Page 176 of The Wild Prince's Favorite
Kassein frowned and glanced at the skies.
The first colors of dawn had appeared, but it would be a while before the sun properly rose up, and the child looked fine.
“So, are we sure she’s Alezya’s? Your woman had a brat?” Kiera asked.
“It seems so,” Lorey replied in his stead, already smiling at the baby girl and offering her finger for Lumie to grab.
“Well,” Kiera continued, “she’s still gone, and now she’s most likely back with her damn tribe. What are you going to do about it? Send Kein back? Is she just expecting you to take her kid and be done?”
Kassein’s eyes went to his dragon.
The two of them missed Alezya terribly, and they didn’t need to communicate for that; if Kein had returned without Alezya, it meant she wasn’t in a place where his dragon could bring her back for now. Or else, he would have gone back the second they took Lumie.
At least, that was what he hoped. Kein had come back with Alezya’s child but without Alezya. She’d learned to tame and order his dragon around, and now, he knew there had been a point to it. She wanted to save her child, at any cost. He was certain she would have never wanted to go back if it wasn’tfor Lumie. But she did go back. She had gone back, sacrificing herself and the protection Kassein had offered her to save her child. She had rescued her baby all by herself, and he’d done nothing to help.
The truth hit Kassein hard, although he was completely still.
Inside, however, it felt like his dragon had dragged his body over miles, crushing him under the weight of that guilt. He was powerless to help the one woman he wanted above everything. And now she was gone, most likely in danger again, or worse, already suffering.
Even if the horrible, worst possible reason why Kein had returned without her was eating him from the inside, opening like a void of anguish that was threatening to tip him over, Kassein tried to push it away.
He refused to even think about it. It couldn’t be. No. He just needed to find her, bring her back, and it would all be fine. Alezya had to be alive somewhere, and he would bring her back.
Everything would be fine so long as he got her back in his arms.
His eyes slowly turned back to the line of mountains, gradually filling with cold rage. Those mountains. Those tribes. Those people who had hurt her, who were hurting her again at this very moment. He wasn’t going to let them get away with it any longer. His dragon growled furiously, echoing his own thoughts. They couldn’t let it happen ever again.
They couldn’t let her be hurt for a second longer.
“...Brother?” Kiera frowned, her eyes on the growling Kein. “What’s going on in your head? Care to share?”
“I’m going to the mountains,” he spat, turning around to carry Lumie away.
“What? Wait... No, what? Wait a minute!” Both women began running after him.
He was walking fast through the camp, and the soldiers scattered as quickly as terrified mice upon seeing Kein and Kiki following them.
“Kassein!” Kiera insisted. “What do you mean you’re going to the mountains? You didn’t meannow, did you? What about the plan?!”
“Alezya’s up there. I need to find her. She could be hurt or in danger. I’ll go and conquer them—every single one of them.”
“There are people living in those mountains,” Lorey reminded him with a nervous expression. “Children and women, like Alezya and her child.”
“I won’t harm any woman or child, ever,” Kassein glared at her as if offended she would have even thought otherwise. “I will fight the men who deserve it. I’m starting with the ones that hurt Alezya, and they will regret it. I have to find her. Bring her back.”
Kiera and Lorey exchanged a look behind him.
They had seen the tribes, and they knew women and children were never involved in the fights. If they had learned anything from being around Alezya, it was that women most likely had very little say at all in any matters, let alone battles.
They reached his tent, and gently, Kassein put the little girl down on his bed, although his thick cloak still surrounded her. He then glanced at Lorey, who understood and gave him a quick nod before going to the child. They switched places, Kassein tending to the fire while she kneeled to be at the baby girl’s eye level.
“Hello, little moon,” she whispered.
Then, she began to inspect the child gently, checking the toddler’s body with her hands before picking her up.
“She’s completely fine,” she declared, her eyes going to Kassein’s. “She’s healthy, a bit petite, but based on her teeth and how she can sit fine on her own, I’d say she’s probablynearing two years old. I’ll give her a bath since she’s traveled in a dragon’s mouth...”
She grabbed a little basin in Kassein’s tent and began setting everything up to clean the toddler. Meanwhile, Kiera’s and Tievin’s eyes were riveted on Kassein, both with similar confused expressions.
