Page 163 of The Wild Prince’s Favorite (The Dragon Empire Saga #3)
She went to sit down against one of the trees, unwilling to lie down on the cold ground.
As soon as she did, Kassein came to her and, without a care in the world, lay down to rest his head on her lap and closed his eyes, ready to sleep in full gear.
It didn’t take long until Alezya heard him snoring, and she wasn’t even really surprised.
Combing his hair with her fingers, she glanced around as everyone seemed to have spread out on every nearby piece of ground to rest.
While most of the fighters found positions and spots to nap, a handful remained alert and in full gear, and Alezya guessed those were the elected sentinels.
She couldn’t help but feel her heart tighten at the sight of those hundreds of men, peacefully napping in an icy forest in the middle of nowhere between mountains.
.. and in a few hours, they would be in the middle of an all-out war.
Alezya’s heart tightened at the idea; she had seen battles before, but the one that was coming was going to be bigger, and far worse.
As if he felt her nervousness, Kassein’s hand suddenly came up to grab hers, and intertwined their fingers gently; she hadn’t even realized he’d stopped snoring.
She pressed her palm against his, finding comfort in his warmth while she tried to relax. She had the strongest fighter of all by her side. No matter what happened, victory was theirs; she was sure of it.
“Nervous?”
Ekata’s voice took her by surprise. She sat down next to Alezya, and she looked tense too.
“How could I not be?” Alezya whispered, rubbing her thumb against Kassein’s skin. “It feels... unreal. The calm before the storm.”
“Quite literally,” Ekata muttered, glancing up at the dark skies above them. “I’m nervous too. A lot of my men are here... but at least, this is the best chance we’ll ever get at changing the future. This battle will shape the next generations. That’s what I’m telling myself, I guess.”
“It feels strange to battle other clans for... all the clans’ sakes.”
“Some of the old ways have to go, Alezya,” Ekata muttered.
“Some of those clans are too set in their ways; they’d never negotiate with the Dragon Clan.
If we show clans that we can get along enough for this, we might create a future that leads to our survival.
How many of us haven’t evolved in generations?
How many young women like me and you are sold and sacrificed by men who can’t do better?
This isn’t just about the Dragon Clan; this is about all those who had too much pride to believe in a woman talking about peace.
They chose war, Alezya, and you and I chose survival.
If we didn’t, I bet you one day my clan would have been erased like the Lumiata was, simply because we do not want to follow men like Darak and submit.
Or another young woman would have died in the snow after being repudiated for something she didn’t do. ”
“...I know,” Alezya muttered, thinking of Lumie.
“Men can fight, but women endure pain better,” Ekata said with a dark expression.
“We are survivors. We endure pain, and we protect others. Your man’s hands might have been made to fight, but yours were meant to nurture.
And I guarantee you that when this fight is over, whatever future you create next will be infinitely better than the one Darak devised.
He places pride in his wealth, but you? Your child is your pride, and that makes you more powerful than a greedy man like him.
All he cares about is the present, but us?
You and I, we think about the future. And this is the future we fight for. ”
Alezya let out a nervous chuckle.
“...I started a war for my daughter,” she smiled. “Isn’t that what being a mom is all about?”
“Damn right,” Ekata grinned.
She glanced around, and the clearing was incredibly peaceful and almost quiet. The drizzle had slowly turned to rain, forcing the men to cover their faces with their shields or cloaks.
“...What do you think will happen when this is over?” Alezya whispered.
“Things will change,” Ekata shrugged. “No more of each clan keeping to themselves. I want to do what Darak claimed: let everyone roam free and create a nation out of all the clans. To each their culture, but why weren’t we ever able to mix at all?
I want to see the south and tour every mountain.
I want a glimpse of the Dragon Clan too, to know where those strange people come from and why they’re not like any of us.
I want my kids to be able to go wherever they want to go, meet dozens of clans, and learn everything.
I never want my people to be confined to caves ever again. ”
“...I used to dream of flying away so much,” Alezya confessed.
“I love climbing because it was the only taste of freedom I ever got, perched as high as I could get. On the dark days, I thought about falling... but on the good ones, I dreamt that I could take flight like one of their dragons to wherever the wind would take me.”
