Page 44 of The Wild Prince’s Favorite (The Dragon Empire Saga #3)
The medical unit had to be extremely careful with each of their movements, explaining and justifying themselves, while trying to give that woman immediate medical attention.
Her state wasn’t too bad physically, or at least not as bad as it looked.
Her bruises would heal, and her feet would eventually too.
Under all the blue, red, and black though, her eyes were puffy and wet.
From her state, one could tell she had cried a lot.
Over what? Because she’d been beaten up?
When she very briefly regained conscience, for just a few seconds, she muttered something, a faint sob, and cried silently, closing her eyes again. Kassein and Tievin exchanged glances, both equally clueless.
“...Let’s bring her to the Commander’s tent,” Tievin finally muttered.
Alezya didn’t open her eyes for over an hour.
During this time, the medical unit did their best before leaving the oppressive atmosphere of the tent, while Kassein remained by her side. Once again, Dajan and his unit proved their worth by establishing a perimeter around the tent without being asked and watching the surroundings.
At first, it seemed they did so by a belief that the barbarians would attack from the mountain all of a sudden, but Tievin soon realized they were more dedicated to keeping people and rumors away.
Most had seen Kein return, but few people knew the dragon had brought someone back with it.
While there was no telling what that information would do once it got around, he silently agreed it was better to keep it concealed for now.
It had been acceptable when it was clear that the woman’s stay was temporary, but now, there was no telling how long she’d stay this time.
There weren’t just good men sent to the North Camp, there were some criminals sent here and assigned to the hardest units as punishment for their offenses.
While it was usually easy to keep them in line, Tievin didn’t want to give those rascals an opportunity to cause problems. The in-fighting at the camp could be dealt with easily, but if anything were to happen once word spread that a woman was residing there...
He couldn’t guarantee things wouldn’t take a darker turn.
Not because he was worried about Alezya’s safety, but because he knew what an angry dragon could do, and had no doubt Kassein could do much worse.
This was nothing but trouble; it would happen sooner or later and would be hard to explain to the Emperor if he ever turned an eye to this area.
While thinking of all this, Tievin kept an eye on the Prince and Alezya. She was back in his bed, lying with cold compresses on her injuries, visibly enduring the pain in silence, half unconscious.
It wasn’t clear how much she realized was going on.
Sometimes she’d open her eyes, meet Kassein’s, and start crying silently, then close her eyes again.
Even for Tievin, it was gut-wrenching to watch.
The Prince was sitting against his bed, recovering from his own injuries.
He was gently holding her hand, his face close to hers, the fingers of his other hand combing her hair gently.
She had lost that silk ribbon he’d gifted her too, Tievin noted with a faint sigh.
Did she get robbed of all the things they’d gifted her?
That silk ribbon was the only item Kassein had that was a proper gift for a woman.
Purple was the color of the Imperial Family, so Tievin guessed he’d gotten it from his mother or one of his sisters perhaps.
It wasn’t such a big deal that this woman had lost the item; purple silk was no rare find back in the Capital, but it was a bit sad that she had no idea of the significance of this gift before she’d lost it.
Tievin stayed there in silence, watching the scene of those two stuck together.
The Prince wasn’t letting go of that woman’s hand and he was barely acknowledging anyone who walked into the tent.
It was Tievin doing all the sorting of sending that person back or letting that one in if they were useful, mostly the medical unit bringing new cold compresses to change the ones on Alezya’s face.
Tievin couldn’t help but feel sorry for the bruises on her face the most; women relied a lot on their appearance, and whoever had attacked her obviously had no regard for hers.
Luckily, it didn’t seem to deter the Prince one bit, only fueling his anger.
From the outside, they could even hear Kein growling at whichever guard was foolish enough to come too close, or pacing around the tent, sometimes trying to take a peek inside.
The dragon was rendering all the other people posted outside useless.
“What could have happened...?”
