Page 77 of The Wild Prince’s Favorite (The Dragon Empire Saga #3)

Alezya, a foreign, fragile woman, trusted him far more than his family did.

More than his brother did. Sure, Kassian had reasons to exile him, but.

.. would his brother trusting him more have changed anything?

Their older brother had turned into a sour, bitter man after his return from the east alone, ever since he’d taken the throne.

They’d fought more often without their kind older sister to mediate.

If anything, Kassein resented Kassian more than anybody else, and his brother was the reason he wouldn’t go back to the Capital.

Maybe Kiera was right when she’d said he was sulking in the north, but Kassian had been the one to exile him there in the first place...

“Kassein.”

Alezya’s patient voice brought him back to her.

Every time he was near her, the anger subsided to let in more questions he didn’t want to ponder about.

He let out a faint sigh and, aware that he probably looked like he was lost in his thoughts and neglecting her, he took his hand off her nape to bring hers to his lips, gently kissing her fingers.

Her injuries were mostly healed, so she wasn’t sporting as many bandages these days, but she carried the smell of medicinal herbs all the time.

It reminded him of his mother, and how she also treated him kindly no matter what.

Did Alezya have a child too? Was that how she was capable of such patience, trust, and kindness with him, although she should have been afraid of Kassein and his dragon?

She gave him a smile, and moved her hand to his cheek, grazing his stubble.

“Cheek,” he said, aware he hadn’t spoken in a while.

“Cheek?” she repeated, her fingertips playing with the beard he hadn’t bothered shaving in a while.

“No,” he chuckled, assuming she was confusing the two, and pressing her palm against his cheek to correct her. “Cheek.”

He touched her cheek too for good measure, and then, brought her fingertips back to his beard.

“Beard,” he said.

“Beard,” she repeated, struggling with the pronunciation of that word for some reason.

“Yeah, beard. ...Do you like it?”

He remembered his sisters and mother being quite critical of his facial hair and that of his brothers and father on the smallest occasion, although he hadn’t been around the siblings’ banter in a while.

Now he was curious about Alezya’s thoughts.

“Beard?” he asked her again. “Yes? No?”

He let out a faint, rare smile as she squinted her eyes, visibly assessing his jawline. She had seen him with and without as he usually shaved every now and then. After a while, she shook her head and put her fingers on his cheeks.

“No,” she said.

“No beard?”

“No beard,” she nodded.

“Alright.”

Under Alezya’s confused stare, he let go of her hands and got up, going around his sister’s tent to find water, a bowl to put it in, and some soap.

Then, he came back to put it all on the small table in front of the mirror, sitting back in his spot next to Alezya.

Quickly, under her amused eyes, he used the soap and water to wet and lather his beard, and then, he gave her a smile.

“Dagger,” he said.

Alezya took out the one she’d taken from his tent and handed it to him, but instead, Kassein waited expectantly, until she raised her eyebrows, and shook her head.

“Kassein, no. Not Alezya. Kassein.”

“No. I want you to do it. Alezya.”

She frowned and shook her head again, but he grabbed her wrist and gently, using the mirror for reference, had her scrape the first inches of beard off his jaw.

She gasped but stopped trying to pull her hand away as she realized she might hurt him.

Kassein chuckled and kept going until he let go of her hand to let her do it.

Very slowly, and after giving him an almost apologetic glance, Alezya slowly moved the dagger to keep shaving him, Kassein moving his chin up to give her better access.

He wondered if she realized that, even if she did cut him, he would only have a thin cut and his scales would appear, but there was something endearing about watching her so nervous to shave him.

She kept her eyes focused on his jawline, while he kept his eyes on her and all the micro-expressions of her face.

Even from so close up, she was beautiful.

Her skin was incredibly smooth, and of a color he’d never seen in the Empire; not dark like his father’s nor as pale as his mother’s, but instead, a warm but pale color that reminded him of the sand on the beaches of the Empire where he and his siblings sometimes went to play as children.

Her eyes were uniquely shaped too, thin and long like a feline.

When she was so close to him like this, he could see how they were not simply black, but instead, a rich, dark, and earthy brown color.

“Kassein.”

She had caught him staring, and now, was giving him a disapproving look that meant he was distracting her.

