Page 174 of The Wild Prince's Favorite
Kassein didn’t feel the need to stay here for the night, and he was eager to return to the north as fast as possible. The journey back would take several hours if the weather persisted, and he hated being that far from Alezya for too long. He was still holding on to the thought that she might have gone back to his tent for the night, Kein by her side, and he sure hoped he would find her there when they landed in the morning.
He patted Kiki’s head apologetically, glad that the dragon was far more popular than he was and had clearly been fedwhile he’d been with his siblings. Thus, there was no protest about making the trip back already. They took off under the rain, which, luckily, had begun to slow down and stopped completely by the time they reached the halfway point of the journey.
Thanks to Kiki’s pace and the fair weather, the journey back was far shorter, and they made it back to the North Camp just before sunrise.
Surprisingly, the North Camp wasn’t quiet despite the early hours.
Kassein spotted many torches lit up, and the fire pits around the camp were lit up too, with many men outside of their tents and running in different directions. Picking a spot for Kiki to land, Kassein spotted his sister and Lorey amongst the ruckus, both women standing close. Not only them, but his dragon was there too, strangely flying low above them, and Kassein urged Kiki to land quickly.
The sight of his dragon brought a surge of hope to Kassein; there was no way his dragon would have turned away from Alezya. Perhaps Kein had followed wherever she’d gone.
But as he landed a few feet away from Kein and glanced around, his stomach sank; she wasn’t on his dragon’s back, under him, or anywhere nearby.
“Finally!” Kiera greeted him with an exasperated sigh. “It was high fucking time you came back. Your dragon has gone properly mad this time!”
“Where is Alezya?”
“We have no idea,” Lorey shook her head with a sorry expression. “Kein just came back a while earlier and he’s been acting... strange. He won’t land; he keeps making those loops...”
“That bastard tried to attack Lorey!” Kiera barked, keeping a defensive stance between her partner and the orange dragon. “If that bastard brings its ugly head near her again–”
Kassein turned to his dragon, confused and angry. Kiki circled the two women and growled in warning, but strangely, that caused Kein to do another loop rather than land. Kassein was equally bewildered by his dragon’s hectic behavior. It wasn’t like Kein to retreat, ever.
He waited, his feet planted in the snow and his straight, stiff stance showing nothing of his inner turmoil as the orange dragon descended.
Kassein’s eyes skimmed over his dragon’s claws and then its back again, hoping for a silhouette or a curtain of black hair to appear along its silhouette. Yet, Kein eventually landed a few steps away from everyone, and there was no sign of their woman.
“Where is she?” he hissed to his dragon.
Kein retreated slowly and issued a low, warning growl, but this time, his owner’s fury reached far beyond the dragon’s. Kassein walked up to his dragon, his fingers grabbing the rust-colored skin as if he could hold on to it and tear the dragon’s scales.
“WHERE IS SHE?!”
His outcry echoed throughout the mountains.
Then, a heavy silence fell on the plain. Behind him, Kiera and Lorey exchanged a pained look. All they could see was the tremble of Kassein’s heavy shoulders, shaken by his heavy panting and fury, but they could feel his anger and despair. He heard Lorey approach him, perhaps to say something to comfort him, but he didn’t care.
He had been holding on to the hope of seeing Alezya when he returned. Worse, he had thought that regardless of where she had gone, she would be safe under his dragon’s protection.
But Kein was right here, and she wasn’t. He glared at his dragon, hating the beast more than ever. There was only one thing that should have mattered to both of them and yet...
Then, slowly and unexpectedly, Kein lay down at his feet, burying its body into the snow as if the dragon could squash itself into the ground.
Kassein watched, still angry but perplexed. His dragon let out a low growl, and then suddenly, a muffled baby’s cry broke the silence.
It was so unexpected that everyone around froze. Kiera and Lorey exchanged stunned looks, and Tievin was blinking excessively.
“Did Kein just...wail?”
While the rest of them were still utterly confused, Kassein slowly got down on his knees in front of the dragon. Just as he did, Kein slowly opened its large mouth. They watched, stunned, as the Commander retrieved something from Kein’s jaws.
“No fucking way,” Kiera gasped.
While the soldiers had kept their distance from Kein, both women and Tievin stepped forward, reaching the Prince just in time to see him extracting a bundle of saliva-covered gray fur. Gently, he pulled one of the corners, revealing a baby’s face. They all stilled as the young, innocent, teary, and white eyes took them in. The baby’s lips trembled before it broke into a proper cry.
With the resounding silence, the baby’s cries echoed surprisingly loud around the camp, as if alerting everyone of its arrival. Lorey covered her mouth, Kiera grimaced, and Tievin was simply frozen, his eyebrows nearly to his hairline. Kassein ignored them all; his attention was focused on the baby girl in his arms, all the tension in his body gone.
He slowly stood up, carrying her in the bundle of fur. He recognized that coat; he had given Alezya that coat.
