Page 88 of The Wild Prince’s Favorite (The Dragon Empire Saga #3)
She had noticed everyone around was wary of the dragon, and after she’d witnessed it eat actual humans, she could understand why, but now, Lorey made it sound like she was even more of an exception than she thought.
She glanced back at the orange dragon. Was it too risky to bet on that dragon, then?
Strangely, she felt like she hardly feared the dragon anymore at all.
It was still this humongous creature with claws and thick, sharp fangs that could eat a whole man in the blink of an eye, and yet Alezya felt safer by Kein’s side than she did next to any man besides Kassein.
She had seen how horrible men could be; at least the dragon’s violence bore no evil to it.
They arrived at the place with all the herbs, and like last time, Alezya felt a bit excited to see so many of them cultivated in the same place. They had left the dragons outside as they were too big to enter, but they could hear them playing outside, probably causing mayhem in the snow.
“Do you like medicinal herbs?” Lorey asked. They had been roaming for a while, Alezya looking for an opportunity to snatch the ones she needed.
“Yes. I pick herbs in the mountain.”
“ The medicinal herbs here are Kiera and Kassein’s mother’s herbs. In Kalat Unshreik too. She likes medicinal herbs. ”
Kalat Unshreik. That was what he called that black mountain of theirs, the place Kassein and his siblings had grown up in.
Alezya was surprised. Their mom was some healer, then? She felt slightly impressed. It mustn’t have been easy to make so many herbs grow in the same place in such a complex climate.
They kept examining, and Lorey began explaining what each herb was used for, using words and gestures to describe body parts and conditions so Alezya would understand.
When they reached the herb, Lorey said it was used for blood illnesses, and Alezya wondered if she knew this could stop one’s bleeding. Still, she asked about a herb on the other side, and as soon as Lorey turned her back, she ripped some more leaves off and hid them.
When they left the leather dwelling a while later, she was certain she’d picked more than enough until she’d returned to her clan… which would be soon now. Every time she thought about returning to the mountain, her heart was torn between leaving Kassein and returning to Lumie.
She knew it couldn’t be avoided, and yet, she was in pain just thinking about leaving him again. This would be the second time. How would he react? He would think she was insane...
“Alezya?”
Lorey called her out of her thoughts; they had stepped outside, reuniting with the two dragons, both wet from playing in the snow.
“What do we do?” Lorey asked, leaving her the choice.
“I want to see Kassein, ” Alezya said, without hesitating.
Lorey smiled, and they resumed walking together, the rowdy pair of dragons following them once again.
These two acted particularly excited this morning, as they kept pouncing on each other, playing in the snow and causing waves of snow in their wake.
It was effective at keeping any of the Dragon Clan’s warriors away, but both women also got splattered with snow a couple of times despite the sky being clear blue that day.
“ Kiki , tawa !” Lorey suddenly called the dark gray dragon after they got splattered a third time.
Alezya was getting slightly fed up with their antics too.
The weather might have been fine, but now she was getting wet through her coat.
At Lorey’s angry voice, Kiki immediately jumped away from Kein and seemingly calmed down, but Kein didn’t seem to care.
The giant orange dragon once again pounced on its sibling, trying to resume their game, although Kiki wasn’t interested anymore.
Lorey turned to Alezya.
“Alezya tell Kein ,” she said.
“Tell Kein what?”
“Tawa.”
Did that mean to stop or calm down?
She hesitated, slightly nervous; she’d never given orders to the dragon before. However, when Kein tried to bite the dark gray dragon’s thigh, and its tail swooshed another wave of snow to the side, missing them only by a foot, she got fed up too.
“ Kein , tawa ,” she said, trying to sound as determined as Lorey.
The orange dragon froze and turned wide, large-as-plates silver eyes toward her.
Alezya had never felt as small as she did under the dragon’s surprised, inquisitive stare. It finally left its smaller peer alone, but now, its attention was all on Alezya, rendering her quite nervous.
After a beat, the orange dragon suddenly settled down in the snow, still staring right at her. It laid down like it usually did to sleep, but this time, its head was still straight up, and its eyes riveted on her.
Alezya glanced at Lorey for support, and her companion was smiling, her hand petting Kiki’s head.
“See. Kein likes Alezya.”
For some reason, that made Alezya blush. Did that mean Kein was really listening to her?
