Page 121 of The Wild Prince’s Favorite (The Dragon Empire Saga #3)

Alezya forced herself to take a deep breath, and then, slowly, she sank down to sit, not taking her eyes off the dragon to see what it would do.

Sure enough, as soon as she was down, it climbed onto her lap, curling itself on her legs despite already being almost too big.

The dragon was heavier than it looked, but it was as warm as Kein, and immediately, Alezya felt grateful for its presence.

Now, being too cold would hardly be an issue anymore if her new friend stayed by her side.

Feeling a bit curious, Alezya lifted a hand, and the black dragon eyed it, making her freeze.

“If you bite me, we’re not going to be friends,” she warned. “No biting.”

She wished she had learned the word for “bite” in the Dragon Clan’s language, but she had no choice but to be careful and trust the small dragon.

If it had been a foreign adult dragon, she would have been much more freaked out and scared, but this one was so tiny and looked so much like a miniature Kein; there was a strange sense of familiarity to it.

That and the fact that it had made itself at home immediately on her lap.

Inch by inch, Alezya lowered her hand toward the tiny dragon’s back until she touched the hot scales and slowly caressed it. The dragon let out a tiny shiver of appreciation, closing its eyes and slightly lifting its wings before it put its head back down on her lap. Alezya smiled.

That baby dragon was cute, she had to admit. And it felt nice to have a companion down here.

“Are you a boy or a girl dragon? Oh, right, you dragons are neither... but you do have a mama, right?”

The little dragon remained silent, napping happily on her lap.

Alezya frowned.

“You probably have a name... What should I call you? Tiny? You’re probably not going to stay tiny long... You’re going to stay black-scaled and younger than Kein, I imagine. How about Niiru, then?”

It meant “small shadow” in her language, and somehow, it seemed to suit her new companion.

The little black dragon let out a yawn, stretching over her lap.

It was already so big that its hind legs and tail were on the ground next to Alezya. All the ice near its rear had melted too, leaving a little puddle of cold water seeping through the rocks.

Alezya glanced up at the sun shining on them again.

Had Kein managed to bring Lumie to Kassein? Had they figured out she shouldn’t be out in the sun? Lorey seemed to be a natural caretaker, so she hoped her female friend would know what to do with a child...

She realized it was the first time she had thought of Lorey as a friend, but it was true. She had spent a lot of time with her in the past week.

With Kassein’s sister too. That woman was a bit scary, and she had a lot of unwomanly attitude, but Alezya found her quite amazing. She was exactly the kind of woman Alezya would have never been allowed to be: loud, outspoken, unapologetic, charismatic.

And then there was Tievin, the most unmanly man she had ever met. That was the one man she hadn’t felt threatened by, aside from Kassein, albeit for a very different reason. He was always pouting or whining, wrapped in a lot of fur coats, yet unable to hide how scrawny he was.

Alezya sighed and leaned her head against the wall, feeling slightly tired again.

She had no idea what was going to happen next.

Her calling Kein had probably caused a commotion amongst the clans, and there was no doubt her father was going to try to leverage that first. He was probably making many threats, using both his daughter and the child he thought she carried.

He ought to keep her alive at least, but Alezya knew he would make her pay for her treachery.

.. and she wasn’t sure he wouldn’t actually kill her once he did figure out she wasn’t pregnant.

“...Is she in there?”

Alezya frowned, looking up at the opening to try to see who the voices belonged to. They didn’t sound familiar at all, and they were whispering. Her father’s men didn’t need to hide their presence.

On her lap, Niiru also glanced up, its tail swishing left and right with what Alezya guessed to be curiosity.

“Our spy said he saw her father push her down there,” a second male voice spoke.

“He wouldn’t have killed her, would he?” another voice asked nervously.

“Madman that Darak is, it wouldn’t be surprising, but he needs her...”

“Who’s there?” Alezya asked aloud.

There was a pause, and then, someone cleared their throat.

A vague shape appeared to be blocking some of the sun, and Niiru jumped on its feet next to Alezya, but she held the baby dragon by its neck before it flew and attacked or something.

“ Tawa,” she whispered.

It let out a little growl of frustration but lay down next to her, its tail still furiously agitating, splashing water and snow around.

“W-we’re from Munsa Clan. Are you Darak’s daughter?”

