Page 11 of The Wild Prince's Favorite
Of course they’d twist it for their own gain. She should have known better than to trust her cousin, even for the clan’s sake. No doubt her husband had been the one to snitch the identity of the woman the orange dragon had spared. He probably hadn’t even thought twice about it.
“This will be perfect for the next clans’ gathering,” nodded her father. “We can prove our willingness with the sacrifice, and use this to turn things around.”
“What are you talking about?” Alezya asked, growing nervous. “What sacrifice?”
“You should be grateful for this opportunity,” one of the elders told her. “Your ex-husband would most likely be willing to take you back if you prove your willingness. This is a unique position you will be in, a small sacrifice for the sake of the clans. You could erase all your mistakes and start over, child. We are being more than benevolent already, considering your past offenses.”
Whatever they were going to promise her, Alezya already knew she was about to get offered some deal she was going to hate. She glared at her cousin’s husband. This was their fault! She had been kind enough to look for medicinal herbs for their son at the risk of her own life, and it hadn’t even taken a day before they sold her out!
“Grab the child.”
“W-what?” Alezya mumbled, all blood leaving her face.
They wanted Lumie? For what? Her mind was going numb as she was starting to piece it together. Her father looked at her like she was some foolish insect and a very stupid one at that.
“Give us that creature you call your child,” he insisted. “If the dragon spared it, it’s all the more reason for us to sacrifice itto the gods. I knew there was something off about that wretched spawn, and now we get to use it for our clan’s sake.”
“You should be grateful, child. With this sacrifice, your willingness to help your clan will be considered, and we will plead your case to the one that was once your husband.”
This had to be some sort of nightmare. Sacrificing Lumie? And to go back to that monster they called her husband, no less? Alezya felt like a piece of the mountain was cracking under her feet.
“...You can’t be serious?” she muttered. “You’d sacrifice a child...? Because of some stupid things I said to a dragon?”
“A woman does not need to know such things,” said one of the elders, “but the dragons are intelligent creatures. Our records prove they are capable of understanding words. Whatever the reason was for that orange dragon to spare your child, it’s all the more reason for us to get rid of it. Why are you so surprised? Sacrificial rituals are common.”
“Yes, with beasts and criminals!” Alezya retorted, now furious. “No one’s ever been mad enough to sacrifice a child!”
“That creature is an abomination,” her father hissed.
“She is my child,” she retorted immediately, her anger even more palpable than his.
One of the elders rolled their eyes as if she was just being difficult. Those mad men were seriously talking about sacrificing a child as if it was a natural thing!
“You’d gain your place back in the clan,” said her cousin’s husband, looking dumbfounded. “Alezya, this might be your only chance! Your crime would be forgiven!”
Alezya glared at him even more. She had committed no crime, and she certainly didn’t give a damn about her place in the clan.
Those were obvious lies. How could she go back to where she was, after everything that had already happened? Afterbeing treated like this by her father, in front of the whole clan, for months? There was no going back. And even if there had been a chance she’d believe that lie, she wouldn’t have cared. There was nothing in this world that would possibly make her give up her own child, and certainly not to a bunch of men who were going to sacrifice her. She didn’t know how much of that crap about the dragon they actually believed, and Alezya was far from being stupid.
Their real reason wasn’t to piss off the dragon, it was probably to make themselves look good in front of the other clans. Showing they weren’t afraid to burn a baby that was believed to be of some stranger’s blood was just to curry her ex-husband’s clan’s favor.
And Alezya wouldn’t let them have their way.
“No.”
A single word, that had barely left her lips, but she had already made her resolve. No, she had decided a long time ago. No matter what happened, it was Lumie and her against the world. Against this insane, cruel world. Some of the elders sighed and turned around, visibly already bored with this situation. Her father, however, just went red.
“What did you just say?”
“I said no,” she hissed. “You’re not having my child, and you’re not going to sacrifice her, Father.”
“How dare you–?!”
He raised his hand, but Alezya didn’t flinch.
She stood there, facing him, with anger in her eyes and not even batting an eyelash at the promised violence that was coming her way.
He slapped her, violently, but this time, she stood still. Despite her ear ringing, despite the pain on her cheek. She immediately raised her furious eyes back at him. This was her way to tell him. He could hit her all he wanted, it wouldn’t beable to break her. He could beat her all he wanted, he could hit her again and again until she was on the brink of death, but she would not, she would never, ever abandon her child.
