Page 170 of The Wild Prince's Favorite
His older brother hadn’t said a word for several minutes now, and he looked annoyed by Sadara’s presence. Perhaps he didn’t feel like being as angry as before with their sister in the room.
“What an unexpected request.”
This time, another voice had spoken, and they all turned their heads to find another of their siblings, Shenan, peering in from one of the arched windows. His dragon, Shan, was as black as ink and incredibly silent, which explained how none of them had heard it land nor noticed its rider eavesdropping before he spoke.
“How long have you been spying?” Kassian hissed, looking even more pissed at him than he was at Kassein.
“Long enough to hear the interesting bits,” Shenan grinned mischievously.
He climbed over the window and let himself fall elegantly.
It wasn’t always like this, but Shenan was now the sibling Kassein knew the least, mostly because he was the mostself-centered and hadn’t been around much when they were younger. All that Kassein knew was that he was the next in line until Kassian had children, since Darsan and Cessilia had left the line of succession to live in the Eastern Kingdom, and Kiera had also said she’d never be empress. That and his own interest in politics was why he was the third and last sibling who still permanently resided in the Imperial Palace. For the rest, he might as well have been a stranger.
Despite being dripping wet, he strolled elegantly into the throne room, his messy black hair falling to his shoulders in waves, his skin the darkest of them all, his eyes as black as his dragon’s scales.
Strangely, Shenan always sported a long line of black scales on his face, a scar that ran across his nose and under his left eye to his ear. For some reason, that particular wound never seemed to heal, and Kassein had no idea how that strange scar across his brother’s face had first come to be. Most of them had a hard time keeping up with his eccentric, unpredictable personality.
While he barely acknowledged Kassein’s presence with a little amused smirk, his eyes were scouring the room as if looking for something around the empty space. Their older brother went even more still, his fists clenched.
“Where is that little snake you usually keep by your side, older brother?” Shenan probed, unafraid.
Kassein witnessed Kassian’s expression crumble right in front of him.
It was like Shenan’s question had broken a dam. His mighty, impassible older brother suddenly looked torn by so many conflicted emotions that he couldn’t keep up the act anymore. Fury, shock, despair, sadness, and fury again. His fists went from clenched tight to furiously shaking, and his cold green eyes suddenly turned into a raging and misty storm.
Kassein was stunned. Whoever that “snake” was, they had somehow managed to make the ice wall crumble with the mere mention of them.
If he hadn’t known the siblings would never harm one another, he would have been worried for Shenan, for he was the target of the Emperor’s most murderous glare he’d ever seen, of which he’d been on the receiving end many times.
While Kassian was still choked up by his boiling anger, Kassein glanced around.
Now that he thought about it, there was something else missing from the palace. The place was strangely quiet, but in the distance, he could hear the faint bustling of the servants.
What he couldn’t hear or see, however, was the creature that had accompanied his brother since his birth.
“...Where is your dragon, Kassian?” he finally asked.
Now Kassian’s furious glare was on him, and Kassein knew he’d just poured more fuel on the fire. Something else had happened in the palace which made their oldest brother far more enraged than Kassein’s request.
Made him more vulnerable too. Kassein had never witnessed his brother failing so miserably to dominate his emotions, which perhaps explained the odd lack of entourage and the alcohol he could smell from Sadara’s cups. Kassian was the Emperor; why would he be alone in his ridiculously grand throne room?
No, his older brother was hurting, nursing a wound where no one else had hurt him before, and for once, Kassein could relate to the pain.
They were dragons; they hated to show anything had broken through their scales and penetrated their skin, but here they were, both carrying their bleeding hearts and desperate to stop the pain.
It gave him the push he needed. Kassein stepped forward.
“...I’m doing this for someone.”
Kassian frowned subtly, his anger seeming to lessen by a degree.
Kassein hadn’t wanted to let Kassian know anything about his real motives, but that was before he realized that behind his facade of the untouchable, impassible Emperor, his older brother was still a man who could bleed, hurt, and go through the same pains he did. Someone who could love fiercely and dangerously, someone who loved like a dragon.
“I can’t protect her if I don’t have the north,” he continued. “Not the military camp, but all of the territories. From the Onyx Castle to the North Sea, I need it all. I want to rule the land she steps on, to protect her. I want to own every single mountain, so there’s nowhere they can hide her from me.”
Those last words struck a chord with his brother as Kassian’s mouth ticked again. His eyes went to his fists, and slowly, he spread his hands, his long fingers gripping the edge of his armrests instead.
There was a long silence, during which Kassein exchanged another look with his siblings. When Kassian wasn’t looking, Shenan had somehow lost his smirk and looked as surprised and confused as he was, but Sadara had a sorry expression riveted on the Emperor.
