Page 79 of The Wild Prince's Favorite
She waited for a bit, and sure enough, when Kassein’s blade slashed her shoulder after a wrong move on her part, the dark silver scales formed in a matter of seconds. Those scales were exactly like Kiki’s... Did that mean Kiki was Kiera’s dragon? Did the dragons truly have their own owners, allowing this sorcery that healed them?
Alezya was both confused and amazed. She kept watching the match, feeling as excited as the cheering men around, although she kept quiet. She didn’t even want to blink and miss a split second of this. She knew nothing of fights, but she could tell this one was amazing.
The siblings’ moves looked like a mortal, dangerous dance with one another, and they weren’t holding back nor giving the other any chance for a mistake to slip by. Their movements seemed so brutal and deadly; they wouldn’t actually risk inflicting serious harm upon the other, right? But then again,with their amazing healing abilities, how far did they have to go for them to inflict any wound that would seriously harm the other…?
She kept watching in absolute awe, trying to absorb every bit of the incredible match, but every time, Alezya found that her eyes would inevitably drift back to Kassein. She was mesmerized by each of his movements, and the impressive strength demonstrated by his body. Her throat went a bit dry, and her stomach a bit funny, thinking that those same hands that carried such a big sword had been the ones to gently caress her just the night before...
It was hot in there, but her blushing was getting embarrassing, and Alezya nervously patted her cheeks. She was just remembering her bandaged hands when she caught Lorey’s amused eyes on her. She had been caught staring... Alezya reddened even more and averted her gaze.
“Kiera! Kassein!”
Alezya was not only shocked that Lorey had dared to interrupt the battle, but on top of that, despite the ruckus, both Kassein and Kiera actually heard her, immediately turning their eyes her way and lowering their weapons.
When Kassein’s deep green eyes found her standing next to Lorey amongst the crowd, Alezya could only burn up even more. She internally cursed Lorey for calling out to him when she wasn’t ready! Even worse, now both he and his sister were walking in their direction, drawing every single set of eyes to them.
Their arrival had gone relatively unnoticed because the warriors’ eyes were on the fight, but as she, Lorey, and Kiera were the only women there, and with her being the foreign woman, she was especially standing out. After nervously peeking around, Alezya regretted it immediately and began to feel instinctively scared, having so many curious men’s eyes on her.Then, Kassein arrived, obliterating everything else. At least, her fear had drained the blood away from her face for a bit, and she wasn’t blushing like a young maiden anymore...
That was until he came close, facing her from mere inches away.
He said something to Tievin, who handed him a piece of fabric to wipe himself with. But Kassein only quickly wiped the sweat off his hand right before putting it on her cheek. Alezya’s blushing immediately came back, and now, she was torn between seeking comfort and protection in this hand or pushing it away in a desperate attempt to get the attention away from her...
Then, Lorey said something, and Kassein briefly glanced in her direction before looking around at the men gathered here. They had stopped cheering when the fight had been stopped, but now, all the warriors around seemed to be shrinking under Kassein’s stare. He didn’t say a word, but after a second of heavy silence under his glare, all the men moved at once, rushing to get out. Alezya was shocked by the sudden stampede toward the exit, but the other three didn’t move, only watching with amused or bored expressions as the place emptied in a matter of seconds. What had Lorey said?
Alezya was confused until Kassein’s eyes got back to her. He gave her a faint smile, his thumb rubbing against her cheek. She found herself blushing again, as they were still not alone, and this felt way more embarrassing in the daylight, away from his room... but she didn’t hate his touch. Far from it. It was as comforting as Kein’s warm skin under her fingers...
After a hesitation, she shyly put her hand over his. His sister rolled her eyes and said something, Tievin answering. Alezya glanced their way as the other three exchanged, but Kassein still kept his eyes riveted on her, and she was all too aware of them. If she could understand them, at least she could have trieddistracting herself with their conversation, but now, she was absorbed by Kassein’s warm gaze, and his gentle hand on her cheek. He then looked down at the coat covering her and asked something to Lorey, who replied with a calm expression. Alezya was a bit annoyed at herself for feeling glad he’d barely looked at Lorey all along...
