Page 182 of The Wild Prince’s Favorite (The Dragon Empire Saga #3)

She was almost beaming, and Alezya smiled.

She had felt the same way when she had stared at the mountains for hours and at the horizon toward the south.

Now, many children of the clans would grow up with the same vision, of a world much, much bigger that was waiting for them.

Sure, the Dragon Clan was still too grand and too intimidating, a world of mysteries, but still, at the very least, no one would have to grow up confined in a cave anymore.

With the threat of dragon attacks gone, they would be free to live outside, run down the hills, or stand at the tops of a cliffs.

“Lady Alezya.”

Alezya turned to find Tievin, looking tired but strangely surrounded by young children who were playing and tugging on his robes, trying to get a reaction out of him while he clung onto one of his usual paper pads.

“Tievin,” she smiled. “Lady?”

“ I learned the word from Lady Cassandra,” he nodded. “ I will learn. ”

“ Thank you. Thank you for helping the clans,” Alezya said.

He let out a long sigh, glancing around at the kids who were laughing at his reactions.

“ Yes ,” he shrugged.

“ You look tired, ” Kassein told his second without an ounce of apology in his tone.

Alezya laughed while Tievin gave his Aqayir a pissed-off look.

“ Yes, I am, Aqayir ,” he groaned. “ I am very, very much tired while you rested at Kalat Unshreik with Lady Alezya. Very, very tired. ”

With a pout, he went to make a theatrical exit, but he spun so fast while the children held onto his cloak that he nearly fell on his face, making all the children bark in laughter. Alezya bit her lip too and turned to Kassein with an admonishing look.

“ Be nice to Tievin, ” she said.

Kassein shrugged.

“ Mom said he needs a wife. ”

“...Oh,” Alezya blinked, before smiling. “We can definitely find him a wife.”

She did not doubt that there would be plenty of young ladies willing to marry a scholar from the Dragon Clan.

Maybe plenty of widows too. If many women, like her, had been forced into marriage without a clue about their partner, some might be happy to enjoy their freedom, but some might enjoy even more having a man they picked.

.. She looked around, seeing men of the Dragon Clan helping build new habitations, and a bunch of women nearby from other clans who were glancing in the foreign men’s directions.

They weren’t even trying to hide their curiosity and kept peering the other way while they were busy helping with chores or rounding up the children.

There were people from many different clans coming and going, and few supplies, but some tables were set up outside, and some men seemed to be coming back from a hunt.

“...What is this place?” she asked Ekata.

“This is the spot we chose for negotiations,” Ekata explained.

“We needed some place central and large enough for, uh, the dragons to land. People representing their clans can come and go easily, and those who need help can stay and request help from other clans. Some cannot go back to their homes, so we are scouting for options. We’re not far from the Wailing Rift, either.

Many were still recovering and burying bodies until recently, and a handful of people are still missing. ”

“Do you know where my clan is?”

Ekata frowned.

“Some of them are here,” she said, “but things have been... complicated. Many don’t want anything to do with Darak’s clan.”

“They’re here?” Alezya blinked in surprise.

Ekata nodded, and she led her through the clearing.

On the way there, and as they passed by many people, all from different clans, Alezya noted that some of the children were playing around chasing Niiru.

When she glanced back, she saw a handful of others were having some kind of dare game about who would be brave enough to approach Kein, and that made her smile.

Eventually, they approached a little spot on the edge of the clearing, where a handful of people were gathered. Alezya froze as she recognized the faces before they even saw her. Then, slowly, she witnessed her cousin’s gaze reaching her, her eyes opening wide, and she ran to her.

“Alezya!”

“Zenia?”

She had barely spoken her name when her cousin closed the distance and wrapped her in a hug. It was so out of the blue, so unexpected, that Alezya couldn’t decide whether to return her hug or not before Zenia stepped back, her cheeks red.

“Sorry, I’m just... I’m so, so sorry,” Zenia said, tears appearing in her eyes already. “I... It’s been so eventful, and... and we heard everything that you did, and... then, the war...”

“Are you alright?” Alezya asked after her mind cleared, taking her cousin’s hand gently.

Zenia blinked at where their hands were joined, like she couldn’t understand the movement. Then, her hand tightened back, and she swallowed a sob.

“I should be the one asking you that,” she mumbled. “We heard bits and pieces, but...”

She glanced nervously behind Alezya.

“No one is very fond of us at the moment,” she chuckled nervously.

“Did anyone harm you?”

“No,” Zenia quickly shook her head, but her voice broke with the next words, “but the other clans... They wanted to kill the men we had left. Including Suolk.”

“Is Suolk fine?” Alezya immediately asked, remembering how well he’d treated Lumie.

“He is,” Zenia nodded. “I thought... I thought we were all going to die. But when they found us, the Dragon Clan... They told the other clans not to touch us. That you didn’t want them to.”

Her cousin finally broke into a sob, and Alezya let out a sigh of relief.

She knew it couldn’t have been easy for them.

They were too closely tied to Darak; of course, many had blamed them for this.

.. for what their clan leader had done. Too many had died because of him.

Alezya hugged her cousin, this time, and glanced over Zenia’s shoulder.

The few men and women gathered were all familiar faces, tired-looking faces she had known most of her life.

The same faces that had shown her nothing but contempt and disdain for the past couple of years.

And yet, the very faces that had once looked down on her were now staring at her with something else entirely, something that almost resembled hope.

Just beyond them, three Dragon Clan warriors stood guard, silent and alert.

