Page 120 of The Wild Prince’s Favorite (The Dragon Empire Saga #3)

Alezya hadn’t felt this cold in a long time.

Her body was sore, shivering, and heavy. She couldn’t tell how long she had been stuck in this crevice. She missed the fur coats, the fire pit, and most of all, Kassein’s arms.

Everything that had kept her warm, comfortable, and happy over the last couple of weeks was gone, and she felt empty.

She had left Kassein, and now, Lumie was gone too, after she’d only had several hours with her.

The mere memory of holding her child in her arms after so long and then having parted with her again so brutally made Alezya shed a tear.

She should have been happy she had accomplished her goal of sending her child to safety, or so she hoped.

Yet, Alezya couldn’t find relief.

She missed them both. She wished for nothing more than to be with them, to hug Lumie, and for Kassein to hug her.

She tried not to cry again, but another tear escaped, sliding down her cheek.

Since when had she become so greedy, she wondered.

A few weeks ago, she would have been happy and satisfied with knowing that Lumie was safe.

Now Alezya found herself dreaming of more, of a life with Kassein and her daughter, of a life where she was finally happy, safe, and cherished, where she could take long walks at the foot of the mountains with an amazing man by her side or fly far above them to foreign lands with his dragon.

Where she would be by Lumie’s side and watch her daughter grow into the beautiful young woman she was bound to become.

Alezya had lost her own mother when she was a child, and now, at twenty years old, all she wanted was to be able to outlive her own mother and be by Lumie’s side so her daughter wouldn’t grow up motherless as she had.

She glanced around the tiny ice cave.

It was horrible to know that her mother had died in a place like this while trying to gain her freedom. How desperate must she have been to flee her father? To go back to the Lumiata Clan?

Her mother’s clan hadn’t attended the gathering, but Alezya still held some hope she would find them someday; she at least wanted to know about where her mother came from. She was curious about other clans now that she had gotten a glimpse of them.

It was clear as day that her father had lied about many things, and now, Alezya was curious about what else had been left out.

She couldn’t help but wonder how different things would have been for her if she had been born in a different clan.

Would they have accepted Lumie? Were the other clans more open to their wives and daughters having more meaningful roles than childbearing?

She couldn’t forget about the beautiful women she had seen at the gathering, nor how they carried themselves, unafraid of the men around them, like they were equals to their clan chiefs. Alezya was fascinated.

She had always thought Kassein’s clan was the biggest mystery, because she had seen little of it, and now, she was far more curious about the clans she didn’t know. When had they all become so divided?

They had far more in common than the Dragon Clan. The same language, the same territories... The same predator. When had the clans become so fractioned that they had different customs and values and only interacted once a month, if at all?

Alezya shivered again.

She was cold, freezing cold, but thankfully, morning had come, and it wouldn’t be too unbearable for at least a few more hours...

She had little hope for the evening if her father didn’t pull her out. The temperatures inevitably dropped low in the mountains, and there was no way someone would survive, especially not with so few clothes and nothing to warm themself.

Forcing herself to take a deep breath, Alezya fought against the pain to stand up, using the walls of her ice cage to survey her surroundings once more now that the sun was rising higher in the skies.

The opening was a long, narrow fissure, just wide enough for a human to squeeze through. In some places, it tightened unpredictably, which was why she had bruised her arms and legs during her fall, despite it having lasted mere seconds.

Now, the opening loomed about ten feet above her head, and the walls were impossible to climb, even with her talent.

There was ice everywhere, making it too smooth and too fragile to climb.

Even if she could hold on to some rock and climb, the angle would be hard to maneuver, and on such hard ground with most of the snow now melted, any fall could be deadly.

No, any chance of getting out would come from someone out there throwing her a rope or something.

She didn’t even need to look for another opening. The crevice was so small that she could see both ends, and it was barely big enough to hold seven or eight men squeezed together... It was a bit smaller than Kein’s entire body, she thought.

She had thought briefly about calling for the dragon to help, but that was far too dangerous.

