Page 137 of The Wild Prince's Favorite
This experience had been... mind-blowing.
He’d never been with a woman before. It wasn’t a secret, merely a fact. He had never found someone he had wanted to satisfy his teenage curiosity with, and when one grew up witha large number of siblings and a status that put him above everyone else, it was hard to look for partners.
Kassein had always followed his family until he had felt like too much of a third wheel with his parents and too useless to his older siblings. His teenagehood had been mostly spent trying to convince his older brother he wasn’t just the “Wild Prince” everyone called him because of his mad dragon, to no avail. He had reached the age of eighteen with no other will than to find somewhere he would belong, and he had never found it until now.
He had been mad beyond words when his brother had exiled him to the north, yet now, he found himself grateful. What would have happened to Alezya if he hadn’t been in the north? If Kein hadn’t been prowling the area? If he hadn’t pushed his army to set camp so far...?
Kassein let out another sigh. Perhaps he would never get his brother’s approval, and perhaps he’d reached a point where he didn’t care for it anymore.
He and Kassian were only close in name. That was it. It was almost ironic how the two children who had been named in the tradition, after their parents’ own names, couldn’t see eye to eye. His siblings had been named after ancestors and dead relatives, but Kassian and Kassein were the ones meant to be a testament to their parents’ love: Kairen and Cassandra.
Sometimes, he hated how he could never escape the comparison with his older brother when they couldn’t have been more different, born fourteen years apart with nothing to share. If he had his own struggles, Kassian had never shared them. His oldest brother was the perfect son, the one destined to be Emperor, the golden first child. Kassein was the second-to-last child, forgettable if not for the chaos in his wake, a disappointment when there had been no expectations.
And yet, he had finally found the peace he’d always yearned for, with one fateful meeting with a woman. The dragon that had been trying to kill him for so many years was now peacefully snoring outside.
While he was still at war with the rest of the world, Kassein was finally at peace with himself. And for one evening, that was more than enough to qualify as happiness.
He stayed awake for most of the night, his eyes remaining open in the darkness while he listened to Alezya’s breathing. That woman slept like she had years of sleep to catch up on. She barely even moved at all, except for instinctively getting closer to the main source of heat, Kassein.
When the sun rose, however, he knew he would have to get up, or else his sister was likely to come and fetch him herself as he’d promised to train with her. Kassein extracted himself from the bed slowly and almost unwillingly, keeping an eye on Alezya’s sleeping figure at all times while he got dressed. He couldn’t get enough of how beautiful that woman was.
He couldn’t even remember moving, his body drawn toward the bed again, where he gently pulled the blankets over her body and pressed his lips against her bare shoulder before he covered it.
“Kassein?” she stirred with that dreamy voice.
“Go back to sleep, my moonlight. I’ll be back later.”
“What does that mean? That word you called me...”
She sounded tired, and she wasn’t even opening her eyes, her breathing still slow. Kassein smiled and pressed his lips against her temple this time.
“I’ll tell you later,” he whispered against her ear.
If she heard that, Alezya showed no sign she did.
It was more likely she’d fallen back asleep, tired as she was. Still, Kassein lingered over her for a couple more seconds, takingin the sight of that woman’s sleeping figure under the gentle sunrise until he really had to leave.
Leaving his tent and the woman in it had taken superhuman effort, even for a prince with Dragon Blood flowing through his veins.
Kassein stood outside, basking in the sunlight for a few seconds, taking in deep breaths of icy wind. The previous night had felt like a rebirth, a new world of possibilities opening under his feet.
Now, he didn’t simply want Alezya; he needed her. He needed that woman like most men needed air and water. Some part of him was already thinking about the next time he would get to see her, to touch her, to smell her, like this was his new way of measuring time.
Finally, Kassein willed himself to move, if only to glance at his orange dragon at the side of the tent. Kein let out a warning growl; his dragon didn’t appreciate being bothered during its slumber and barely lifted its head from its curled position, eyeing Kassein with a nasty silver-colored glare.
“Watch her,” Kassein hissed.
His dragon growled back, and finally, the young Prince left to meet his sister.
It was early in the camp, but men were already working, carefully avoiding his path, scattering like scared rats as he approached. Kassein didn’t care much for his men at the moment, but he did glare around, looking for the smallest signs of insubordination. He wasn’t afraid to spill blood if that was what it took for them to behave.
Eventually, he crossed paths with Tievin, who was already glaring at the snow like the fresh new layer was personally offending him.
“Your Highness,” Tievin half-yawned. “Good day. There are quite a few matters that require your attention regarding the camp, if you have a minute. I’ve received numerous reports from the generals about sightings of the tribespeople, well, male ones, really, in the mountains.”
“Kiera mentioned it too,” Kassein spat.
Tievin stopped walking for a second, visibly taken aback.
