Page 148 of The Wild Prince’s Favorite (The Dragon Empire Saga #3)

Kassein’s eyes were riveted on Alezya, unable to look away.

He feared that if he blinked, he might just lose sight of her again. Did she realize how beautiful she was, with the white scales of their unborn baby covering her skin and that fierce gaze of hers, those dark eyes captivating all the people present?

He didn’t enjoy seeing this crowd staring at her, but even without understanding their language, he could read the respect they had for her.

When she spoke, they listened. They were all afraid of him; it was all too obvious, but they listened to Alezya, and whatever she said, those men agreed with it, their expressions changing.

Kassein had understood some of it. Unexpectedly, his moonlight had been far from helpless while he was desperately looking for her.

Somehow, she had found allies, this Munsa Tribe, and now, they were gathering people to fight alongside them.

What Alezya had told them to convince them to fight alongside his army rather than against them, he had no idea.

She had talked to them about Kein and made his dragon growl like it was her pet.

He could tell many had been impressed, and so was he.

She’d used his dragon for a demonstration of force or perhaps to earn their trust.

Either way, he didn’t care; she already had his heart, so it wasn’t surprising that she owned his dragon too.

It had almost been sheer luck that he and Kein had heard her screams. His dragon had been restless since the minute they’d lost her, but even more so that day, and before heading back to the Onyx Castle, he had decided to ride Kein above the mountain once again with little hope.

Now, he was endlessly glad he had. If he had been minutes later, Alezya might not have made it, and he would have never forgiven himself.

Seeing her on the ground, covered in mud and blood, had already been enough to send him into a murderous trance.

Now, with the Dragon Blood healing her from inside and the mud drying on her limbs and clothes, she looked as beautiful as ever.

She was talking to that other woman, the one who kept glancing in Alezya’s direction while talking to the men.

After a little bit, the two women nodded, but one of those solemn nods had a lot of underlying meaning. Alezya turned to him, and he was curious to know what she was expecting from him next.

“We must go,” she said.

“Go?”

“To Kiera,” she explained, making that adorable pout she made when she was focusing. “With Kein. We go to your men. We wait for the Munsa and our friends.”

“Why?” he asked, wrapping his arms around her waist.

“Danger here,” she said, glancing toward some of the tunnels. “The men who hurt me... They come.”

Kassein nodded. This much, he could understand.

Alezya pulled him along toward Kein, clearly making the executive decision for the two of them, and he didn’t resist, pleasantly surprised.

There was something irresistible about watching her take charge; weeks ago, she was trembling and shivering in front of him, and now, she merely needed him to help her climb his dragon.

As soon as she sat down, she shouted something at the Munsa Tribe before calling Niiru to follow them.

Even his dragon was entirely at her beck and call, but it had been so for a while now.

The dragon was too big to turn around, but as soon as it understood Alezya meant for them to leave, it slowly retreated until its body was out of the cave, half-floating in the sea, until it had room to take off.

“Do you want to go see Lumie?” he asked.

Alezya tried to whip her upper body around so fast to look at him that she almost fell off the dragon’s back, and he had to support her with a hand. He loved how her eyes became misty every time he mentioned her child.

“...Lumie?” she whispered.

“She’s at the Onyx Castle. With Lorey.”

“But... The others...”

She pointed at the mountains, her eyes torn with worry, but he gently wrapped her hand in his.

“We can come back in the morning. Before the sun rises,” he emphasized, accentuating his sentence with a finger toward where the sun had set.

He was becoming more and more impressed with how much of his language Alezya could understand and how much Lorey had taught her in such a short time.

Yet, to his surprise, Alezya hesitated a few seconds before she nodded.

He immediately wrapped his arms tighter around her, holding her in his embrace, and her head leaned into the crook of his neck.

He had missed how perfectly she fit in his embrace. He pressed another kiss to her temple, annoyed that so much of her body was covered in dirty and too-thin clothing; he couldn’t wait to get rid of it all.

They didn’t talk on the flight, and after a while, he realized Alezya had fallen asleep against him.

He had noticed she looked exhausted, but he had no idea what had happened to her.

So, he had Kein make an extra round above the mountain, trying to see if he could find any helpful information.