Kassein’s words had been pronounced late into the night, so faintly that Tievin had almost believed he’d dreamt it. By then, he’d sat down on the chair next to the fire, but the Prince hadn’t changed position once, nor had he shifted his gaze away from Alezya.
That woman was now asleep, although she’d sometimes sob and get a bit agitated in her sleep.
One of the older men from the medical unit was there, as he’d just brought over some fresh compresses and medical herbs.
He was only bringing in the materials, though.
Kassein hadn’t let anyone else treat or touch Alezya once she was laid on his bed.
“It seems like she is not welcomed back in the tribes,” Tievin said with a neutral voice.
“Her injuries can’t possibly be accidental, and she seems pretty shaken too.
At first, I thought she could have encountered another tribe and been robbed, but the display of violence on a woman makes little sense for robbers. My guess is that she was exiled.”
He wouldn’t dare voice it in Kassein’s presence, but since the medical unit had confirmed she hadn’t been sexually assaulted, Tievin had become more doubtful about the reasons for her beating.
It wasn’t just a robbery gone wrong; someone capable of harming a woman to that extent wouldn’t have passed up a chance to do worse, was his thinking.
The fact that Kein had brought her back so wet and cold meant she’d probably been abandoned somewhere, or else the dragon wouldn’t have come back without her attackers’ blood on its scales.
And he’d already looked, but it didn’t seem like the orange dragon had attacked anyone else but Kassein that day.
“She wanted to go back,” Kassein muttered. “She was the one who wanted to go back up there. She told me where to split up. Why? Why, if she knew she wasn’t safe...”
“It will be hard to tell what happened, sir,” Tievin said.
“Communication with her would give us more clues, but at the moment... I fear this might take time. Luckily, she will be safe here. If you plan to let her stay, I can have all the arrangements made soon enough. It isn’t proper for her to continue sleeping in your bed. ”
“No. She stays with me.”
Tievin pressed his lips in a thin line, but he had expected this.
Truthfully, he had several reasons for which he found it improper for Alezya to stay in the Prince’s bed, but he wouldn’t risk his neck to point them out.
He took a big breath, mentally sorting out the priorities regarding this woman. He could understand the parts the Prince was stubborn about, and he supported him to a certain point. However, as his aide, Tievin knew there were things they’d have to sort out.
“Commander, I need to point out that this woman staying in the camp will require us to make some preparations. This camp was never meant to welcome a woman, even less so a foreigner. I understand you will be unwilling to make the Imperial Palace aware of this matter just yet, but this is no small matter. Those tribespeople are unpredictable, and they just proved it to us once more. I do not believe a woman would end up in this state willingly, but I still believe there is something odd about all this.”
“Get to your point.”
Tievin let out a faint sigh. Of course, the Prince wouldn’t want his older brother, the Emperor, to be aware of what was happening here.
In fact, he wanted nothing to do with him so much that Tievin had mentioned “the Imperial Palace” rather than saying his name out loud.
However, they couldn’t act too carelessly, or it would be detrimental in the future. Tievin was worried that if some things were learned too late, Prince Kassein would alienate his own family even more.
“Have you considered... asking for help–”
“No.”
Tievin hadn’t even finished his sentence, but Kassein had answered firmly with a tone that wouldn’t allow another similar suggestion.
He suppressed the words in his mouth. Perhaps it was too soon, or he’d find another way.
There was always another way. Although his relationship with his older brother was the most complex, the Prince still had six other siblings, loving parents, and uncles and aunts who would no doubt come to his aid if he ever asked for it.
The hardest part would be, of course, for him to ever actually ask for anyone’s help.
For now, he was unwilling to confide in anyone or to allow anyone near Alezya. Something was definitely shifting, and for once, Tievin couldn’t predict where that would lead them. He just hoped this woman wasn’t going to increase the wedge between the two brothers even more.
He remained silent for a few more seconds, then announced he was going back to his tent, the soldier from the medical unit quietly following him, leaving the two of them alone.
The tent fell completely silent after they’d left.