Page 25 of The Wild Prince’s Favorite (The Dragon Empire Saga #3)

She couldn’t tell if they could see she was awake, given how dark the room was. Probably not; the man standing was too far and the warrior had his back turned toward her, so she was only at the very edge of his peripheral vision...

Alezya silently curled up a bit more under the sheets, closed her eyes, and kept listening.

She couldn’t understand a word of what they were saying, and her hopes were disappointed as she had thought to be able to learn at least a new word from listening.

Their tongue was more guttural, with lots of sharp sounds and quick tongue clicks.

It had something warm about it though. Especially the warrior’s voice.

It was like hearing a large beast purr when one would only expect growls. ..

She chased those thoughts to the back of her mind, feeling ashamed. How could she think such things at a time like this…?

It was clearly morning when she woke up again.

Alezya stared toward the open entrance, wondering if it had been two, three, or more days since she’d been brought here. The stabbing pain in her heart rose anew.

Once again, the thought of each second she’d spent away from her child broke her heart. It was out of sheer will and hope that Lumie was alright that she’d been holding on until now, pushing the darkest thoughts into a corner of her mind just to tell herself she had to hang on a bit longer…

The man had probably opened the fabric flap to air out the space, and it felt good to have some fresh, cold wind gently greeting her face, by contrast to the rest of her body still warm under the blankets.

There was a fresh layer of white snow from what she could see of outside, meaning it was probably a clear, blue sky day. The perfect white snow made her think of Lumie. She missed her baby so much already...

They had never been apart for this long since her birth. It felt like her heart had been ripped out of her chest and left somewhere. Her throat tightened a bit, and she hardly suppressed the urge to cry. Instead, she tried to focus on something else.

Soon enough, she noticed the little bowl that was on the small table next to the bed.

Alezya forced herself to sit up, careful about her legs.

At least her wounds were healing properly, it seemed.

Whatever medicine that man was using was quite efficient.

.. and all of her bandages had been changed again without her noticing.

After months of living afraid of everyone, Alezya had learned to sleep lightly, an ear out for the smallest sound, so it was astonishing to her that she could have slept so soundly while someone moved her and changed her bandages.

She took the small bowl, full of still lukewarm food.

There was some new foreign mixture at the bottom that smelled sweet with slices of fruit on top.

It smelled good, and this time, she didn’t hesitate before trying it.

The taste surprised her. It was so flavorful and filling.

The pieces of fruit were white, crisp, sweet, and a bit juicy too.

They had visibly been cut in small chunks from a bigger fruit, and she wondered if the warrior had cut it for her, or if this was the breakfast all their people got.

.. If so, they were lucky to be able to have that thing every day. She ate slowly, thankful for this.

While she was still busy eating, someone walked into the habitation.

Alezya expected the warrior, but instead, it was a tall, scrawny man wearing a coat two times too big for him.

There was so much fur around him, all the way up to his neck, that his head seemed to be small and just popping out of a bundle of dark brown fur.

He had long black hair, thin lips, a small nose, and skin strangely covered by hundreds of little marks.

She was almost sure it was the man she’d heard chatting with the warrior a few hours ago.

.. He stood at the entrance for a little while, staring at her with a deadpan expression.

Alezya wondered if she should put the bowl down, but really, she felt no threat coming from this man... or, to be exact, he looked like the weakest man she’d ever seen.

For a little while, he said nothing, just staring at her. And then, he let out a sudden and big sigh, as if he was annoyed. Alezya frowned.

He walked up to her bed, and she prepared herself for anything, but he rummaged through the depths of his coat, and suddenly took out a small little bottle, handing it to her.

She was confused. He looked reluctant to give her something that just looked like.

.. water? The bottle itself was really pretty though. She put her bowl aside and took it.

“ Ti. Shrib .”

He spoke loudly and excessively clearly as if she was deaf, which annoyed Alezya. She showed the bottle and asked with one of the two words of their language she’d learned.

“ Mahi? ”

She wasn’t sure of her pronunciation, but at least, the word and the context should have made her question clear...

She waited, expecting an answer, but the man just stared at her with that deadpan expression of his for a couple of seconds, before rudely rolling his eyes and turning around to leave without a word. Alezya had already decided she didn’t like this man.

He left, and she was alone with that bottle thing.

Was she supposed to drink it? She checked it up close, and the cap had visibly been sealed. If she opened it, it would be obvious. Did he expect her to keep it to hand to the warrior when he came back?

But he could have just left it for him on the table... While she wasn’t sure, Alezya decided to leave that thing aside and finish her bowl of breakfast first. Now she wished she’d been up when it had been brought; this thing ought to be delicious when hot...

“Ti ha shribahu? ”

The man’s voice took her by surprise; she hadn’t heard the warrior come back into the habitation.

Alezya glanced up, and she realized he was questioning her about the bottle on the little table.

She put her bowl aside and grabbed it, showing it to him.

He walked over, and after kneeling in front of the bed like he usually did, gently pushed it toward her, his fingers only touching the bottle.

With a little nod, he confirmed it was for her to drink.

“ Shrib .”

Shrib . Drink, she guessed. Another word for her vocabulary.

Why was this bottle for her to drink? It was strangely small and preciously conserved, it couldn’t just be mere water... Mistaking her hesitation, he took it from her hand and opened it, breaking the seal effortlessly.

Then, he handed it back to her without the cap.

Alezya smelled it. It just smelled like nothing, like water.

.. She touched it with the tip of her tongue.

Just water? It had a very, very faint taste, something mineral maybe.

Seeing how the man encouraged her with another nod, she gave up and drank it.

It had to be something safe, right? It would have made no sense to poison or drug her now. .. She emptied the bottle.

