idea is because either he’s making a weird big-ass detour looking for your woman, or your dragon’s just officially gone mad.”

Kassein was confused. Kein had always acted on its own whim, but to fly off now?

Where to? If his dragon wasn’t looking for Alezya, where could it have gone, and to do what?

The only other idea he had was that Kein could have gone to rest, given his dragon had flown most of the night too, but why south?

“Well, at least that settles you resting,” Lorey said. “Kiki’s too tired to fly again so soon.”

“Give yourself and my dragon a break, Brother,” Kiera said. “As soon as she’s up for it, I promise I’ll go look for your dragon, but in the meantime, you need to get some shut-eye.”

“I’ll take Lumie to sleep in our tent,” Lorey said, her hands going under Lumie’s arms. “You can–”

“No.”

Kassein’s blunt refusal made Lorey blink and retract her hands.

“...She’s staying with me,” he muttered.

He refused to let the child out of his sight. Having already lost her mother twice, Kassein refused to let go of Lumie. He felt like they were both missing her mother, and he couldn’t bear to have her away from him until he could resume his search for Alezya.

“...Alright,” Lorey finally said. “You should all get some sleep; I’ll make some better clothes for her in the meantime. I promise I’ll wake you up then or as soon as there’s a sign of Kein.”

“Thank goodness,” Tievin muttered, before stepping out of the tent first.

Kiera let out a long sigh too before stepping outside again. Lorey gave Kassein another sorry smile and followed her.

Although he had no will to sleep, Kassein laid down on his bed.

The only reason he agreed to this was because Lumie looked as tired as he was, both dragons were unavailable to fly in search of Alezya, and he wanted to be in peak condition to face the tribes who had hurt her and finally make them pay.

“You should sleep too,” he said. “Sleep, Lumie.”

Lumie, who was seated next to his torso, pouted her lips before climbing over him. He knew very little about children, except for the few times he’d seen his nieces and nephews in the Eastern Kingdom.

He could only believe Lorey that she was roughly two years old, but she seemed very small to him.

Lumie babbled some unintelligible words before she spread herself on his torso, her cheek over his heart.

She let out a cute sigh, and he covered her with a blanket, using his arm to secure her against him.

He knew he wouldn’t be able to really fall asleep, but he still closed his eyes, hoping she would do the same, and waited, an ear out for his dragon.

Kassein only realized he had indeed dozed off when the sounds of someone approaching instinctively woke him up. He first noted Lumie, who was deep asleep with a line of drool on his torso.

Securing her with a hand against her back, Kassein slowly sat up, only relaxing when he spotted Lorey quietly walking in.

“Kein?” he asked in a whisper.

“We found him,” she announced. “He didn’t come back, but Kiki and Kiera went to find him as soon as they woke up; they located him at the Onyx Castle. Tievin and Kiera are waiting for us there.”

What was his dragon doing at the Onyx Castle?