Page 4 of The Wild Prince’s Favorite (The Dragon Empire Saga #3)

She had seen people banished for less than this, and she was constantly gauging the situation, trying to evaluate how close her father was to simply getting rid of her.

She was both curious and worried that it hadn’t happened yet.

Even if her father had missed his chance to kick her out as soon as the baby was born, she had given him plenty of occasions by disobeying him.

He was a bit more furious each time, so she couldn’t understand why she was still allowed to come back. .. Something was going to happen.

One day, one way or another, her father was surely going to do something about this situation.

His pride as the clan’s Chief was hanging in the balance, and he certainly couldn’t afford to lose face in front of the other clans.

The shame of disappointing the Exkiu Clan was already bad enough, but with another gathering of the clans coming up, Alezya just knew something was going to happen to her.

She could feel it like the treacherous wind getting calmer before a snowstorm.

For now, she was still fine and safe, and she managed to fall asleep next to her child.

As usual, she slept until late in the day and woke up to Lumie’s voice right before sunset. Yawning, Alezya sat up, glancing at her little daughter in her basket, who immediately smiled at her mom.

“Hi again, my snowflake,” she whispered.

She left a little kiss on the baby’s forehead, who responded happily to it.

Then, Alezya took her out of her basket, changed her diaper, and threw the nasty contents away through the opening.

She always loved to imagine it would land on someone’s head somewhere below.

.. perhaps one of the sentinels if she was lucky.

Although, in reality, it was more likely to just hit a hare in some inhospitable flank of the mountain.

After that, she washed the cloth, hung it in one corner of her cave, and grabbed Lumie to sit her on thick bear fur, laying the baby’s toys in front of her.

Every single one of them she’d made herself, from a little stuffed ball to the little pieces of carved wood.

It wasn’t much, but the baby was once again understanding of her mom’s limited means.

Lumie could entertain herself for hours with those simple things, sitting up on her own and making sounds as if she spoke some secret language.

Meanwhile, Alezya liked to position herself so she could watch her daughter, but also lean against the opening of their cave, a leg hanging above the cliff, to look outside at the sunset sky. It wasn’t just at the sky.

Often, her eyes would drift down to the land below, and her mind would be filled with questions about those villages, the people living there.

She’d get lost in her imagination again, wondering what it’s like to live in the land of dragons and hot skies.

To live on the ground, on flat and snowless lands.

“Perhaps we should leave, Lumie.”

Her daughter babbled happily at her name, unaware of her mother’s dilemma.

Alezya had thought about it, many times.

What if she got down from this mountain?

She knew of no other clan that would take a woman with a child like hers, and she wouldn’t be able to hide long in any other mountain either. There was no way up, so why not try to go down?

She’d seen the war, the endless war against the dragons, but what if she could get past the battle?

She glanced farther down, at the steep edge of her cave.

Far, far below this edge she was sitting on, there had to be some way down.

Her clan only knew of a few paths down those mountains, and all of them led to the battlefield.

That was because their mountains were on a secluded, cornered end of the continent.

What if there was another way out? In the farthest mountain of the Leito Clan, she knew they were surrounded by the sea.

.. Has anyone ever tried jumping down? To leave their fate to the raging waves and see if they survived?

She would have seriously considered it if she didn’t have Lumie, and if she was capable of swimming...

“Alezya? ...Alezya, are you there?”

She frowned at the familiar female voice.

Alezya quickly grabbed the little circle of wood and wool she had finished not long ago; it was very unsophisticated construction, but it was sturdy and heavy enough to place around Lumie to prevent her from going anywhere, a simple playpen.

Alezya checked that the little baby-proof construction would stay in place, put a quick kiss on her daughter’s forehead, and squirmed back out of the entrance.

She was always nervous to be called out there.

She imagined one day, she’d find her father at the end of the tunnel, perhaps with some of his men, ready to beat her up and end her. ..

Luckily, there was no bad surprise this time. As she climbed out of the last bit of her tunnel, she found her cousin standing there, looking a bit nervous, her fingers and foot tapping restlessly and her eyes watching the surroundings. “Zenia.” She sighed. “What is it?”