Tievin said something, which made Kiera burst out laughing and slap his shoulder. But the poor man did not have the siblings’ constitution, for he almost fell forward from that. Alezya tried not to laugh at his stumble and watched with compassion as he grimaced and painfully massaged his shoulder upon standing back up.
Then, Kiera did something that shocked Alezya even more: she put a quick kiss on Lorey’s lips before turning around and walking casually back to the center of the space, calling her brother. Those two women had just... kissed? Alezya was utterly confused. Was that a greeting between women in their clan?
She was still bewildered, but her attention was soon called back to Kassein’s dangerously close presence. He was still staring at her with that warm, troubling gaze, despite his sister calling him for the second time. Then, he gave her a faint smile, and took his hand back, turning around to resume his fight with Kiera. Alezya was left there, still speechless. Tievin then said something as the two siblings resumed their fight, both looking even more excited than before.
As Alezya wondered what he’d said, Lorey gently nudged her toward a bench on the side. She had Alezya sit next to her, while Tievin stood to the side, but this time, Alezya decided not to be surprised anymore by their strange customs. She was going to have to adapt quickly if she wanted to survive here. She wouldn’t go as far as kissing a woman’s lips, but she could overlook their completely off-throwing differences of status.
From what she had seen, Kiera and Kassein stood at the top here, Lorey behind them, the warriors next, and then, Tievin... No, perhaps Tievin was above the other warriors despite not being a warrior himself, seeing as how he hadn’t been kicked out. Or did he have a particular status? Maybe as the clan’s counselor, or like an elder?
She couldn’t tell, but right now, he was standing next to them, so he was at least below Lorey... so she would be safe, as long as she remained mindful of these four.
With everyone else gone, the place felt much bigger, and the siblings didn’t hold back either, using the entire space for their fight. With no one blocking the view, Alezya could finally look around the place and distract herself from Kassein’s dripping figure.
The floor was flat and clear of any snow, replaced instead by an inch of some dry, thin soil that would fly around under their steps. It wasn’t rock-solid, but more like something slightly soft on the surface, fitted for a practice fight and potential falls. This was definitely some training area, and she saw some weapons lined up on a rack on one end, both wooden and metal swords, bats, and sticks of all sizes. The roof was also higher than in Kassein’s habitation, a large piece of leather or something of the like stretched over their heads.
Then, she heard a grunt and turned back to the fight. Kiera had managed to make her brother put a knee down and was taunting him, judging by the snarky tone of her voice and her expression. Just as Alezya was getting a bit worried, Kassein darted a glance her way.
...Was his sister reprimanding him for his attitude toward her? He quickly turned back to the fight, jumped back on his feet, and fought back. Kiera immediately lost her smug expression for her brother’s attacks were relentless and merciless, rapidly pushing her to a corner of the area. She beganto frown and fight back with similar anger, but Kassein was pushing her and gaining more ground. They didn’t look to be playing around anymore, and Alezya felt like the fight’s tone had changed drastically...
Then, just as she thought Kiera was going to lose or seriously get hurt, they stopped. Alezya wondered what had prompted them to suddenly lower their weapons, but then, a man’s voice came shouting from outside. Next to her, Lorey jumped to her feet too, and Tievin ran past them to the entrance, the siblings catching up quickly behind him. In a matter of seconds, all three were outside, and Alezya followed.
“Alezya!”
Lorey had tried to hold her back one second too late. She stepped out of the training area, and right away, a flock of the Dragon Clan’s warriors ran past her, all headed in one direction. She turned her black eyes toward the mountain, and she saw it: a group of people coming down toward this area, people that came from up there...
Her heart jumped in her chest. Lorey emerged right behind her, but Alezya ignored her and marched toward the crowd. Kassein’s warriors were fighting another clan! In one glance, she knew it wasn’t her clan; their clothing and weapons were different, and they had markings on their faces, a custom her people didn’t have.
Her relief was short-lived though. She knew that clan, and she had seen those particular markings before. She watched helplessly as the fight happened too far from her to act; she had lost sight of Kassein and his sister, but she had no doubt they were in the middle of the violent battle.
And the Dragon Clan was easily going to win this one. She’d seen these fights before. Perched in the heights of her mountain, on a day she happened to find herself on the right flank of it, she had witnessed for herself another clan’s warriors being wipedout in a matter of seconds... and the very same was going to happen here, no doubt.
