Page 177 of The Wild Prince’s Favorite (The Dragon Empire Saga #3)

Her body had never felt so heavy. Nor so cold.

It didn’t feel like her body, but a mountain: cold, hard, still, and impossible to move.

Everything felt off, like she was floating in a shell of herself.

The first sensation was pain. Her head ached in a dull, slow throb.

It was numbing and overtaking all of her senses.

She couldn’t remember anything; the pain was tainting and blurring everything.

She had the vague sensation that she should have remembered something.

Anything really. But right now, it felt too hard, too much of a task.

So, she let herself drift away softly, away from the pain, away from everything.

Faint voices reached her through the fog of her mind.

Whispers she couldn’t understand, lingering at the borders of her consciousness, titillating her senses.

She couldn’t remember who those voices belonged to, but they felt familiar, even pleasant.

She tried listening, but even that felt like an overwhelming effort.

So, she let them be, like a lingering sound she didn’t need to hold on to.

They felt nice, she thought, so nice that it made her happy for a reason she couldn’t quite pinpoint.

Thinking felt like too much work, but listening was passive; it was easy.

“Ma!”

The cute little voice nearby got her attention. She couldn’t figure out how to wake up fully, but she didn’t need to. Even through the fog, she felt something small touch her cheek, and a cute giggle followed. It brought her a mysterious joy.

“ Natim, Lumie. Natim.”

Another voice, familiar too. That one was soft and soothing. Then, another sound followed, one she couldn’t decipher this time. It was cute too, and made her feel warm inside, like the child’s soft chuckles. A second gentle tap on her face followed.

“ Ma ...”

The other voice replied, something Alezya couldn’t quite understand.

She tried to focus, but each attempt felt too strenuous and tiresome.

Listening was the only thing she could seem to do without feeling overwhelmed.

Something painful pulsated in her head, making her efforts feel worthless.

Her heart sank a bit as the only thing she could do was listen, and not think.

Yet, the little sounds that came felt like enough of a comfort.

Yes, those gentle, peaceful sounds were nice. It was enough for now.

Another set of voices brought her back to consciousness sometime later.

This time, Alezya remembered herself, and she remembered enough to recognize the low rumble of Kassein’s voice.

It felt like a warm blanket enveloping her senses, gentle and familiar.

The other voice was even lower than his but so similar that it felt familiar too.

They spoke in that frustrating, nonsensical language of theirs.

She could have understood better if she didn’t feel so.

.. tired. The pain in her head was still there, bothersome but not as bad.

It felt like an irritating knock, a sore throb she could ignore.

She heard her name among the flowing grunts and odd words a couple of times, and it made her happy.

Something warm was holding her too. Her hand, she realized after focusing for a couple of seconds.

They were holding her hand in a soft, warm grip.

She tried to focus on the sensations of her body, as heavy and bothersome as it was.

.. She couldn’t move, but she could get a vague sense of her limbs, lying like useless growths that weighed her down.

She was resting on something soft that made her body feel like it was sinking in.

It was nice, but she felt restless, and while her body was unresponsive, her mind was bored.

She wanted to know what they were saying.

She wanted to talk, to ask, to let them know she was there, but nothing worked, nothing responded.

She was just there, helpless. Trapped in an unresponsive body, too tired for anything, her senses were her only tool.

So, she focused on those like they were her rope to hold onto this glimpse of reality.

The voices were easy to listen to; they remained nearby and floated to her ears, a solemn, continuous melody she could rely on.

A faint, lovely sound of rain too. It had taken her a while to realize it was there, but now, she could hear it in the background, soft, steady, and familiar.

Rain, hitting the ground, the walls, from close and far away.

And something light and flowery. No, that was a smell, she realized.

The smell of rain and the smell of some flowers.

Or wet grass. Or wet flowers. Either way, she focused on the smells, and there was something even better, smelling good and familiar, nearby.

She couldn’t remember what it was, but she knew she loved that smell very much. It made her happy.

“Ma!”

The little voice was growing impatient. Alezya listened, fighting to find her way to the surface.

“Ma... Ma...”

She felt tiny hands tapping lightly on her shoulder. Alezya focused on that until she finally followed her urge to open her eyes. It took her a second, and the first thing she saw was Lumie’s blinding smile, right next to her face. The little girl squealed in delight.

“Ma!” she exclaimed fiercely, looking pleased.

Her little eyes were bright, her cheeks a subtle pink, and someone had put her white curls into two tiny pigtails that bounced with her. It was adorable. She sat back, wiggling and clapping her hands in delight.

“Ma! Ma! Ma!” she kept chanting.

“Hey...” Alezya’s hoarse voice managed.

Her throat felt tight and dry, and she swallowed with difficulty. Her body was still heavy, and the pain in her head was a dull throb, but she managed to glance around the room. After a second, she noticed a large figure sitting nearby.

It took her a second to realize the man sitting there wasn’t Kassein, but the resemblance was striking.

This man had a longer, thicker mane of darker hair, with streaks of white, although some of it was braided back.

He had darker skin, too, and his eyes were a warm, dark brown instead of the gentle forest green she was used to.

He was just as large, though, and his facial features were nearly identical to Kassein’s.

He also had a beard covering his chin, with little patches of white in it.

“You’re awake,” he noted with an incredibly low voice.

“Where…?”

But upon recognizing the dark walls, she realized where she was. Kalat Unshreik . Kassein’s home. She was resting in a large bed in one of those rooms. It was dark outside, but the sky was a soft purple, indicating dawn or sunset; she wasn’t sure.

Alezya looked back at the man, and suddenly, she realized what had been nagging at the back of her mind.

“You speak our language,” she muttered, stunned. “You speak... our clans’ tongue.”

“Not well,” he shook his head, “but yes, I learned.”

“How...?”

“Another clan taught us,” he explained. “From the mountains.”

His pronunciation was indeed off, and she had to focus to understand some of the words he used, but he was far more fluent in her language than she was in theirs.

“I see... Kassein,” she rasped. “How is he?”

The man let out a shadow of a smile, and she relaxed; Kassein had to be fine.

Alezya nodded, before regretting the movement as a dull ache in her head made her wince.

She could feel something pressing around her head and the pungent smell of medicine.

Someone had braided her hair to one side, but something ached more strongly on the other side.

She couldn’t remember hitting her head, but she vaguely remembered the fall.

It was blurry, but it somewhat made sense.

She let out a faint breath and ignored the pain, focusing on the man instead.

“...My son loves you,” the man suddenly spoke again.

Alezya blushed, but she didn’t shy away from his gaze.

“I love him too,” she whispered.

He gave her a slow nod.

“...Thank you,” he finally said.

“For what?”

“For loving him,” he replied.

Alezya was slightly confused, but Lumie stole her attention with another tap on her arm.

She smiled at her baby, cupping her cheek and caressing it with her thumb.

That’s when she noticed that, in the darkness, Niiru was also curled up against her.

The baby dragon was right behind Lumie, with her bum resting against it like a tiny seat of dark scales.

Niiru’s head was on Alezya’s leg, its little eyes on her.

Its tail was swishing left and right, tapping Lumie’s leg until she grabbed it and tugged it with a frown; Niiru didn’t complain.

“...You look a lot like him,” Alezya commented, glancing back at the man.

The man nodded with another of his faint smiles.

“I’m Kairen,” he said. “Kassein’s father.”

“I heard you,” she said just as she realized it, “while I was unconscious. Talking with Kassein.”

He nodded again.

“He refused to leave your side. Or Lumie’s.”