Page 67 of The Wild Prince’s Favorite (The Dragon Empire Saga #3)

The next morning, Alezya woke up feeling better than she had in a long time.

The warmth covering her body was like a gentle cocoon she felt reluctant to get out of.

She slowly opened her eyes, remembering how she was in Kassein’s habitation.

.. but the view that greeted her wasn’t the fabric walls.

Instead, a wall of dark skin, just inches away from her face, took her by surprise.

She blinked, quickly waking up as she was trying to figure out her situation and how she’d gotten there. After a second, she realized she was still on Kassein’s bed, but Kassein was on the bed with her. Her heartbeat quickly picked up to a racy pace as blood rushed to her extremities.

She vaguely remembered having had another nightmare about being beaten up, Lumie crying, and then... and then, Kassein had been there to comfort her. He’d held her hand and caressed her hair, his warm hands soothing her effortlessly.

Alezya tried to calm down. He was close, but he was snoring, and she was now pretty sure nothing had happened between them. In fact, her lower body was tightly trapped under the blankets, and Kassein’s arm was stuck under her pillow. Still, she had been so bold!

She vaguely remembered she had been the one to invite him onto the bed, a mix of guilt after so many nights of him sleeping on the cold, hard floor and her need for his gentle embrace after that horrible nightmare...

Alezya was shocked at her own actions; she’d been half-asleep, but still, even if she’d been dead drunk it wouldn’t have made it much better for her to have Kassein come in bed with her!

Very careful with her movements, she glanced up to take a peek at his sleeping face.

Thankfully for her poor nerves, he seemed deep asleep.

His torso was moving very slowly with his breathing, and he was snoring, sounding like his dragon’s growls.

.. which, actually, she could hear right this instant.

Alezya turned her head back to the wall of that habitation and realized she could indeed hear Kein’s growls matching its owner’s.

Was the dragon’s snoring synchronized with its master’s? It was a bit cute.

From the faint light in the room, she could guess it was at least dawn, and although Kassein’s embrace was definitely warm and comfortable, she didn’t want to stay longer and risk facing him when he woke up.

For a second, she considered pretending to sleep until he woke up, but with Kassein’s arm stuck under her pillow, he wouldn’t be able to get up until she got up.

Could she even get out of there without waking him up?

Luckily, they’d already unlocked their hands in their sleep, their fingers resting just an inch apart.

She tried to move her legs slowly, gauging how much room she had to move under the blankets, but luckily, it seemed her thin limbs could sneak out of there without making too much movement.

She took a silent breath in and slowly sat up, making as little movement on the bed as possible, watching out for Kassein’s response.

He truly was deep asleep, because he didn’t flinch while she snuck her legs out of the layers of fur blankets, his snoring not missing a beat. It made her smile a bit.

Soon enough, Alezya was free of the blankets, and on all fours on the bed, ready to climb away.

Instead of risking stepping over the Kassein mountain, she slowly crawled to the end of the bed and finally took a step out onto the cold floor.

She let out a faint sigh of relief as she stood up, and glanced back.

At least now his large sleeping figure seemed to be getting a proper deep rest..

. That bed had clearly been made to fit his frame, for with her gone, there was plenty of space left for him.

Alezya took a second to stretch, grimacing at her still sore limbs, as she was now sure he wouldn’t wake up so easily.

Then, she silently walked over to grab one of the cloaks hanging up and slipped into the thick fur boots she’d been given the previous day.

There was a bright streak of sunshine sneaking into the habitation, and she was mindful not to direct it Kassein’s way as she lifted the curtain to get out.

It was another bright, cloud-free day outside, thankfully.

It didn’t seem like it had snowed overnight either, for the snow was the same level as the previous day, if not a bit lower. Alezya had been right in that it was dawn, the sun still rising and blinding her on the horizon.

She found herself smiling at the first streaks caressing her face.

She loved that moment of the day, when she could witness the sky taking shy colors of pink and orange.

She took a couple of steps in the snow, enjoying the early silence.

She’d never known this place to be so quiet.

.. and that’s when she realized it was too quiet.

