Page 81 of The Wild Prince’s Favorite (The Dragon Empire Saga #3)

Next was the girls’ room. Cessilia, Sadara, and Kiera had shared the biggest room of the Onyx Castle, with their beds spread unevenly but in a gentle harmony.

Cessilia had the bed by the window with a desk next to it, Sadara’s was in the middle of a wall with a trunk full of fabrics at its foot and some embroidery work lying on her bedside table, while Kiera’s was in a corner, an unapologetic mess with a half-charted map of the continent lying above it.

Their room was also full of plants the sisters had cared for in turns over the years, and surprisingly, some of them were still growing along the walls or in their hanging pots.

Alezya seemed to like this room the most, for she toured it curiously, inspecting the plants, Sadara’s piles of fabrics, and Cessilia’s desk until she stopped in front of the map above Kiera’s bed.

Kassein’s eyes had stopped on his oldest sister’s bed. Cessilia’s. The vines that surrounded the window were the same vines that led back down to the garden on the other side.

“...Kassein?”

Alezya seemed worried about his suddenly dark expression. She glanced at the window, and walked up to him, gently grabbing his clenched fists in her hands.

“My older sister, Cessilia,” he muttered after a while.

Alezya turned her eyes to Cessilia’s bed, having been introduced to the name seconds ago. Kassein swallowed the knot in his throat and kept talking.

“One night... she left her room to find her lover.”

He unfroze his body from the floor he felt stuck on and slowly moved up to the window, his hand touching the vines that had grown since then.

“She used these vines to climb down to the garden,” he whispered.

“Dad had chased him out earlier that evening, banishing him... and he had forbidden us all from going after him. Cessilia didn’t listen.

She loved... She loved him. So she climbed down to leave her room while Sadara and Kiera were asleep.

I wasn’t asleep. Sepheus was still a baby, crying often, so I often stayed awake a little while after my mom had taken him to their room.

I heard Cessilia climb down. I went out of my room and into the garden, and I saw her about to leave with her dragon. ”

The words were pouring out of him like an endless stream after finally breaking the dam that had held them back all these years.

Alezya didn’t interrupt him, her eyes instead focused on his tortured, pained expression.

Kassein’s fist was still shut tight, his eyes full of hurt and anger riveted on the vines and that window.

“...She asked me not to say anything. I could have. I should have. I had... I had never disobeyed our parents before. Never. But Cessilia was my older sister, and she had been so upset over that guy leaving... I thought she could bring him back and be happy again.”

He was there all over again; that boy, under the rain in their garden, torn between making his older sister happy and disobeying his father. That day, he had made a choice, and he had regretted that choice every hour for the last fifteen years.

“She didn’t reach him. Instead, she was found by...” his voice cracked, broken in his throat. “...She got hurt.”

He could never forget the sight of his sister’s body as they carried her back inside.

Lifeless, covered in blood, unrecognizable.

Never had his sister looked so fragile. Those monsters had captured her dragon and tortured her.

They had cut her throat, nearly killing her before his father and older brothers had managed to save her just in time.

But if they had been just minutes later. ..

Every time, the mere thought of having nearly caused the death of his older sister sucked the air out of his lungs.

Worse, he had witnessed for himself how broken she had been for the following years.

They hadn’t heard her voice for a long time, and when she’d finally been capable of uttering sounds again, there was no stringing a full sentence together without stumbling on her words. And it was all his fault.

“Kassein.”

Alezya’s gentle voice pulled him back to the present.

She caressed his cheek, and it was then that he realized he’d let a tear slip when she brushed it off his cheekbone with her thumb.

She looked concerned, seeking answers in his sad, green eyes.

He let out a long sigh and, once again, kept her cool palm against his cheek for comfort.

“It was my fault, Alezya,” he whispered, glad to confess to someone who had no idea.

“I’m a monster. I almost got my older sister killed, and because I couldn’t face that guilt, I actually caused someone’s death.

.. Someone died because of me. Because I hate myself.

Because my dragon wants to kill me as much as I—”

He didn’t finish that sentence.