She put her fear aside to step toward the orange dragon and, with all the bravery she could muster, put a hand on its snout. Kein’s tail resumed scooping little waves of snow left and right behind it, and the dragon let out a long, low growl.
“Good dragon,” she whispered.
That got her another growl.
With both dragons calmed down and now docile, the two women resumed walking, Kein sticking behind Alezya, so close its head kept popping over her shoulder, while Kiki marched next to Lorey.
They resumed chatting again, and this time, Alezya was curious to know what other words she could say that Kein would understand.
When she asked Lorey, her companion chuckled.
“Kein understands everything. But listens only to you.”
“Kein doesn’t listen to Kiera? To you?”
Lorey scoffed and glanced toward the orange dragon.
“Kein? Go away.”
Kein replied with a sudden, furious growl that made both women jump, showing off its fangs and stepping closer to Alezya in protest.
After the initial fright, Lorey chuckled.
“See? A dragon does what a dragon wants. Kein wants to be with Alezya.”
Alezya smiled and patted the dragon’s neck until its growls settled.
Although she doubted Kein would actually attack Lorey, it was still quite scary to see and hear the orange dragon suddenly get mad at her friend.
“Lorey? What is word for dragon bird?”
“Bird?”
Alezya mimicked flying with her hands, and Lorey nodded.
“ Oh. Baytir. Kiki? Baytian.”
The dark gray dragon let out a high-pitched growl, made a little hop, and flew up without waiting, making little circles above their heads.
Alezya watched its majestic, fluid flight before she turned to Kein, who was also eyeing its peer.
“Kein.”
The orange dragon immediately flipped its head back to her.
“ Baytian .”
Kein let out a faint growl, pressed its snout against her shoulder briefly, and then lay down in a stretch before it flapped its humongous wings and joined its sibling in a couple of flaps that scattered all the snow around.
Alezya was just speechless. She could order the dragon to take off and fly just like that. Lorey had no idea how much she had just done.
“ More ,” she asked Lorey, trying not to sound too excited. “ Tell me more words for dragons. ”
Lorey gave her a little surprised look, but she must have trusted Alezya because she did, although she didn’t teach her anything that could be dangerous, like telling the dragon to attack.
Instead, she taught her words such as lie down, wait, growl, go down, take, and let go.
Alezya had never been so determined to carve those words into her memory, and she tried every single one on the orange dragon, who, to her shock and delight, obeyed every single one of them, leaving her astonished.
She could command a dragon. Not only that, but the largest dragon of all obeyed her .
An indescribable feeling of power fired her gut, and this time, she knew her plan had better chances than ever to work.
By the time they found Kiera and Kassein, who were sparring outside for once with quite an audience, Lorey was done teaching her words, and Alezya didn’t ask for more.
The dragons stuck in the vicinity, and that was enough to clear everyone else from the area; the Dragon Clan warriors suddenly scattered in different directions. Only Tievin remained, giving the women a brief, bored glance but staying at a safe distance as the dragons came to settle next to them.
Alezya didn’t care for the scrawny man; her eyes were already on Kassein’s sweaty, naked torso, her stomach doing a little jump in appreciation. It was hard not to look at his slightly panting mouth and not remember the things he could do with it...
“Alezya?”
Lorey was staring at her with an amused smirk.
Alezya blushed and remembered to close her mouth. Her companion chuckled while Alezya, eager to do anything to justify hiding her face, went to Kein to sit on its paw as usual, the dragon curving its neck toward her in the snow so she could pet it.
Luckily, Tievin began to speak, and although it was much too fast for Alezya to follow, it distracted Lorey, and they all turned their eyes back to the duel, the three of them watching the siblings spar for a while.
This time, Keira and Kassein had chosen a rather deserted area to spar, and coincidentally, it was close to that large wooden door leading into her clan’s territory.
The wooden wall they had built between the mountains and them was massive, but Alezya was curious why they’d put such a large door when they rarely bothered to attack the clans and didn’t fear them much.
In her opinion, a dragon felt like a good enough defense, but maybe the Dragon Clan had no idea of their own superiority.
She shivered, thinking back to the despicable technique one of the clans used to attack last. She hadn’t heard anything about it but hoped they prevented the disease from spreading. She understood fights were part of clan traditions, but such schemes were downright disgusting and evil.