“What do you want from me?”

“Our Clan Chief saw you at the gathering last night and, uh... Th-they think they want to negotiate with you rather than your father. It didn’t seem like you two got along, so...”

“You think?” Alezya raised an eyebrow.

She was trapped alone in a crevice, and they knew her father had pushed her in there too.

“Sorry,” one of the other voices said. “It’s just... Everyone’s a bit tense and confused after everything that happened. But, is it true you can command the dragon?”

“Sort of.”

She guessed they weren’t seeing Niiru from where they stood; they probably couldn’t afford to lean too close to the opening without the risk of falling in themselves.

“And you can speak the Dragon Clan’s tongue too?”

“I’m learning,” Alezya said.

“A-and you’re pregnant with one of their–”

“What do you want?” Alezya cut them off.

“Our clan wants to negotiate directly with you. They don’t trust your father at all.”

Alezya chuckled bitterly. No one ever should , she thought.

“What do they want to negotiate?” she asked.

“Th-the Dragon Clan. Could you... have them give us some immunity against the dragon? We’re a small clan with few warriors, but we have a lot of resources. We’re open to negotiating anything they would want.”

“It’s not just us,” one of the other voices said. “After your Deklaan Clan and some of the bigger ones left, many of the smaller clans who are allied or neighbors discussed it, and they are afraid of what your father could do using the dragon.”

“The dragon won’t attack the clans unless I tell him to,” Alezya said. “My father holds no power over the dragon. The orange dragon might listen to me, but it still belongs to the Dragon Clan.”

“How did you make it listen to you?”

Alezya hesitated.

She glanced down at Niiru, who was still eyeing the opening, looking ready to fly and fight any second. For some reason, she had a feeling even a tiny dragon could do a lot of damage to some grown men.

“I befriended the Dragon Clan,” she said. “I learned some of their language and their ways, and the dragon won’t attack me.”

She didn’t need to tell them the details, only enough so they would know she was the one they should be dealing with, not her father.

Perhaps her chance to get out of here would come about in a completely different way than she had thought.

“So... If the dragon attacked, could you tell it to stay away from us?”

“I could,” Alezya said, slowly getting up.

“A-alright. We will relay that to our Clan Chiefs. What would you want in exchange?”

Alezya scoffed.

“Getting me out of here and away from my father would be a nice start.”

“...Oh.”

She rolled her eyes. She couldn’t believe they hadn’t thought of that in the first place.

It felt strange to negotiate her freedom and her ability to keep Kein from murdering another clan from ten feet under them, her bum still chilled from the ice.

“We, uh... We should probably relay what you said to our Clan Chiefs before we free you. They have to decide what to do and how we will negotiate...”

Alezya frowned.

No, she couldn’t let her chance to get away go so easily.

She didn’t want to risk spending the night down here and freezing until she got sick.

Her father might think she had become somewhat invulnerable because she was pregnant, but she wasn’t, and even if she had been, Alezya wouldn’t have wanted to spend a single night in this crevice.

She had to get out, and she couldn’t wait around for someone else to decide if she was worth saving or not.

“Do you think my father will leave me down here long?” Alezya hissed. “If he even gets a whiff of another clan trying to save me, he’ll haul me to somewhere you won’t be able to reach. He will be the one your clans have to negotiate with, and I will have no say. Is that what you want?”

“B-but you said he couldn’t command the dragon!”

“He can’t, but I can, and there are many things my father could do to force me to do his bidding.

You saw how he treated me last night, how my whole clan treated me.

Do you really want to risk me being thrown into a hole you can’t get to next time?

Leave your clan’s fate in my father’s hands?

Or mine? Get me out now, or the Munsa Clan won’t get any immunity from the dragon at all. ”

She heard them whisper in panicked voices, trying to decide what to do. Alezya glanced down at Niiru, who was also waiting but had turned its eyes to her as soon as it noticed her staring.

The little dragon immediately jumped to its feet, looking ready for action. It gave Alezya an idea.

“We really need to get out of here,” she said.

“...We? Who’s with you?”

“ Fly, ” she whispered to the small dragon.

Niiru let out a cheerful, high-pitched growl, and excitedly spread its wings, immediately flying high and out of the cave. She heard the panicked voices of the men, who had most likely not expected a baby dragon to jump out of there.

“ Come back. ”