Among them was Dajan, a fresh cut marking his temple and one shoulder was still bandaged, but he held himself with quiet confidence.

When their eyes met, he gave her a firm, confident nod, and Alezya smiled back, her chest tightening with something like pride.

“Thank you,” she whispered for him to see, and he replied with another nod, a slight blush appearing on his cheeks.

Then, she caressed her cousin’s hair while she cried.

“Many died,” Zenia mumbled. “Many men... Your father took the best fighters with him, and they were all killed too. And the men he sent down... Suolk survived, but so many died...”

“Did you get to bury them?” Alezya asked.

“Yeah... Yeah, we did,” her cousin nodded, pulling back a bit to look her in the eyes, “but we don’t know what to do next.

.. We don’t have a clan chief, Alezya. No one wants to do it.

We have dozens of widows and children, and we can’t provide for everyone.

.. The Dragon Clan helped us for the past few days, but then what?

I don’t... I know you don’t owe us anything, but.

.. Please. I know we don’t deserve anything from you, but please, can you help us? ”

Alezya took in her cousin’s forlorn expression, her pleading eyes, and then, all the gazes she felt on her.

She glanced at what remained of her clan again.

She spotted Suolk, stepping out of the line of trees, and their eyes met for a brief second, before she noticed what he had in his hand.

A hare. He’d gone to hunt to feed them, she realized.

And that was all he’d come back with… It brought back some sour memories for her.

When she had been the one outcasted, the one in need of help, none of them had lent a hand. No one had given her food or even kindness. They’d treated her like a pariah and Lumie like a disease.

Now they were the ones desperate for help.

A clan with only a handful of men and with no one willing to help out wouldn’t recover.

The other clans would be able to trade, lean on each other, and maybe even flourish once those routes were opened between their homes.

But the Deklaan Clan was unwelcome. What remained of her father’s people would forever be outcasts in the mountains, the ones held responsible for the war and all the losses.

The women hadn’t been taught to hunt or even pick herbs.

There were too few men left to feed them all.

She doubted the widows would even find anyone willing to take them in, not when there were dozens of women from other clans in the same situation.

Alezya glanced back at Kassein. He was standing still, a hand on her lower back, waiting for her, as always.

Patient, kind, and willing to support whatever she decided.

She could let go, she thought. She could let her cousin and her clan fend for themselves.

She would have had every right to, after what had happened.

They had rejected her first. She could have died in a crevice or bled out in the snow, if it had been up to them.

She wasn’t sure a single one of them would have shed a tear.

But then, she looked again beyond Zenia’s shoulders.

At the children. There was a handful of them, being bounced in their mother’s arms, or for the oldest ones, peeking with envy at the dragons through the trees.

She could see in their eyes they were dying to chase after Niiru with the others or eager to approach Kein.

Alezya took in a deep breath and returned her gaze to Zenia.

“...I want you to leave the mountains,” she calmly said.

“W-what?” Zenia blinked, just as her husband walked up to them.

“There’s nothing left for you here,” Alezya calmly explained to the two of them. “The Deklaan Clan needs to disappear. No other clan will be willing to trade with you, and no mountain will be welcoming. Take the men, women, and children that are left and come down the mountains.”

“How could we?” Zenia cried. “We’ve never lived anywhere but here. We wouldn’t know how to start over—”

But Suolk put a hand on her shoulder, interrupting her, and, with a resolute look, turned his eyes to Alezya.

“...Where do you think we should go?” he asked calmly.

It was the first time ever that a man from her clan was asking Alezya a question, and genuinely asking her for guidance. She swallowed, and held her cousin’s husband’s gaze.

“Come to the Dragon Clan. They won’t care about what you did as the other clans do.”

“But...” her cousin frowned, glancing at the Dragon Clan’s men. “...Are you sure? They’re... you know.”

“If I survived down there, you will,” Alezya said.

“They could use some women down there, to be honest. They can’t even make proper tea, and they could use some hands to help with chores.

You could earn your keep doing what you know, like sewing, making food, or laundry, and the men could hunt.

There’s more to their territory, where you could relocate. ”

“...They can’t make tea?” Zenia frowned, confused.

“They keep drinking hot water for some reason; it’s disgusting.”

Her cousin chuckled but glanced at the men off to the side. Dajan and his two companions blushed and looked at their feet. Dajan’s bandages on his shoulder were messy, their hair was poorly cut, and they had dirt behind their ears.

“It looks like they could use some women indeed,” Zenia smiled.

Alezya nodded before looking back at the two of them.

“That’s my offer,” she said. “The Deklaan Clan doesn’t need a new leader; it needs a new life.”

After a hesitation, Suolk nodded.

“Thank you, Alezya,” he said. “I know we... None of us deserve your kindness.”

“It’s not kindness,” Alezya replied, “but... the ones I resented the most are already dead, and being cast out set me free. And now I’m free to choose the future I want.

And the future I want isn’t to let women and children suffer like I did out of resentment.

I’m choosing to move forward. I got a second chance at life. I think everyone deserves one.”

She took a step back, leaning into Kassein’s embrace as she smiled at him.

He smiled back and leaned over to press a kiss to the top of her head, unbothered by all the eyes on them.

She felt his arm move from her lower back to curl around her waist until he splayed his hand on her belly again.

She let out a peaceful sigh and glanced up at the blue sky beyond the mountains.

“...I used to fear the future. Now I think I’m looking forward to it,” she whispered.