He knew what was wrong with him. How could he not? Dragons weren’t mad; they were a reflection of their owners’ emotions, a weapon when they got angry and a protector when they loved. But Kassein’s weapon had been turned toward one man and one man alone for the last fifteen years. Himself.

Until Alezya. Until a woman had walked into his life and ignited his need to protect, making this one thing far more important than anything else. He leaned his forehead against hers and calmed his breathing.

“I need you,” he confessed. “You have no idea how much I need you.”

He heard her let out a sigh, and then, as if she’d suddenly decided on it, she grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the bedroom.

Kassein didn’t resist; even though she wouldn’t have been able to make him move an inch if he didn’t want to, he was completely fine being dragged down the stairs and back to the ground floor.

Alezya pulled him through the only exit she knew, back into the garden, but she didn’t stop there. She kept pulling his arm beyond the garden and back on the main path where Kein was waiting for them, lying in the snow with a sulky expression.

Then, she turned around to him and put her index finger between his eyebrows.

“Alezya?” he asked her, confused.

She kept rubbing her finger there, and after a moment, he realized she was going at his frown as if she could smooth it away. That finally managed to make him relax a bit.

“There,” he said, mindful of his expression now. “I’m not frowning anymore.”

Still, she didn’t seem satisfied and moved her hand to his cheek, getting on her toes to put a light kiss on his lips. That finally made him smile, and Kassein wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in.

“I’m going to need a bit more of that,” he whispered before kissing her.

He wrapped his large hand around her neck and heard a faint moan slip out against his lips, making him intensify their kiss.

Her mouth opened for his tongue, and he took everything she was willing to give him, hungry for any taste of her, every breath, every sound.

Kassein kissed her fiercely as if they could chase his demons with the fire of that one kiss, as if he could bury his memories and lie on top of them with Alezya by his side.

They were alone in the middle of the quiet, snow-covered Shadelands, and for a moment, it felt as if they were alone in the world. She was smaller, but he was the one holding on to her for dear life.

Kassein kept kissing her lips, caressing the hair on her nape, and pulling her waist closer, never quite satiated no matter what he did.

He wanted more, and the lust was becoming unbearable; he could barely contain that hunger coming from below that clawed at his insides and made every inch of his skin burn and tighten with desire.

Kein’s heavy growl burst that bubble and split them apart. Kassein forced himself to take a step back, although his hands settled on Aleyza’s waist, still too stubborn to let go.

“Let’s go back,” he said, pressing his lips against her forehead. “...It’s getting late.”

It had taken him an absurdly long time to walk from the camp to the Onyx Castle, as the sun had already begun to set, but at least they had Kein to fly back on since Lorey and Kiera had gone back with Kiki.

Gently, Kassein pulled Alezya along toward his dragon, but as they approached Kein’s back, she froze, staring at it with confused eyes.

“Hop on,” he said, suddenly lifting her off the ground.

She let out a yelp, clearly unprepared to get on the dragon’s back, and held on to its neck. It only hit Kassein then that this was her first time properly riding his dragon while conscious.

For some reason, seeing her so confused and scared made him chuckle, and while she sat sideways in front of him, he wrapped an arm around her waist. Truthfully, it had been a while since anyone had mounted Kein, including himself.

His dragon had been a raging beast that wouldn’t listen to anyone for the last decade or so, but right now, it was as docile as a kitten, glancing back at Alezya with its curious eyes as big as silver plates.

“Get moving,” Kassein growled.

His dragon retorted with a snort, and if he weren’t holding on to Alezya, Kassein would have bet that his stubborn dragon wouldn’t have thought twice about throwing him off.

Still, Kein let out a big snuff into the cold air around them and, after a lazy stretch, stood, flapped its wings, and took off without warning.

Alezya’s scream got stuck in her throat, and instead, she clutched Kassein’s neck even more tightly, hiding her face in his shoulder, her nails even grazing his skin.

For some reason, he enjoyed that but shut his lips tight to keep himself from letting out a smile.

He waited until they were high up in the air, and gently patted her shoulder.

“Alezya, your eyes. Open your eyes.”