“Green,” she said.

“My eyes.”

“My eyes?”

“No. Eyes. Kassein eyes, green eyes. Alezya, black eyes.”

“Eyes.”

“Yes.”

She pointed two fingers at his eyes and made a motion down.

“Kassein eyes, no.”

“You want me to close them. Close,” he repeated, closing his eyes before opening them again to show her. “Open eyes. Closed eyes.”

“Yes. Kassein close green eyes.”

He smiled and obeyed.

A part of him felt ridiculously excited about being able to understand her, although their exchange was childish. With his eyes closed, he was even more aware of her fingers going around his jawline, touching his chin, and the blade that slowly but steadily grazed his skin.

The truth was, it didn’t matter if she just went ahead and cut him, but he enjoyed how slow the process was and how careful she was not to hurt him.

The only thing was that he couldn’t talk, so for a while, they both fell silent while she shaved him, the only sounds being the blade and the water when she rinsed it.

After a while, when he was pretty sure she’d shaved it all, he heard her rinse the dagger, get up, and then quickly come back to wipe his chin and cheeks.

For some reason, he kept his eyes closed like an obedient boy, until he felt her lips on his cheek.

It had been brief, but his eyes jerked open to find her blushing.

“Kassein cheeks no beard,” she said.

“No beard,” he repeated. “...You like it? Alezya like it?”

She frowned, having not learned the words yet. He grabbed her hands and sprawled them on his cheeks.

“No beard,” he said. “Do you like it?”

“Like?”

“Yes. Like,” he said, trying to think how to bring the meaning across to her. “Alezya likes meat, Kein likes meat. Kein likes Alezya. Kiera likes... daggers. Kiera likes Lorey. Lorey likes Kiera.”

He could see that cute frown on her face, but was she confused or trying to work it out?

“Alezya likes no beard,” he said, making her touch his freshly shaved cheeks again.

“Alezya likes no beard,” she nodded. “Likes Kassein no beard. Alezya... likes Kassein.”

His heart stopped for a split second before it exploded in his chest. He swallowed something hard in his throat, and then, brought her fingers to his lips.

“You like me?”

“Yes,” she whispered. “Kassein... I like.”

He smiled against her palm and kissed it softly.

“Kassein likes Alezya too,” he whispered.

She blushed.

The truth was, he liked her a lot more than his dragon liked meat, but they had yet to get to that part. Although, from the way her cheeks had turned an adorable shade of crimson, she knew it too.

After a beat, he put his hands around her waist, bringing Alezya a lot closer until she straddled his spread-out leg, on her knees and with her face above his, her hair falling around them like a curtain of black silk.

Their breathing deepened, and while one of her hands steadied herself on his shoulder, the other moved from his cheek to his lips, her index finger tracing his bottom lip.

“Lips,” he whispered.

“Lips?”

He gently took her hand and pressed a kiss against her fingers.

“Mouth,” he said, before placing her fingertip on his lip again. “Lip.”

Alezya drew in a breath, and slowly, came down to press a kiss on his lips.

“Mouth?” she whispered.

“No. Kiss,” he smiled. “Alezya kiss Kassein.”

Gently, he intertwined his fingers with her hair and pulled her down for another kiss, which he made last just a second longer before he reluctantly parted from her.

“Kassein kiss Alezya.”

“...More,” she whispered.

“More?” he chuckled, pleasantly surprised.

“More kiss,” she muttered shyly. “Alezya likes Kassein kiss...”

His stomach roared with a burning fire as she descended on his lips again for a deeper, more passionate kiss.

He had not suspected such boldness from her, but he loved it.

He opened his mouth, touching her tongue for the first time, intensifying their kiss while his hands roamed her body.

One hand he kept on her nape, laced with her hair and keeping her locked against his lips, but the other one explored her body, caressing her curves, her lower back, her thigh, and after a beat, swooping under her skirt to touch her skin.

He felt her gasp faintly against his lips, and a chill shivered under his hand, but she didn’t break the kiss, instead making it even more passionate with an awakened hunger to it.

Kassein felt his body react to her too, and to the rising heat between them.

He was all too aware of how she was straddling him, how dangerous their position was despite the layers of clothing between his crotch and the apex of her thighs.