Her cousin turned to her, frowning at Alezya’s appearance.

Of course, she still looked a mess from her outing, the beating from her father, and going back and forth in a tight, dusty, and impractical tunnel.

Compared to her, Zenia was a perfect-looking lady of the clan: her long, leather dress was spotless and elegantly covering all of her limbs, and she was wearing several little decorations, trinkets, and jewels her husband had gifted her.

Even her hairstyle, a heavy braided bun, was showing off a new wooden piece.

“I need your help,” she announced honestly. “The Healer is out of that flower she uses to calm down Perick’s fevers, and no one knows where to find it... but you know, right? That purple one?”

So that’s what it was: they needed her help. Alezya was a good herb-picker, and the best at remembering which herb or flower could be used as food or medicine. More importantly, she was good at remembering the best spots to gather them and the areas where they generally grew.

Whenever the clan would run out of one herb, having exhausted all the natural supplies they had found last, they would struggle to find it again.

The mountain was too tortuous and quick to change to remember all the spots; one good area could be covered by inches of snow the next day, or all eaten by hares.

Alezya knew exactly what plant her cousin was in dire need of; it was one of their most efficient fever-reducing medicinal plants, the Huankin...

It was also a pain to find. That plant liked high and sunny spots on the edges of the mountain, the hardest ones to reach. It would be dangerous to get them.

“Please?” her cousin insisted.

“That old hag is such a hypocrite! The last time Lumie was sick, I had to beg her for over an hour to take care of her, with her saying it was a waste of her damn herbs! And now, she has you send me on errands?!”

“Please,” Zenia begged. “I know that old woman is a pain, but this is about my son! He’s really ill again, Alezya. That old woman didn’t want your help, but I don’t care, I just want my son to be better. ...You’re a mother too, you understand me, right?”

Alezya immediately glared at her cousin.

“Oh, so now I’m a mother too? Weren’t you the one who said I shouldn’t have had her, that I should have just gotten rid of her and waited for another child?”

Her cousin went a bit white. Alezya could see she was genuinely panicked and worried, which meant her little cousin truly was sick again. Still, she couldn’t help but be bitter; Zenia was barely better than anyone in this clan, only using their blood relationship when she needed her.

“I-I’m sorry for what I said,” Zenia mumbled.

“I was just... I was thinking of you, Alezya. You know we used to be so close... If it wasn’t for that child, your life would be so different now.

You’re so stubborn... You know I’m not evil, I was just trying to help you out, even if you didn’t like my words.

Plus, I didn’t have my own child then...

Please, I’ll apologize and beg all you want, but my son is trembling with fever and the Healer has nothing for him.

You know that old hag would rather let him die than ask you for help! Please!”

Alezya sighed, looking elsewhere because she couldn’t endure her cousin’s teary eyes. It was true she and Zenia used to be close. Very close, even. She had often felt closer to her cousin, who was a year younger, than to her sisters.

They had also been betrothed to their respective husbands the same year and been pregnant around the same time.

.. although the outcomes had been very different.

Zenia was perhaps one of the few women in their clan who seemed to have chosen her husband and loved him.

They were both once their fathers’ favorite daughters, but while this had allowed Zenia to choose her future husband, Alezya’s reward had been to be betrothed to the most promising one.

Once again, her father’s greed had been her downfall.

“...Fine. But promise me you’ll watch Lumie for me.”

Her cousin took a slight step back, looking horrified.

“W-what? You want me to watch her?”

“What am I supposed to do with her while I look for that herb?” Alezya retorted with an angry tone. “I’m risking my life out there, I could be gone for hours and Father will be furious when I get back. Can’t you watch my baby for me in exchange for your son’s medicine?”

“B-but if others find out...”

Zenia looked terrified, which made Alezya even madder. They all knew what she was enduring every day just for keeping her child alive, yet everyone was using her without an ounce of pity.

And now, her cousin was probably terrified to be punished too or scared of the child somehow.