Page 55 of The Wild Prince’s Favorite (The Dragon Empire Saga #3)
So the other three people she knew were all together? Alezya wanted to go. She wanted to get some fresh air, out of this place, and see what Kassein was doing when he wasn’t with her.
“...Kein?” she asked.
This time, there was no dragon growl to answer her, but Lorey gave her an amused smile for some mysterious reason.
The young woman put the fur back on the bed, and took the tray away, but only after glancing to see if Alezya had finished it all.
And she had, much to Lorey’s satisfaction, it seemed.
She took it out but came back too quickly to have taken it anywhere, confusing Alezya.
Next, she walked to the bed and helped her up.
After a minute, Alezya realized: Lorey was actually preparing her to go outside!
She gave her a new fur coat, a brown one which was a bit too long for her, but nicely soft and warm.
Then, Lorey put on a similar one. It didn’t seem like Lorey’s coat was tailored either, making Alezya wonder from whom they were borrowing these.
Those coats were too small to belong to Kassein and clearly weren’t made for women.
Then, she remembered the tall but scrawny man.
Tievin. He seemed the right frame for these coats. ..
With Lorey’s help and arm under hers, Alezya realized she was already fine to walk, and more than happy to. The two young women left together, and Alezya was greeted by a beautiful, blue sky.
There was nothing more beautiful than a snow-filled landscape on a sunny day, and for the first time, she was able to take a proper look around.
There were lots of habitations like Kassein’s, but his seemed to be much bigger and a bit isolated from the others.
.. probably to mark his higher status, she thought.
Directly on their right, a young man dressed in warrior attire suddenly exclaimed something.
Had he been guarding the place? He was carrying the tray that Lorey had just taken out.
Seeing that he was bowing, Alezya turned to Lorey for help, as he seemed to be addressing her, or both of them.
“ Dajan, ” Lorey said, pointing at the man. “ Dajan. ”
“ D-Dajan, ” Alezya repeated.
The man then replied something enthusiastically and stood back up, confirming that was his name.
Much to Alezya’s shock, he not only answered but bowed his head again respectfully.
Another warrior bowing to a female prisoner and a woman!
She glanced back nervously at Lorey, but the other woman didn’t seem shocked at all; she only replied something to Dajan before she pulled Alezya along as they left.
She was still completely confused by the Dragon Clan’s strange customs. Or was she missing some information? Perhaps Lorey’s status was higher than she’d thought? If she was some clan’s matriarch or a chief’s wife, it would have explained things a bit, but that didn’t seem to be the case...
Alezya was getting more nervous now, wondering if she was going to make a mistake that would get her killed.
Kassein had seemed to have the higher status here, but now that she was out in their clan, she was getting worried she’d had her initial beliefs all wrong.
She kept looking around and back at Lorey for cues.
For one, the other woman seemed perfectly at ease and unbothered, which might mean Lorey was safe and exempt from showing respect to the warriors.
And there was nothing but male warriors around.
They were all wearing more or less the same uniform, or various combinations of it, and were all busy with different tasks.
Alezya noted some of their protective coverings were different colors, and others wore a specifically colored band around their arm too. Maybe some signs to distinguish them within their clan? It was such a big clan, after all...
There were a lot of men, but neither she nor Lorey seemed to be expected to bow in their presence.
Instead, some of the men greeted them, and Lorey was the one acting like she had a higher status.
Some didn’t raise their heads from their tasks or gave them some curious glance, but no words were exchanged.
Alezya was utterly confused by the dynamics of their clan.
Women were free to walk amongst men, didn’t even have to greet them, and the men wouldn’t come to them either?
Back in her clan, no unmarried woman would have been allowed to walk alone, and she would have certainly been punished for walking by a warrior without so much as greeting them. ..
After the first few nerve-wracking paces, she decided to try and relax, and simply keep up with Lorey instead.
The men truly didn’t seem bothered by their lack of politeness, only curious to see them.
Whether it was because of Lorey’s beauty, or simply because they were women walking freely, the pair was gathering a lot of stares.
