Page 32 of The Wild Prince’s Favorite (The Dragon Empire Saga #3)
He made sure she was stable on her own, although he still held her firmly by her waist in case she stumbled or something; he didn’t trust the state of her feet. Alezya did struggle to stay up, but that was most likely the fright that had left her legs weak.
Moreover, she did look at the dragon and its “present” for her, but slowly, her gaze shifted to their surroundings. It was her first time seeing the camp herself, so Kassein let her look around, take in the environment.
She looked at all the tents scattered around, the few soldiers who’d stopped to watch this strange scene, and farther away, the snow-covered forest. Then, her eyes turned toward the mountains.
Like a large rock wall, the mountains this woman had come from were now standing tall before her, at an angle she’d most likely never seen them from before.
Kassein watched Alezya’s expression intently during this moment.
And that’s when he saw it, again. Her tears, pearling quietly at the corner of her eyes, and that unspeakable expression on her face. There was despair, hope, sadness, and longing in her eyes, and it broke Kassein’s heart a bit. ...At first, he’d thought she missed her old home, but no.
There had to be something else. Somebody else. She was missing someone. He knew the signs all too well.
She kept staring at those mountains, scouring them for a sign, clearly looking for something. It had to be someone very important for her to look up so long when there was a gigantic beast right in front of her.
“...Alezya?”
He’d called her gently, but she jumped, her watery eyes going back to him. She was clearly distressed and a bit embarrassed to have cried in front of him from the way she awkwardly rubbed her eyes.
Kassein grabbed her wrists to stop her before she undid her bandages, and looked into her eyes, with a serious expression.
“You need to go back up there, don’t you?”
Of course, she had no idea what he’d just said.
She just stared at him with a lost expression, a bit upset.
After a hesitation, Kassein followed his impulse to put his hand against her cheek.
If she seemed surprised by his gesture at first, Alezya didn’t push him away.
Instead, she kept her dark eyes staring at him, listening to his words.
“I’ll help you go back,” Kassein promised. “I’ll help you go back up there, to your people.”
He didn’t know what had happened to her, but if she wanted to go back, he’d help her.
Suddenly, Kein growled furiously behind her, its claws angrily digging into the ground. Its violent burst of anger made Alezya jump, but Kassein immediately stepped between them, shielding her with his body.
Kein wasn’t calming down this time. The dragon stood back up, furiously growling and going on a rampage where it stood, sending snow flying and making the ground tremble.
Still, for once, it didn’t try to attack Kassein.
The Imperial Prince stood perfectly still between his dragon and Alezya, glaring back as if daring the dragon to attack.
After a while, he turned his back on the dragon, and picked up Alezya again, taking her back inside. There was no reason to let her witness any more of his dragon’s madness nor let her stand in the cold, especially now that he’d made up his mind to send her back.
They got back inside the tent, and he gently put her back down on the bed; Alezya didn’t seem to mind the end of her short break outside, she still looked a bit sad and distraught.
At a loss of what to do, Kassein put water to boil on the fire; that was what his mother had always done to appease tensions, and he must have picked up that habit after all.
Then, he went back to Alezya and sat down in front of her, him on the carpet of fur on the floor while she sat above him on the bed.
“When Tievin comes back with new clothes for you and you feel better, I’ll take you back to the mountain,” he said.
“...Tievin?” she said.
He chuckled faintly. She was most likely repeating the only word she’d recognized from his sentence. He nodded, but didn’t explain any further; he didn’t have the heart to.
Instead, he simply waited for that water to boil, in silence, his eyes down on her injured feet.
He’d given her some of the sacred water from the Lake of the Imperial Palace, so of course she was healing fast. She’d be a lot better in a matter of days.
.. and he hated himself for regretting helping her recover faster.
While he was lost in some dark thoughts, Alezya’s hands appeared in his field of vision. To his surprise, she was moving toward his forearms with a curious expression. He didn’t react and watched, curious as to what she was doing, until her fingers reached his skin.
