Page 178 of The Wild Prince's Favorite
“Your dragon’s gone. Again.”
They all exchanged confused glances.
“Gone?” Kassein hissed, annoyed.
“Gone,” Kiera shrugged. “He took off, and I have no idea where. The guard I grabbed said he went south, so I don’t know what Kein’s idea is because either he’s making a weird big-assdetour looking for your woman, or your dragon’s just officially gone mad.”
Kassein was confused. Kein had always acted on its own whim, but to fly off now? Where to? If his dragon wasn’t looking for Alezya, where could it have gone, and to do what? The only other idea he had was that Kein could have gone to rest, given his dragon had flown most of the night too, but why south?
“Well, at least that settles you resting,” Lorey said. “Kiki’s too tired to fly again so soon.”
“Give yourself and my dragon a break, Brother,” Kiera said. “As soon as she’s up for it, I promise I’ll go look for your dragon, but in the meantime, you need to get some shut-eye.”
“I’ll take Lumie to sleep in our tent,” Lorey said, her hands going under Lumie’s arms. “You can–”
“No.”
Kassein’s blunt refusal made Lorey blink and retract her hands.
“...She’s staying with me,” he muttered.
He refused to let the child out of his sight. Having already lost her mother twice, Kassein refused to let go of Lumie. He felt like they were both missing her mother, and he couldn’t bear to have her away from him until he could resume his search for Alezya.
“...Alright,” Lorey finally said. “You should all get some sleep; I’ll make some better clothes for her in the meantime. I promise I’ll wake you up then or as soon as there’s a sign of Kein.”
“Thank goodness,” Tievin muttered, before stepping out of the tent first.
Kiera let out a long sigh too before stepping outside again. Lorey gave Kassein another sorry smile and followed her.
Although he had no will to sleep, Kassein laid down on his bed.
The only reason he agreed to this was because Lumie looked as tired as he was, both dragons were unavailable to fly in search of Alezya, and he wanted to be in peak condition to face the tribes who had hurt her and finally make them pay.
“You should sleep too,” he said. “Sleep, Lumie.”
Lumie, who was seated next to his torso, pouted her lips before climbing over him. He knew very little about children, except for the few times he’d seen his nieces and nephews in the Eastern Kingdom.
He could only believe Lorey that she was roughly two years old, but she seemed very small to him. Lumie babbled some unintelligible words before she spread herself on his torso, her cheek over his heart. She let out a cute sigh, and he covered her with a blanket, using his arm to secure her against him. He knew he wouldn’t be able to really fall asleep, but he still closed his eyes, hoping she would do the same, and waited, an ear out for his dragon.
Kassein only realized he had indeed dozed off when the sounds of someone approaching instinctively woke him up. He first noted Lumie, who was deep asleep with a line of drool on his torso.
Securing her with a hand against her back, Kassein slowly sat up, only relaxing when he spotted Lorey quietly walking in.
“Kein?” he asked in a whisper.
“We found him,” she announced. “He didn’t come back, but Kiki and Kiera went to find him as soon as they woke up; they located him at the Onyx Castle. Tievin and Kiera are waiting for us there.”
What was his dragon doing at the Onyx Castle?
Alezya could not have made the trip in a few hours without a dragon’s help from the mountains. Careful not to wake up Lumie, Kassein gently put her down on the bed, and while Loreyquickly dressed her with the clothes she’d made, he got himself ready.
This time, he put on his armor and his scaled arm braces and selected his best blade. They had a long day ahead, and he needed both him and his dragon to get their heads into battle.
“Kiera sent Kiki back, she’s waiting to take us.”
Kassein climbed on his sister’s dragon first before lending a hand to Lorey as she was holding a sleeping Lumie tightly bundled between them. Kiki took off quickly, having rested enough.
Kassein didn’t know how long he had slept, but the sun had risen in the skies, and while they flew past the mountains, he couldn’t help but check them from afar, hoping for a glimpse of raven hair somewhere.