Alezya noticed that whenever a warrior in heavier gear barked orders, the others quickly returned to their tasks, avoiding eye contact.
Did they have ranks among their warriors?
There were so many people, all men, but unlike her clan, where warriors were only distinguished by their victories and accomplishments, something here felt different.
She saw both young and older men, some weighed down with thick protective wear, others not, but there was no clear pattern to their hierarchy.
Some young ones seemed to hold authority, while others, dressed as warriors, were assigned tedious labor, like piling wood, shoveling snow, carrying supplies.
In her clan, such tasks would have been left to those of lower status.
These people were strange, their structure unfamiliar, and Alezya tried to take it all in, nervous about making a mistake later on.
“ Kiki! ”
Lorey’s sudden exclamation got Alezya’s attention, and to her surprise, the snow ahead of them suddenly moved on its own.
Initially, Alezya was utterly confused by the little waves of snow, until she realized that something was moving under the fresh coat. She barely held a gasp of surprise once she spotted the dark gray creature slithering a few steps away in the snow.
At first, she only saw a few gray scales emerge, and then, its whole body surfaced. It was so different from Kein the orange dragon that, for a minute, she had wondered if it wasn’t a different creature altogether.
But no, that was clearly a dragon, although its body was different.
It was thinner, smaller, and longer than its peer, with a snake-like form, rather than Kein’s bulky structure.
Its head surfaced, with shining black eyes, a long snout, and a mischievous spark in its eye that made it not half as scary as Kassein’s dragon.
The fact that it was playing around in the snow helped too.
Alezya watched, shocked, as the new creature came up to them, before taking a detour to make an excited circle around the two women. If it wasn’t for Lorey holding her arm, she might have jumped back, or been way more terrified.
But the incoming dragon seemed to be merely playing around, and when it dove before resurfacing again to face Lorey, she was granted a good look at it.
The dark gray color surprised her too, for this was her first time seeing a dragon this color, and she’d never heard of an ashen-colored one either.
Yet, this creature had the same scales, the same thinner limbs, and similar wings too. It was definitely another dragon...
Then, coming from farther ahead, she much more easily spotted the large orange dragon also coming at them. Unlike its peer, Kein could hardly hide its humongous body in the snow as the dark gray one did.
Instead, the orange dragon was stomping in their direction, its chunky paws dipping in puddles of snow that melted immediately under its steps.
Alezya would have once again taken a few steps back if it wasn’t for Lorey standing completely fearless next to her.
The woman then unlocked arms with Alezya and even crouched down to pat the head of the dark gray dragon before it dove back into the snow.
It was playing in the layers of snow like one would in shallow water.
“ Kiki. ”
Lorey had spoken while Alezya’s eyes were still on the incoming Kein, so she’d lost track of what she was possibly talking about. Just then, the dark gray dragon resurfaced, just in time to playfully bite Kein’s leg, making it growl, and then dive again.
Lorey chuckled, pointing at the moving snow.
“ Kiki. Kein ay Kiki. ”
“ Kiki? ” Alezya repeated.
Kiki was the name of the dark gray dragon?
She watched as Kein, confused and annoyed, glared at the moving snow before resuming its stampede toward them.
There was something utterly terrifying about seeing a creature twice her height and four times her width rush in her direction, but Alezya summoned every inch of her being into not moving as Lorey did.
Thankfully, Kein stopped right in front of her, its huge silver eyes on her.
The dragon looked positively terrifying, and yet, every time she met it, she felt a bit less terrified.
In fact, its warm and fire-colored body facing her had something reassuring about it.
It growled, but it wasn’t a warning growl; instead, it was a deeper, smoother sound, almost like a snow leopard’s purr.
.. She could feel hot air puffing out of its nostrils and onto her face, warming her up effortlessly.
She glanced to the side and saw Lorey was petting the other dragon again.
The smaller one was acting like a happy dog around her, perfectly submissive and tilting its head excitedly under her hand.
Alezya glanced back at Kein. The orange dragon had its eyes riveted on her, looking almost excited, but still.
Was it possible that... this terrifying creature was expecting the same of her?
“K-Kein?” she uttered as if trying to confirm.