There seemed to be tribespeople here and there, appearing on small cliffs or briefly traveling outside, and a couple of them running through the darkness, probably thinking they wouldn’t be seen under the cover of night.

It was irritating that he couldn’t tell who was friend or foe to Alezya and slay the latter immediately.

Instead, he noted the locations before he finally had Kein fly south toward the Onyx Castle.

When they landed, he gently lifted Alezya off his dragon, carrying her against his torso. While he had tried to do so as gently as possible, she still felt the change in position and woke up, slowly opening her eyes and letting out a yawn.

“Kassein?” she mumbled.

“We’re here. The Onyx Castle. You’ll see Lumie.”

That was enough to wake Alezya up completely, and he let her stand up, although he kept a hold of her hand.

He had intended to take her straight to see the egg after landing in the gardens, but they were both caught off guard as they found Lorey seated gracefully on a stone bench with Kiera standing next to her, engaged in what appeared to be an intense discussion.

Lumie was playing with a toy at Lorey’s feet, a tiny dragon plushie that looked familiar to Kassein.

“Lumie!”

As soon as she saw Lumie, Alezya ran ahead of him to her child. Lumie barely had time to look up before she was scooped into her mother’s arms. As soon as she realized who was holding her, the toddler let out excited giggles.

“ Ama! Ama! ” she kept chanting, patting her mother’s face.

Alezya was in tears, and it definitely pulled some strings in Kassein’s heart.

He walked up to them, putting an arm around Alezya’s waist and pulling her into him while he pressed a kiss on Lumie’s white curls.

She was whispering something to her daughter, rubbing her wet cheeks against Lumie’s and smiling, looking happier than he had ever seen her.

He felt her lean into him while she hugged her baby, and that faint movement made him happier than anything she could have said; Alezya quietly acknowledging his presence while she celebrated her reunion with her baby was a feeling beyond compare.

He rubbed her back for a few more seconds before he looked up at his sister and Lorey.

“What are you doing here?”

“Nice to see you too,” Kiera scoffed.

“The camp,” he growled.

“The camp is fine,” his sister rolled her eyes. “As incredible as it sounds, grown men can take care of themselves without any female supervision for a couple of hours, Kassein. I left the generals in charge. I also visited Tievin, by the way, and he said Herken’s doing just fine.”

“And the dragons?”

“Kiki took the kids to hunt far away,” Lorey explained. “They should be back shortly. Speaking of baby dragons...”

While Kein had naturally gone to check on the remaining egg, Niiru had followed in its shadow and was now taking curious sniffs at the remains of the broken egg.

“You found that missing brat,” Kiera noted.

“It was with Alezya?” Lorey guessed. “...Did you tell her, Kassein? That she is very likely pregnant?”

“I did,” he said, ”but I’m not sure she believed me. She said something about medicinal herbs and you.”

Lorey frowned, her eyes going to Alezya.

“Oh, gods. She was taking this herb,” Lorey said after a hesitation, her eyes opening wide.

“The one to stop bleeding? When I took her to your mother’s greenhouse at the camp, I saw Alezya sneak some in her bandages.

I don’t think she even knew I noticed, but I thought she was taking it for her injuries, so I didn’t say anything.

Now I think she might have been using it for a different purpose. ..”

“To stop her menstruation? Why would she do that? She was only with Kassein,” Kiera frowned.

“Exactly. Maybe she wasn’t willing to have a child. I can’t fault her, given her circumstances...”

Kassein felt like he had gotten punched in the gut. Alezya didn’t want the child?

He looked down at her, and she had calmed a little, although she was still holding Lumie tightly in her arms. Now, the baby girl was looking far more curious about Niiru, who was playing around in the garden, dashing through the grass, gnawing on Kein’s tail, or making loops around their legs.

While he was still lost in his thoughts, feeling somewhat upset, Kiera suddenly burst out into loud laughter.

He could already guess what his sister was going to say, so he closed his eyes with a sigh, their reactions leaving Lorey utterly confused.

“What is so funny?”

“She took this herb to try and prevent herself from having a baby with Kassein?” Kiera kept laughing.

“Yes, or at least that’s what I think, but— Will you stop laughing? That is not funny, Kiera.”

“Lorey, honey. Who’s the most knowledgeable person we know about herbs?”

“...Your mother?” Lorey frowned.