It really was just water, or at least that was her deduction.

Nothing strange about it, no alcohol or weird aftertaste or anything.

When she finished it, the man seemed a bit relieved and took the bottle back.

Why had the other man seemed so reluctant to give it to her?

Alezya knew she was missing something there, but she had no idea what.

As the man stood back up to put the bottle away, Alezya felt the strange need to say something.

She hadn’t said a word since she’d woken up, but if she was to use that man to regain her health and get back to the mountains, she had to get him to understand her a bit. And she needed to understand him too.

“Thank you,” she said, in her language.

The man, surprised, turned around and stared at her.

“Thank you,” she repeated, still in her language.

There was no way to know if he’d understood, so she hoped to convey it through her emotion and expression.

The man stared at her, confused for a few seconds.

His eyes went to the almost finished bowl of food, on the jug of water that had been left on the table for her, on the blankets.

Alezya faintly smiled. At least he was as bad at understanding her as she was understanding him. ..

The man suddenly walked over and kneeled down again in front of her.

Every time he did that, she felt deeply uneasy and uncomfortable, but he didn’t seem to care at all.

More importantly, she was curious as to what he was going to do next.

Was he going to ask her to repeat until he understood what she’d said?

He stared into her eyes and suddenly said another word she’d never heard before.

“ Kassein .”

She frowned. What was that word supposed to mean?

While she was still wondering, he suddenly gave her the answer by pointing at his chest.

“ Kassein ,” he repeated.

His name. Kassein wasn’t just a word, it was his name.

“Kassein?” she repeated.

He nodded, and another rare smile faintly appeared on his lips for less than a second. Kassein. She now knew the name of her savior. In a similar fashion, Alezya pointed at herself.

“Alezya,” she told him.

“Aleshya?”

She frowned. Were the sounds foreign to him? Their tongues were so different. Still, she shook her head and tried again.

“Alezya,” she repeated, insisting on the second part and how she moved her lips differently.

“Alezya?”

She nodded. It wasn’t perfect, as his pronunciation was a bit too rough and used the back of his throat too much, but this time, the sound was right at least. The man seemed surprised with himself.

“Alezya,” he repeated.

He seemed pleased to have finally learned her name too, and that made her feel strangely good. Thinking immediately about what she wanted to learn next, Alezya grabbed the bowl of the breakfast food she’d had and showed it to him. She pointed at the little bit of leftover.

“ Kuha ?” she asked.

She had remembered him saying that, and it either meant food, or eat, or something like that. He shook his head.

“ Taam .”

“ Taam? ”

Taam meant food. She tried to mentally remember that. It was going to be hard if she couldn’t write anything down, but she was going to have to learn and remember quickly. Taam , food. Mahi , water. Inkir , more. Then, kuha meant to eat?

“Alezya.”

She turned to him, and he pointed at the bowl, and then her. For a second, she was curious about what he wanted, but then, she realized.

He wanted to learn it in her language? She hesitated.

What for? Was he planning to use this later?

Any communication between the Dragon Clan and her people was unprecedented, from what she knew.

.. Was he going to tell his superior that someone could translate her people’s language? Perhaps that was his aim all along?

He wasn’t interested in her body, but in what she knew.

If he learned her language, would he use it to dig up information to use against the clans?

Alezya was surprised at how she felt herself still wanting to protect her homeland from the Dragon Clan after what she had gone through, but her instincts were flaring up at the surprising demand.

Why was she hesitating? She most likely wouldn’t be welcomed back... but she didn’t want to be a traitor. There were children up there. Families, women, and young ones as innocent as Lumie.

Lumie. She had to do anything to retrieve her child. That was the priority in her mind, and eventually, what helped her make her decision.

“Ruokaa,” she finally taught him.

This word, he didn’t have any issues repeating. There, she’d done it.

A small seed of fear was planted in Alezya’s stomach at this moment. Was she committing a mistake by trusting a stranger? It wouldn’t have been the first time she would be used and eventually betrayed by someone.

But what choice did she have? That stranger was the only way she was going to get back to Lumie.

If she didn’t show willingness, would he stop helping her?

She knew it was a bit foolish after all he’d done for her, but doubting men had become second nature.

She still felt nervous whenever he came close to her, when he was so near, his eyes on her.

However, he didn’t ask her to learn more. Instead, he handed her back the bowl, gesturing for her to finish it. She quickly did, gulping up what was left in two mouthfuls. It really was good food. Taam , she remembered. Food.

“ Inkir ?” he asked.

“ Inkir ,” she nodded.

She didn’t know how long she’d been asleep this time, but she felt she had enough empty space for more of that delicious thing. The warrior didn’t seem to mind fetching some for her.

As he left, Alezya sighed. This was a strange new reality to get used to.

Something she couldn’t quite feel at ease with yet, but that man was somehow making everything feel safer.

She hadn’t left the enclosure so far, but she was nervous about what she’d possibly find outside.

How long would it take for her to be able to step out?

She felt better. ...She felt a lot better already, actually. Now that she was paying attention to her body, she noticed the pain that was previously radiating from every limb had somehow been subdued by quite a lot. Even her ankles were still aching, but not as badly as before.

Alezya was dumbfounded. Was it possible to heal so fast?

Or had she slept a lot more than she thought?

But no amount of sleep could prompt a miraculous healing.

Her eyes suddenly went to the bottle, as if it all clicked.

Was it because of that water she’d drank?

What was that strange water? She couldn’t be sure, but she had some gut feeling it was related.

Did the Dragon Clan have such advanced medicine?

Just with this, a bit of hope reignited in her heart. If she had these kinds of means within her reach, then maybe she had more chances to get back to her baby than she thought...