Page 111 of The Wild Prince's Favorite
“Why do you think my brother sends them here, Kauser?” Kassein hissed, his eyes suddenly filled with venom.
The generals exchanged awkward glances.
“Well, they are convicted...”
“This is their only alternative to the death penalty,” Kassein growled. “There is no such thing as second chances. The only reason the Emperor sends them here is that he cannot be bothered to butcher the vermin himself. This place is theEmpire’s slaughterhouse, General. And I am the executioner. If anybody dares tell me again that this camp is at full capacity after the shit I witnessed this morning, I will slice their throat myself. You have gone fucking soft. All of you. Let me be perfectly clear. If someone steps a toe over the line, I want their foot severed. If someone talks back, I want their tongue nailed. If anybody so much as looks askance, I want their eyes gouged out. And if anyone disrespects any woman again, I want their fucking head severed and their limbs fed to my dragon. Have I made myself clear?”
He had drawled that last word with his ice-cold glare touring the crowd. This wasn’t just a threat to the criminals sent there; it was for every single man in the camp. Suddenly, nobody dared to look him in the eye, and every single brigade captain was fascinated by the sand at their feet. Even the generals had gone a shade paler than usual.
“...Understood, Commander.”
After a heavy, understood silence, Kassein left his generals to lead the rest of the meeting, and for once, he didn’t oppose their requests for more expeditions to the mountains. If he wanted to keep his army in line, he needed to keep it busy, and after what had recently transpired, investigating the tribes some more seemed necessary.
Moreover, he had his own motives for agreeing to this, and the main motive was Alezya. Whatever she had left behind, or whoever she missed, it was clear her tribe was not letting her come back for it, and it wasn’t something he was going to help her with if he didn’t start to question what was going on up there.
“Are you sure you’re alright with this, sir?” Tievin asked, scurrying behind him as they walked back.
“What?”
“W-well, that woman’s tribe might—”
“Alezya,” Kassein hissed, glaring back. “Her name is Alezya.”
Tievin only paused for a second, taken aback by his words, before he cleared his throat.
“Of course, Commander. I-I meant to say, aren’t you worried about... potentially getting into a fight with Lady Alezya’s tribe?”
“For whatever reason, they kicked her out and left her for dead on that mountain twice,” Kassein growled.
Getting into a fight with her tribe was certainly something he’d actually very much like to do. If given the chance, he was ready to kill every single man who had dared to lay their hands on her with his own bare hands.
Kassein was well aware that a part of him also wanted to personally fight the man she had left behind, if there was one, but he would never admit that out loud.
“I understand, sir,” Tievin said.
Just as he finished his sentence, Kassein brutally stopped, and Tievin almost crashed into him, instead staggering and managing to catch himself before he did and holding on to his notepad.
“Commander?”
“...Where are they?” Kassein growled, glancing around the camp.
They had been walking for a while, but he hadn’t caught sight of the three women. His sister wasn’t the type to confine herself inside a tent while the sun was out, so he had figured they’d be somewhere outside in the camp, but those women were nowhere to be seen.
“You,” Tievin called one of the men walking by. “Have you seen the Princess? Or one of the ladies?”
“No, Grand Intendant.”
“...What about the Commander in Chief’s dragon?” Tievin asked after a beat.
“Oh! He flew southeast a little while ago, sir. Along with the Princess’ dragon.”
Kassein had turned on his heels before the man was done talking.
He knew where Kiera had taken them already. His sister hadn’t visited the north in a very long time, but like his older siblings, she had grown up in that region before his parents had moved to live in the Imperial Palace once Kassian had reached the age to be trained as the heir to the Imperial Throne. Aside from Cessilia and Darsan, who had both moved to the Eastern Kingdom ten years ago, Kassian and their other siblings had lived in the Capital until Kiera had taken off to explore the uncharted lands, and Kassein had been banished to the north.
He had pushed his army farther north to the foot of the mountains precisely to get away from the north of his childhood.
It was easy for him to find his way back to the land he had grown up in, but without his dragon, and since the same dragon had made it nearly impossible for the camp to keep horses around, it took him and Tievin a long while and a long, long walk to get to where the women had flown to.
