Page 63 of The Wild Prince’s Favorite (The Dragon Empire Saga #3)
Moreover, those two hadn’t seen each other in years, and despite their eight-year age gap, they’d always been quite close.
With seven siblings, it was always hard to fully identify the dynamics of each relationship, but Tievin could confidently say Kiera was one of the siblings Kassein felt closest to, notably because of her honest, blunt, and outgoing character.
She had also been away while his relations with his family had deteriorated, so she didn’t play any part in the downfall that had led to his exile.
.. which explained why she was the only member of his family Kassein had felt comfortable asking for help, although he’d never explicitly said it.
Tievin was silently congratulating himself for having pushed the Prince to seek help when they heard Kiki’s particular, high-pitched growl in the distance.
They all turned heads and, after putting their cloaks back on, left Tievin’s tent to go and meet the returning siblings.
Just as Tievin had anticipated, they’d been at it for a while, and it was dusk when Kiki landed, making happy hops around Lorey.
The two siblings hadn’t flown back, but they’d left the dragon to carry their biggest prey, and the result of their hunt was now lying in the snow, two impressive lines of dead animals that garnered the attention of many soldiers around.
“Did you win?” Lorey asked, walking up to Kiera, who put an arm around her.
“We got hungry before we could settle on a result,” Kiera pouted, glaring at her brother, “but I would have...”
Kassein didn’t answer her; his eyes were already riveted back on Alezya as she walked up to him.
For the first time, there was a hint of excitement in her eyes, despite the pain of her injuries still giving her an awkward walk.
When she reached him, Kassein grabbed her elbows to help support the young woman facing him.
“Kassein,” she said with a pretty voice.
“Mh,” he nodded.
“Kassein,” she repeated. “Kassein, man, dragon.”
“...What?” He frowned, surprised and confused.
“Kassein, man, dragon,” she repeated, pointing at a line of orange scales at the base of his neck, one his sister had caused earlier.
“I taught Alezya some of our language while you were gone, Your Highness,” Lorey explained with an amused expression. “She’s learning fast.”
Kassein turned back to Alezya, who was waiting for his reaction, her eyes shining with what looked like pride and expectation, like a child waiting to be praised. After a bit, he finally seemed to relax and chuckle.
“Yes,” he said. “Man-dragon.”
He caressed her long black hair, making Alezya blush even more. Standing on the sidelines, Tievin rolled his eyes. To think His Highness would look like this over a woman mastering a two-year-old’s level of language...
“What are you waiting for?!” he barked at the soldiers standing nearby. “Do I have to carry these to the kitchen myself? Chop-chop! You should be happy, we have plenty of meat for dinner thanks to Their Highnesses! Now take it and scram!”
It didn’t take any more for all the soldiers to start grabbing whichever prey they could and scatter.
Meanwhile, Kassein turned back to observe Alezya, checking on her.
She looked much better after the bath and an afternoon with Lorey.
She didn’t seem to mind his hand on her cheek either, only responding to it with a shy pinch of color on her cheeks.
Her hands were warm too, so they’d probably spent the afternoon inside.
He didn’t like her being out here though.
Even if Lorey and Kiera were here now to get some of the attention too, he wasn’t fond of the men being aware a foreigner was here.
“Let’s go back,” he told her, wondering when she’d be able to understand all of his words.
“Oh, stop hiding her in your tent, Kassein,” his sister protested. “It’s a very nice evening. Let’s have dinner by the firepit.”
She’d used a tone that didn’t leave room for refusal, and she also turned around, pulling Lorey with her before he could protest. Kassein glared at his older sister but quickly gave up. With an arm around Alezya’s waist, he guided her toward the firepit, Tievin following behind them.
There was an area that was the army’s main eating place.
Although it wasn’t used every day due to the more often than not poor weather, the area was a nice plain with no tents nor trees, just a bare patch of land at a crossroad, where a large fire pit was constantly kept going or reignited when needed.
As most of the day had been very fine, it was now a big roaring fire, and the men had already reduced the layers of snow to a couple of inches and gathered the tables in a chaotic arrangement around the pit.
There was no real order, just one brigade after another having brought their tables and lined them up, forming rows of them like streaks around the fire, for quick access to the roasting meat.
While a lot of them were already busy drinking and chatting loudly, many heads inevitably turned upon their little group’s arrival.
Kassein tightened his arm around Alezya, glad he’d put his cloak back on and that his large figure hid her a bit.
After being apart all afternoon, he felt somewhat reluctant to let go, even for so much as a minute. ..
Luckily, his sister, who didn’t care for mingling with the soldiers either, brought even more attention to herself with her bronze armor and tall frame.
Not that she seemed to care for any of the pairs of eyes lingering on her or Lorey though.
Instead, she was walking ahead, guiding the five of them and the dragons to a little hill that overlooked the area a bit farther than the gathering, and both Kiki and Kein quietly settled themselves in the snow.
This area hadn’t been swept by the soldiers, and to avoid getting wet up to their chins, they quickly sat down on the dragons, except for Tievin, who only hesitated a second before he turned around and went to grab a chair for himself.
Kassein glanced at Alezya, gauging her reaction.
She seemed to now be more relaxed around the dragons, although her amazement while watching Kiera help Lorey climb Kiki was still palpable.
Her eyes kept going from one dragon to the other, perhaps comparing the two, or surprised that they agreed to be used as warm benches.
Kassein then took her hand and guided her to climb and sit on his dragon so that she was seated between his legs, a bit lower than him, with her shoulder against his knee.
This way, she could be mostly protected from both the wind and the men’s stares by his cloak and Kein’s body.
Although she seemed unsure about sitting on Kein’s foreleg, Alezya was now opening her hand on the orange scales with a faint, amazed smile.
His dragon was chunky enough that it didn’t mind her nor Kassein’s feet, and quite the opposite, was happy to have its huge head next to her, keeping one silver eye on her.
Kiki, on the other hand, had thinner limbs on top of being generally smaller, and Lorey and Kiera sat side by side on its back.
Tievin summoned a pair of soldiers who’d been walking by a bit too slowly and had them bring food to the little group.
“Did you two have a good talk?” Lorey asked while they waited, her eyes going from one sibling to the other.
“Even if my brother was the chatty type, which we all know he is not, hunting isn’t an activity that leaves much space for chatting, love,” sighed Kiera. “So no, unfortunately, I haven’t been able to properly ask him what he’s been up to.”
Kassein didn’t respond to that, and luckily, the soldiers returned in a timely manner, bringing bowls full of food before leaving again.
Kassein looked down as Alezya seemed to inspect the content of hers with a spoon.
He smiled behind his index finger as she immediately went for the chunky bits of meat first. He’d hunted more tender meats on purpose.
“Kassein,” Kiera grabbed his attention with a more annoyed tune.
He darted his dark green eyes back to his sister.
“You could at least answer Mom’s or Sadara’s letters,” she said. “Do you know how annoying Dara is when I go home?”
“You’re saying that as if you went home often yourself,” Lorey chuckled.
“At least I give them some news!”
“Only because Adda doesn’t leave us unless we give her a letter to bring back home.”
“Sadara only uses her dragon like a bloody messenger bird, anyway...”
She stopped talking for a bit as she filled her mouth with meat on a skewer.
Kassein glanced down, catching Alezya staring at his sister with a confused but curious expression.
Not used to meat on skewers? Or was it his sister’s terrible table manners?
She hadn’t reached for one, focusing on her bowl first, but now, she seemed quite interested.
“Alezya,” he called her.