“And now you fly a dragon,” Ekata winked.
“And now I fly a dragon,” Alezya agreed, glancing toward Kein’s large figure.
The dragon had somehow managed to find itself a spot nearby, once its deliveries were done, and had stretched itself belly-flat on the ground, napping like its owner without a care in the world.
Alezya let out a heavy sigh, and closed her eyes to rest, leaning her head against the tree and thinking about the old days, full of fear, of crawling through tiny holes, climbing skin-cutting cliffs, and being pinned to the mountain by a giant dragon with silver eyes...
“Alezya.”
She jolted awake, disoriented, unsure when she had even fallen asleep. Kassein’s piercing green eyes locked onto hers with an intensity she had never seen before. He was no longer resting on her lap but kneeling in front of her, his expression more serious than ever.
“ Battle, ” he said simply.
That one word was all it took to shake off the last remnants of sleep. Alezya nodded and took his hand as he pulled her to her feet.
The camp was in chaos. Warriors scrambled to get ready, some snatching a final bite to eat while others rushed to take their places in perfect formation.
“Darak’s men spotted us,” Ekut appeared beside her, his face dark with fury. “One of their scouts slipped past ours and spread the word. We have to strike now, or we risk walking into a trap.”
“The men are rested enough,” the Samial Clan Chief declared with a firm nod. “We’ve got this. Let’s end it before the sun rises!”
Alezya glanced up, but thick storm clouds loomed overhead, making it impossible to tell if dusk had already passed.
It didn’t matter. Around her, everything was moving at breakneck speed—warriors colliding, orders being shouted, weapons being secured.
The sheer urgency of it all made her pulse race.
This was it.
The war was beginning.
Before she could fully process the gravity of this moment, a large, warm hand took hers.
She barely had time to react before Kassein pulled her through the chaos, weaving between warriors until they reached Kein.
Without hesitation, he lifted her onto the dragon’s back, settling her into position as if she weighed nothing.
Her heart pounded wildly in her chest. She squeezed his hand, unwilling to let go.
“ You stay with Kein, ” he said. “ Safe. Fly above battle .”
“Kassein,” she whimpered, feeling on the verge of tears.
She didn’t want to let go. She didn’t want to take off while Kassein, Kiera, Ekata, and hundreds of men were going to rush into this battle.
This was one of the most terrifying moments of her life, and she didn’t know how to deal with it; all she knew was that she didn’t want to let go of Kassein’s hand.
It was like she was reliving the moment she had left Lumie in that tree trunk all over again; she felt like her heart was being ripped out of her chest, her stomach a block of ice.
Only Kassein didn’t seem worried at all.
For some unspeakable reason, that man seemed impossibly serene.
He lifted her hand to his lips, pressing a long kiss while his eyes were riveted on her.
Alezya could ignore the rain, the chaos of men running and shouting, the howling wind, but she couldn’t stop looking into his eyes.
She couldn’t shake the horrible feeling that she might lose him.
“Kassein,” she whimpered again between her tears.
But then, he let go of her hand, barked a command, and Kein took off.
Alezya barely had a second to brace herself before they shot into the sky.
The force of the ascent pressed her back, the wind howling in her ears as rain lashed against her skin.
Below, Kassein and the warriors shrank into a blur of frantic movement beneath the cover of the trees.
She sucked in a deep breath, her chest tight.
This was what she had wanted—to be part of this battle, to fight alongside them.
Now wasn’t the time to panic. Especially not when she was riding a dragon.
Alezya willed the hysteria away, forced herself into taking a deep breath, and angrily wiped her tears and rain-saturated cheeks.
“Let’s go see that Wailing Rift,” she muttered.
Perhaps Kein heard her, because the dragon replied with a deafening growl that shook the area awake. She saw birds take off in fright ahead of them now that the largest predator of all was roaming the skies. Those weren’t her prey, though.
Focusing on shifting her hips to navigate Kein and keep a tight hold on those spines or whatever it was that she could grab on the dragon’s neck, Alezya only took seconds to get used to riding alone.
It wasn’t as smooth as Kassein’s riding, and she missed his warm and reassuring presence behind her, but she was pretty confident she could direct Kein by shifting her weight or shouting what she wanted the dragon to do.