Page 187 of The Wild Prince's Favorite
She was trapped alone in a crevice, and they knew her father had pushed her in there too.
“Sorry,” one of the other voices said. “It’s just... Everyone’s a bit tense and confused after everything that happened. But, is it true you can command the dragon?”
“Sort of.”
She guessed they weren’t seeing Niiru from where they stood; they probably couldn’t afford to lean too close to the opening without the risk of falling in themselves.
“And you can speak the Dragon Clan’s tongue too?”
“I’m learning,” Alezya said.
“A-and you’re pregnant with one of their–”
“What do you want?” Alezya cut them off.
“Our clan wants to negotiate directly with you. They don’t trust your father at all.”
Alezya chuckled bitterly.No one ever should, she thought.
“What do they want to negotiate?” she asked.
“Th-the Dragon Clan. Could you... have them give us some immunity against the dragon? We’re a small clan with few warriors, but we have a lot of resources. We’re open to negotiating anything they would want.”
“It’s not just us,” one of the other voices said. “After your Deklaan Clan and some of the bigger ones left, many of the smaller clans who are allied or neighbors discussed it, and they are afraid of what your father could do using the dragon.”
“The dragon won’t attack the clans unless I tell him to,” Alezya said. “My father holds no power over the dragon. The orange dragon might listen to me, but it still belongs to the Dragon Clan.”
“How did you make it listen to you?”
Alezya hesitated.
She glanced down at Niiru, who was still eyeing the opening, looking ready to fly and fight any second. For some reason, she had a feeling even a tiny dragon could do a lot of damage to some grown men.
“I befriended the Dragon Clan,” she said. “I learned some of their language and their ways, and the dragon won’t attack me.”
She didn’t need to tell them the details, only enough so they would know she was the one they should be dealing with, not her father.
Perhaps her chance to get out of here would come about in a completely different way than she had thought.
“So... If the dragon attacked, could you tell it to stay away from us?”
“I could,” Alezya said, slowly getting up.
“A-alright. We will relay that to our Clan Chiefs. What would you want in exchange?”
Alezya scoffed.
“Getting me out of here and away from my father would be a nice start.”
“...Oh.”
She rolled her eyes. She couldn’t believe they hadn’t thought of that in the first place.
It felt strange to negotiate her freedom and her ability to keep Kein from murdering another clan from ten feet under them, her bum still chilled from the ice.
“We, uh... We should probably relay what you said to our Clan Chiefs before we free you. They have to decide what to do and how we will negotiate...”
Alezya frowned.
