Page 33 of The Wild Prince’s Favorite (The Dragon Empire Saga #3)

He grabbed the cup as the hot water couldn’t burn him and drank it quickly.

He knew she was still seated on the bed and staring at him, but the lack of communication between them was getting more and more frustrating.

.. No, he shouldn’t think about it too much.

She’d be back in the mountains soon anyway. Why was he so bothered?

“...I’ll be going outside. Call Kein if you need me.”

“Kein?”

Outside the tent, his dragon growled softly in response.

At least she now knew the name of his dragon... although he highly doubted she’d understood the rest of his sentence. Kassein sighed and walked out.

He walked past his dragon, which didn’t miss the chance to furiously growl at him, but he ignored it. Kassein just wanted to get away from his tent, and from those frustrating thoughts he had.

He walked deeper into the camp, crossing paths with several men surprised to see him up and roaming.

“C-Commander? Are you going for a hunt?”

He was annoyed that he’d sent Tievin away. At least when the Grand Intendant was there, he didn’t need to report every single one of his movements nor give orders to the men.

Still, he ignored them all and kept walking, headed for the forest. He had thought about going up into the mountains, but every time he did, Alezya’s image came to mind. What if he ended up attacking someone who was important to her this time? What if he already did, and she wasn’t aware?

He’d never thought twice about the Northern people before.

They had pushed every attack, fought back when they were attacked, and that was all there was to it.

No need to think about it too much; he didn’t need to think when his brother gave him the order.

After all, Kassian had only wanted to get rid of him by sending him here.

He’d pushed the army as far as he could, but he didn’t care enough to actually try and invade those mountains.

Why would he? It would be sacrificing more men, and Kassian would use that against him too. Kassein only tolerated the deaths he could justify. But now, he felt like he couldn’t justify any of them anymore.

He walked alone in the forest, ready to hunt anything that came his way. Those woods that had remained untouched by humankind for decades were still full of life, and it didn’t take long for him to come across the first hares.

He ignored the smaller prey though. He’d only taken his sword and a small dagger, and he didn’t need anything from skinny snow hares. He was looking for the real challenge, the current masters of the area, the ones topping the food chain. The snow leopards.

Those felines were numerous and had propagated as much as they wanted without a natural enemy to stop them.

They did fight once in a while with the wolves or bears in the forest, but because of their agility, the felines could climb the mountain for safety and come back down to the forest to hunt when the prey up there got scarce.

The other bigger creatures didn’t have that luxury, and would sometimes move south to avoid those dangerous predators.

Kassein’s capes were usually bearskin, for they were wide enough to cover his whole body.

He didn’t care much for snow leopards usually, but right now, he was on the prowl for one. His dragon had inspired him, perhaps.

As predicted, he soon encountered one. A young male, it seemed, roaming alone and fully aware there weren’t many that could defeat it from the way it strolled carelessly. It froze on sight as soon as its eyes met Kassein’s though and it began growling, a warning for the stranger.

Kassein scoffed. The snow leopard wasn’t completely foolish; it was growling furiously, ears down, its fur standing on end and its tail curled under it.

“You alone?” Kassein asked, glancing around for the rest of its family.

Snow leopards often hunted in groups, but after scouring their surroundings, it became clear this young male was on its own.

“...Got kicked out by your family too?” Kassein muttered.

The beast growled even more. Somehow, it seemed aware of how dangerous the male human was, for it didn’t dare turn its back on him.

All the better for Kassein though; it would have been bothersome if his prey ran away.

He slowly got closer, and the feline hissed, beating the air with its paw, all claws out, warning what would happen if he got too close.

That didn’t stop Kassein. Soon, he stepped too close, and both human and beast jumped at each other.

The fight only lasted a couple of seconds.

Kassein’s movements were brutal, merciless, and precise.

The snow leopard’s body fell silently to the ground.

Unlike his dragon, he had done a neat kill with only one strike, and barely any blood on the fur, much to his satisfaction.

Moreover, this was a pretty one; snow leopard’s fur could vary from white to gray or yellow, with gray or black spots.

This one didn’t have any yellow; it was only white and light gray with dark gray spots.

Satisfied and calmed down, Kassein picked up his prey and made his way back to the camp.

He took long detours to hunt some more, following animal trails and paw prints, only because he didn’t feel like going back so soon.

He’d have heard Kein’s growls if Alezya had tried to call for him, but his dragon remained quiet.

When he finally came back to the camp, it was much later in the afternoon, and several men were eagerly waiting for him at the edge of the forest. They all opened their eyes wide at the large amount of dead prey he was carrying.

When he stopped in front of them, Kassein let down the snow leopard and three white foxes at their feet, and separately, let down three deers and a large black bear’s body.

“C-Commander, you hunted all those by yourself?” one of them exclaimed.

“He only had his sword too...”

Kassein lifted his eyes at them, and the men immediately shut up, some even taking a step back from their Commander’s glare.

“Make those into a cape,” he said, pointing at the snow leopard and white foxes.

“F-for you, Commander?” another asked, confused.

“Is it for the lady?”

The soldier who spoke was one of those who’d seen Alezya earlier, and instantly made the connection. Kassein’s green eyes went to him, and the soldier swallowed his saliva and nodded, more to avoid his leader’s gaze than anything.

“I-I’ll make sure it is made soon, sir!” he said.

Without answering, Kassein walked away from the little gathering, already fed up with them. He hated crowds, and he hated the way those men looked up at him.

As soon as he’d stepped away, he heard them exclaiming out loud about the superb kills or the amount of meat they’d eat for dinner. Dinner. He realized he hadn’t brought lunch for Alezya. Was she hungry? He hadn’t seen time pass while he was out hunting.

He walked across the camp, usually quieter at this time of the day.