She turned at the corner of Kassein’s habitation and found herself facing Kein, the dragon’s big silver eyes staring wide open at her.

“Morning,” she whispered, hoping her low tune would convince the dragon to keep it down too.

The large orange beast slightly tilted its head, but at the rear, Alezya witnessed its tail sweeping waves of snow left and right... Was that a good sign?

Alezya was shocked at herself and how unafraid she now was to stand inches away from an actual dragon.

This beast had terrified her and all the clans for years, and now, it was wagging its tail and letting her stare right back into its eyes, those eyes she was so sure were going to be her end just days ago, during their confrontation on the mountain. That all felt so long ago now.

With a confident smile, she raised her hand, and sure enough, Kein was happy to let her caress its orange scales.

Although rougher, the dragon’s skin was as warm as Kassein’s, and she smiled at the thought.

The dragon let out a growl, and Alezya wondered how loud of a growl it would take to wake up Kassein.

.. It was probably better not to rile Kein up too much.

She stopped and turned around, tightening the cloak around her. She’d hardly been alone at all during the past few days. While she enjoyed having someone as kind and caring as Kassein or Lorey watching out for her, she couldn’t help but feel she also needed some alone time.

It had been just her and Lumie since her baby was born almost two years ago, and Alezya had spent most of her time alone, trying to avoid her people.

.. Suddenly being forced to stay with so many people around was a bit suffocating for her.

That morning was just what she needed, with its silence and the clear sky, both refreshing and soothing.

Happy that her legs and feet were also up for it after a good night’s sleep, she began strolling away from Kassein’s habitation. She heard Kein behind her, and soon enough, the dragon’s head was keeping up inches away from her shoulder, following her quietly like some obedient pet.

Alezya was amazed by the situation, but not nearly as much as the few warriors whose paths she crossed.

It seemed they had been appointed for some early morning tasks as they were all carrying wood or shovels, which they almost dropped along with their jaws as they witnessed the scene.

The foreign woman walking around escorted by only a dragon seemed to be a truly stunning sight, for they all couldn’t stop staring, some stopping right in their tracks just for their eyes to follow along.

While Alezya was uncomfortable with their gawking, she couldn’t help but notice that none of them attempted to stop her.

Even more surprising, they didn’t even try to approach; on the contrary, they all carefully stayed away, or even turned back around or made some detours, as if they were scared to stand in Kein’s path.

Alezya was slightly confused. Shouldn’t the Dragon Clan be used to the dragon being around? Why did they all look so scared? Thanks to Kein’s presence, however, she was able to take a long stroll around their territory, exploring it for herself.

While she’d gotten up very early, she wasn’t the only one, and there was already quite a lot going on.

She spotted a group of warriors training in ranks under another warrior’s shouting, and some were running two by two, half-naked despite the cold weather.

She tried to stay away so as not to disturb them or get in their way and just looked from afar, picking the quieter paths instead.

It was a strange experience for Alezya to wander in a place she’d only been able to glance at from afar.

She knew there was a world beyond her mountains, but it didn’t mean she’d ever thought she’d be given the opportunity to explore it.

.. She’d thought that maybe one day when Lumie got older, they’d both be able to travel north to see the other clans, maybe reunite with her mom, and see the Northern Sea for the first time.

But the south? The south was the land of dark tales, the land where warriors went and hardly returned; it wasn’t a place a woman should have even been able to dream of visiting. It didn’t seem real at all to Alezya.

Just a few days ago, she was fighting for her life, thinking she was bound to die protecting her daughter.

.. but now, she was freely roaming in a land even the bravest warriors of her clan had only been allowed to step on at the price of their lives.

Suddenly, everything seemed possible, as if fate had completely changed its mind.

Either that or everything had become nonsense.

Maybe she’d been hit too hard and was dreaming. ..

Alezya chuckled to herself. Sadly, everything was all too real, and she knew it. She wouldn’t be fine until Lumie was, and right now, her baby was too far from her. Her heart ached as soon as she let her thoughts drift back to the painful memories of the last couple of days.