Page 234 of The White King's Favorite

“Tessa!” he exclaimed, obviously embarrassed. “Easy, please...”

“Did you get treated?” she asked, immediately pulling his jacket open. “Did you? It’s not going to leave a scar, is it?”

“I-I don’t know... Why?Will you leave me if I get a scar?”

“Of course not!” she slapped his arm. “I’m just going to get mad if I don’t have someone to burn back for damaging my boyfriend!”

“Your boyfriend?” Darsan suddenly frowned. “Since when?”

“You really are slow, Darsan...”

“There’s someone who actually wants you?” he laughed.

“Yeah,” Tessa retorted with a sour expression. “I think it’s a family thing, they really have poor tastes...”

Her eyes went to Nana, making Darsan frown, confused again. Cessilia chuckled, relieved to see all of them seemed completely fine. Nana had a few bandages on her hands and legs, but she was happily smiling at Darsan and Tessa’s antics, her plump cheeks stuffed with warm food. Behind the trio, the battlefield was almost cleared already, with more of the Royal Guards still working to sort things out.

“What about the remaining Yekara?” Ashen asked, frowning.

“The Cheshi locked them all up,” said Tessandra. “We suspect some of them are still hiding, but we probably got most of them.”

“I would say so too,” suddenly announced Kassian’s voice.

They turned around, and Cessilia’s older brother approached from behind them, looking a bit tired. Nana immediately jumped to hand him a beignet.

“Oh, uh, thank you.”

“Where have you been?” Tessa frowned. “I saw Kian and Cece flying south minutes ago!”

“I just made a quick stop,” said Kassian, glancing down at his beignet and avoiding eye contact with her.

Cessilia didn’t say anything, but she did notice the new bandage around his dominant hand...

Suddenly, Kassian looked up at the sky, and Cessilia and Darsan did the same, getting the same feeling he did. The three siblings were the first to notice the new silhouette in the sky. Soon, all of them had their eyes up, staring at the dark clouds.

“Who is it?” Darsan kept asking, visibly nervous. “What color is the dragon, I can’t see!”

“Oh, you’re so in trouble,” chuckled Tessandra. “They are going to kick you right back to that stupid mountain...”

“A mountain?” asked Nana, confused.

“I-it’s nothing!” Darsan said, embarrassed.

Cessilia kept squinting her eyes to try and see the dragon’s color too. It was hard to tell, as it was flying amongst the dark clouds and still quite far away.

“...I think it’s green,” she suddenly muttered.

“Ah!” exclaimed Darsan, throwing his fists in the air. “Tessa, you’re the one in dragon sh–”

“Shut up!” she shouted back at him. “...It can’t be right? Right? Mom freaking hates flying!”

Cessilia was a bit surprised and confused too. Now that it was getting closer, that dragon was definitely Roun, her uncle’s Green Dragon. But she couldn’t see why her uncle or aunt would be coming all the way here... not even scolding their runaway daughter would be enough to come all the way to the Eastern Kingdom with Roun. Moreover, she was sure her mother would have mentioned to her sister that Tessandra was here, so it wasn’t like they would be actively searching for her either.

“...It’s a woman,” squealed Darsan, who was already laughing. “Oh, it’s got to be Aunt Missandra. Tessa, I’m sure you’re about to get your butt whoo–”

“No,” said Kassian. “That’s... No way?”

Cessilia had realized the woman’s identity at the same time. All three siblings and Tessandra exchanged surprised glances, completely dumbfounded.

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