The tribes wouldn’t attack when the sun was so high in the sky, any attack the camp would see coming.

Most units had heavy training in the morning, so the afternoon was their only rest time, where they could play games in the tents, chat while doing their chores, or simply walk around the camp.

Some went hunting, while others gathered at the training ground to fight for fun or train some more.

A lot actually went there in the hope their Commander in Chief would decide to spar with them too. That was often his preference when the days got too long and he didn’t know what else to do with himself.

Fighting was easy and didn’t require thinking. Most of all, he hated when he had too much time to think. To remember.

That day in particular, most of the men were busy helping with the repairs at the entrance of the camp, so things were quieter than usual.

He crossed paths with almost nobody when he reached his tent. Nobody saw him slow down before getting to his own tent. Kein was out there, lying down and taking a nap. His dragon opened an eye upon feeling his approach and showed its fangs with a very faint growl, but Kassein ignored it.

He stepped inside the tent, mentally braving himself, and immediately feeling foolish for it. What was he nervous for...? He could defeat bears and snow leopards, but he had to be mentally prepared to face a woman?

Still, he walked inside and looked for Alezya. He found her standing again, although she was using the furniture next to her to help her stand.

She’d walked across the tent and was standing next to the chest where he kept his clothes and weapons.

He glanced toward the corner that was mostly his armory.

A quick count told him there was one small dagger missing.

So that was why she’d been walking around his tent.

.. He scoffed. He wasn’t upset that she’d taken a weapon for herself; in fact, he was just admiring her a bit more for looking for something to defend herself with.

That woman was definitely resilient, he’d give her that.

“Kassein,” she simply said, as if she needed to acknowledge his presence.

He took a deep breath and walked over.

She didn’t seem particularly wary of him, as her body language didn’t change much from him coming closer to her. If she was flustered he’d found her there, she was concealing it well.

“Are you hungry?” he asked her.

She frowned.

“Food?”

She immediately nodded. She had learned that word before, so at least they could use that. Kassein directed his eyes toward the weapons, and immediately, Alezya’s attitude shifted slightly. She was worried he’d notice what she’d done, but he didn’t want to pretend he didn’t know.

Thus, he walked past her and took one of the small daggers; he had plenty of those and he’d sometimes have to leave them behind. He showed it to her.

“Dagger,” he simply said, clearly showing the weapon.

Alezya stared at him, visibly confused. She knew he knew, and she didn’t understand why he wasn’t mad. At least, that was his take.

Kassein repeated the word again, and she bit her lower lip. He stood, wanting to stop her from doing that; her lip was already injured, what was she harming it more for?

But before his thumb reached her lip, Alezya took out the small dagger she’d taken, as if to confess, and handed it back to him.

Kassein chuckled, realizing that maybe she’d thought he was asking for it back. He shook his head, and gently pushed her hand with the weapon back toward her. He pointed his index finger at the weapon, then back to her.

“Your dagger. Alezya’s dagger. You can keep it.”

She stared at him, still a bit confused, or maybe surprised by his willingness to let her take a weapon for herself. But he smiled at her faintly and turned back to head outside of the tent.

Somehow, that confusion in her eyes made him happy. Why was that? Another mystery. Still, Kassein walked out of the tent to go and get food. The soldiers he walked past seemed surprised to see him again, and he did realize he’d been going out a lot more...

Usually, all his food was brought directly to his tent, while his only outings were to hunt or climb up the mountains, and never more than twice a day, so his men seldom had a chance to see him unless the barbarians attacked, or he decided to hit the training ground.

This was a rare sight that left a lot of them dumbfounded.

Their gazes annoyed Kassein even more when he’d just come for two bowls of meat soup. Thus, he hurried back, ignoring them all to bring the warm food back to Alezya.

The woman was back on the bed, sitting with her dagger still in her hands.

She lifted her eyes up to him when he walked in, but she didn’t try to conceal the weapon.

Instead, she just put it aside and took the bowl of food.

He’d thought this before, but she was too skinny.

Did the tribes not hunt enough? The men he’d fought were all of decent size for their height, though.

The scene of Alezya being attacked came back to mind.

Was she starved by her own kind? She ate with the appetite of someone who knew to appreciate food, not unnecessarily slow and gracefully like the women who usually tried to seduce him.

He preferred that. He’d always hated the decorum of the Imperial Palace. ..

He sat down on the floor and began eating too, the two of them enjoying the food in silence.

“... Ruokaa ,” he finally said, suddenly remembering that word she’d taught him.

He glanced up at her to see her surprised eyes.

As if to confirm, he pointed at the meat stew in their bowls and repeated that word again. She smiled and nodded.

Then, they simply resumed eating in silence. Kassein’s mind wasn’t at rest, however. He kept trying to think, glancing toward Alezya and her injuries, the bandages on her feet right next to him.

Was it really a good idea to send her back? She’d been hunted once; what if it happened again? What if he couldn’t save her this time?

Outside the tent, his dragon growled, upset. Kassein knew he had to be more reasonable than the beast that mirrored his true feelings.

He had to when it was clear she wanted to go back. Her sad eyes on the mountain couldn’t deceive anyone. Moreover, if she wasn’t happy about going back, she could always let him know the next day, while they were heading there. She’d have the entire journey back to change her mind...

For now, he was just hoping she’d rest and get better. He hoped Tievin wouldn’t come back too soon with those undergarments and whatever else he would have found for her, and he hoped his men wouldn’t make her coat too soon.

However, Kassein knew a coat and underwear wouldn’t be a good enough reason to hold her back. He hated even more that he felt like he needed a reason not to send that woman back to her people.

Despite all this and the dragon raging outside, he hardened his heart and decided they’d go out the next day to send her back. The next day, at dawn.

The sooner he sends Alezya back to her people, the sooner he’d be able to forget her.