A faint shiver went down his spine, but he did his best to stay still. She glanced up at him, her expression hard to decipher this time.
It was like she was worried, or asking for his permission.
As he didn’t react, her eyes went back down to his skin, and he realized what she was going for: his scales.
Most of his body had been covered all along by the fur cape, but as he sat, his arms were revealed, and Alezya was frowning at the orange scales.
Her fingers finally reached it, and she frowned even more, glancing up at him with questions in her eyes.
“ Dryagaan? ” she asked in a soft voice. “ ... Kein?”
Her index finger pointed toward the entrance of the tent.
She had realized those were dragon scales, the exact same ones as she’d just seen on the orange dragon standing outside.
He nodded, but she only seemed even more confused.
Kassein sighed and took off his fur cape.
He let it fall around him, and then, he also took off his armor, which could use a bit of cleaning, showing Alezya his bare torso.
The woman blushed slightly, and her eyes widened in surprise.
There were a lot more scales visible on his chest, scattered across his massive body, some fainter, some more visible, a bright orange.
She gasped in shock. Her eyes went back to the entrance of the tent, then to his torso, then back to him again, as if she was just now making all the right connections. Kassein grasped her hand and pulled it so her fingers could freely touch his scales.
He tried hard to suppress another shiver when her cold skin met his.
“Kein,” he nodded once her hand was on the scales.
Alezya left her mouth open, speechless. She blinked a couple of times, her eyes scouring his body, completely impressed or shocked.
As if to prove himself even further, Kassein took out a small dagger from his hip. Alezya pulled her hand back, a bit worried, but he put the blade against where his skin was intact, on his forearm which was usually protected by a metal sleeve. In front of her eyes, he cut himself.
Alezya gasped, and grabbed his hand, pulling the hand with the dagger away from his skin to stop him.
Kassein was already bleeding though, and as her eyes went to the injury, she witnessed for herself the incredible phenomenon.
The vibrant orange scales seemed to sprout right out of the injury and quickly covered it all.
It happened in a matter of seconds, and after a little while longer, the orange scales themselves faded, melting back into his skin to leave it flawless.
Alezya was completely stunned, staring at where the injury had disappeared.
Her grip on his hand with the weapon lessened, and her eyes slowly moved, from his forearm to the rest of his body, as if evaluating the large patches of orange scales again.
She hesitated, then pointed her finger at his chest.
“ ...Dryagaan? ” she muttered.
Kassein wasn’t sure what she meant, but the question didn’t seem to be actually directed at him. It sounded more like she was having a hard time believing what she’d just seen. She opened and closed her mouth again. Her eyes were still on the scales as if she still couldn’t believe it.
Kassein took her hand and gently pressed it against his torso again, to let her feel them.
He couldn’t feel the temperature difference as much when her skin was against the scales, but nevertheless, that contact made his stomach do a loop.
Perhaps he’d taken her hand to touch him for something more impure than his scales.
.. He let go, but her hand stayed on his torso a couple of seconds longer, and their eyes met.
That’s when he realized she was as flustered as he was.
The water bubbling over making the fire sizzle caused them both to jump.
Alezya took back her hand, and Kassein got up to take the pot off the fire. An awkward silence took over the tent as he prepared two cups of hot water, each avoiding the other’s gaze.
Alezya had retreated back on the bed, although she’d kept the fur coat around her shoulders.
Kassein had considered putting his clothes and armor back on, but after one look, he realized it was too sullied already.
He gave Alezya her cup of water and put his aside.
It was a bit too hot for her to drink yet, so she just held it between her hands and watched as he used the remaining hot water to quickly clean the blood off of himself with a cloth.
Her gaze on his half-naked body was perhaps even worse than when she’d touched him earlier. Since when did a woman’s eyes have this kind of effect on him? He did his best to ignore it, putting the dirty clothes aside and briefly cleaning his armor before putting it back on.
His fur cape was the most blood-stained, so he just left it aside, knowing someone would come and pick it up to clean later. Once all that was done, he realized he wasn’t sure how to act in front of her.