If Kein landed anywhere wrong, the snow, rocks, and chunks of ice could collapse and bury her alive or crush her to death.

Perhaps a leaner dragon, like Kiki, could have slithered its way in, but Alezya had even less hope of Kiki looking for her than she had for Kein.

While she was pacing, rubbing her arms to try to warm herself up some more, Alezya heard steps and voices nearby. She stood still and waited until, much to her disappointment, she recognized her father’s men’s voices.

“Food, you slut.”

“Hey, watch it. She called the dragon for real...”

“Who cares? Where she is, the dragon can’t help her out anyway. Just check that witch isn’t dead.”

Alezya glared at the hole above her, and sure enough, the sunlight was suddenly partially obscured by a man’s head. Minutes later, something was thrown, and she pressed herself against the wall to avoid it.

She waited a few seconds until they were gone to get it. It was roughly packed, but she found some dried meat as well as some raw fruits and vegetables. There was more than she had expected, but she had no idea how often they would be checking on her, and they wanted to keep her alive.

Alezya ate some but kept the rest packed away for later in case they forgot about her or something; she wouldn’t have put it past her father to starve her to try and make her more.

.. malleable. She knew his ways all too well.

If anything, she was certain he had no intention of simply letting her rot here.

Having a daughter who could summon a dragon at will would be too tempting to pass up.

She wondered if he planned to get her out of there eventually or if this were a punishment she was supposed to endure until she was on the verge of death. With Lumie gone, that would be his only way to manipulate her...

There was no water, but with all the ice around, that wouldn’t be an issue.

Now that she wasn’t expecting any more visitors for several hours at least, she decided to find a spot in the sun and try to warm up while saving her energy.

She couldn’t climb out, but she sure hoped to have enough strength left to put up a fight once she got out of there.

She still had a chance to get away, and she would absolutely try.

Alezya wanted it. The future with Kassein, with Lumie, everything.

She didn’t care about being greedy anymore; for once, she had her mind set to hold on to her chance at happiness until the end.

“ Kriii .”

She jumped awake with no idea how long she’d dozed off, looking up for the source of that strange sound.

It sounded like something creaking, and for a second, Alezya worried that the crevice was going to collapse by itself, and a couple of pounds of snow falling without warning seemed to confirm her suspicion.

But then, something leaped down, just a few feet away from her, and she jumped back, scared. The snow was sent flying left and right, and then, a dark mass of black scales appeared with undeniable wings, a tail, and two amber eyes. Alezya’s jaw dropped. A miniature dragon?

She watched, astonished, as the small creature hopped around, surprisingly light and agile, coming toward her with a bounce in its step.

“No,” she muttered. “Wait, wait.”

She didn’t know this dragon. It looked like a miniature Kein but with black scales and big orange eyes.

It was so small, too. The little baskets she had seen in Kassein’s childhood room flashed in her mind, and she knew how small young dragons could be, but seeing one in the flesh felt completely different.

Kein was impressively large, heavy, and imposing. This tiny dragon looked like she could carry it in her arms. It looked so young and... innocent, the way younger animals always looked way cuter than adults.

“Who are you?” she whispered, confused.

Was one of Kassein’s siblings still a child? She remembered him mentioning some of his siblings had children with baby dragons. Was that one of them? But she had never met the children before.

And most importantly, what was a baby dragon doing by itself in the mountains? Where was the mom dragon?

Alezya looked up nervously, expecting some giant black beast to come and claim its spawn any second, but the sky was clear and bright above them, and things seemed... quiet.

That was until the little dragon let out another of its cute, high-pitched growls and tried to approach her again. It was fearless, but Alezya wasn’t, and she retreated until her back hit the end of the cave.

The tiny black dragon followed her excitedly, its tail swishing and its baby dragon feet still hopping around like it was having fun.

Alezya watched, helpless and confused, as the little black-scaled creature was making tiny loops around her legs, lovingly rubbing its body against her ankles.

“Alright... Seems like we could be friends, then?” she muttered.

The dragon replied with another excited little growl that hardly sounded like a growl at all; it was far too adorable of a sound.