Page 163 of The Wild Prince's Favorite
“That whore spread her legs for our enemy?” Vasilias shouted, glaring at her. “After cursing me, you sent that witch and her bastard to the Dragon Tyrant?”
“...Betterhisbastard than your child,” Alezya grimly muttered.
She realized as soon as she had uttered her words that this was true; Lumie’s blood relation to that man didn’t matter anymore. Alezya had once been disappointed that he didn’t want her, but now, she realized that it was a blessing. Lumie deserved a good father, a good man who wanted her. She could only hope Kassein would be that man.
Reeling in the undivided attention, her father’s vicious smile spread even further, and he raised both hands to commandeer the attention back to him.
“That isn’t all,” he shouted. “Not only was she welcomed by the Dragon Clan, unsuspecting of our genius plan, but she has also learned a lot of their ways. It is a truly unique blessing that our clan has received the gift tocommandthat dragon!”
He pointed his index finger at the sky, his words followed by incredulous silence.
After a while, someone cleared their throat, and a few laughs echoed around. Alezya wasn’t surprised; she wouldn’t have believed it either if she had heard those mad words a few weeks back.
A few seconds later, some people broke into actual laughter, generating waves of sneers, chortles, and grins. If there hadn’t been some tension, surely a lot more of them would have been laughing much louder, but either way, her father was being ridiculed for his words.
Alezya suspected some who hated him were even making their laughter worse on purpose to infuriate him, and it worked. He tried to keep his expression neutral for a while, but eventually, fury and embarrassment took over and he spun around, glaring at Alezya.
“Call it!” he barked.
While no one paid attention to her, most men around were busy mocking her father; Alezya squinted her eyes at him in disbelief at what she’d just heard.
“You want me to call him here?” she muttered. “There’s no space for a dragon that size to land without harming–”
“I know,” her father hissed.
He wanted to make a point, Alezya realized, horrified.
She hadn’t anticipated the clearing being too small and packed with people for Kein to land, but it hadn’t been something she had even begun to think about until her father had given her the order. Alezya glanced around at the other people present, still amused and chuckling.
She didn’t think she would care about anyone other than Lumie at all, but those other clans had done nothing to her. If anything, they didn’t seem to like her father at all either... Her plan hadn’t accounted for the other attendants of the gathering being innocent people. She’d expected them to be as cruel and hateful as her father and his goons, and she hadn’t even expected women to be in attendance. If she called Kein, several of them would inevitably die, crushed by the dragon if not trampled by the crowd’s panic.
Aghast, Alezya realized that was his plan; her father wanted to make a bloody statement by causing a few casualties. The worst part was that none of the clans would have much room to complain once they had demonstrated they could control a dragon.
Except that her father had no control over Kein, Alezya did.
“No,” she retorted with an angry voice. “Have them clear some of the area first. If we—”
“I said call it now!” he barked furiously.
“What is this, Darak? I thought you could control the dragon, but it’s all your daughter?”
“I am her Clan Chief,” he hissed, his eyes still riveted on Alezya, “and she will obey me. Grab the bastard!”
“NO!”
Alezya barely had time to scream before she and Lumie were ruthlessly ripped apart. She felt a violent pain tear her scalp, and her legs brutally hit the ground as she was dragged away. Through her panicked tears, she saw Lumie being taken away by one of her father’s henchmen.
“No!” Alezya shouted through the pain, seeing red.
“Call the dragon,” her father hissed. “Perhaps that beast will finally get the sacrifice it wanted...”
“KEIN!” Alezya screamed furiously.
A furious, deafening growl shook the area less than a second later.
All eyes went up seconds before the men ran in all directions, raw panic spreading through the crowd like wildfire, except for her father, who watched in fascination. If he hadn’t been so greedy or drunk on his power, perhaps he would have found it odd how willing his daughter had been to call the dragon who supposedly wanted to eat her child in a moment of despair.
Alezya tried to fight the man holding her by her hair, her scalp burning while she was doing her best not to lose sight of Lumie. Her baby was quickly moving away from her, taken into the panicked crowd, but all she could hear was Lumie’s terrified cries and screams. She couldn’t see her anymore, but her baby was bawling her lungs out, probably scared, more by the panic and the stranger who had just ripped her from her mom’s arms than by the dragon flying above them.
