Page 182 of The Wild Prince's Favorite
After a while, she let out a sigh and turned to the generals.
“Looks like it’s time for you to go and get our army ready,” she said.
They understood they were dismissed and, without argument, all three of them left the tent quickly. Kiera sat down and propped her feet on the table, making Tievin grimace.
“You’re itching to go get her, huh?” Kiera sneered.
“I can’t waste any more time,” Kassein nodded. “She could be hurt or suffering at this very moment...”
“Got it. I can guess it’s even worse now that we know that she’s with child.”
Kassein had barely allowed himself to think about it.
He couldn’t believe Alezya was pregnant from their one night together. It felt unreal, but it felt... amazing. There was a part of him that felt like he didn’t even deserve it. He was the worst of his father’s sons; how could he become a decent enough father himself? As much as he wanted to rejoice, and a part of him was truly thrilled at the thought that Alezya was carrying his child, he was absolutely terrified.
He already felt selfish and undeserving of Alezya’s love. How could he be good enough for a child? For now, all Kassein could do was get the mother of his unborn children back.
“So we’ll send the men to an up-front battle. What about you and me? We have Kein, and we could corner them from the back...”
“I need to find Alezya,” Kassein said. “If Kein can’t get to her, she must be inside that mountain with her tribe, or somewhere else he can’t fit himself into.”
“I’m not going to lie; those tunnels they’ve got going on are going to be complicated to work with, we have no fucking idea how far nor how deep they go between all the mountains. It’s a battle on a scale and terrain we’ve never faced before. There’s a reason none of the previous North Army leaders have managed to fully conquer these mountains or submit the tribes, I guess... We’re on fully unknown territory, and they might be gone before we get there. They will definitely see us coming too. Ideally, weshould find a way to dig them out of their holes and force them to come to the surface, but aside from going in ourselves, I can’t think of anything good enough. We could always use fire to smoke them out, but that might harm innocents and–”
“No,” Kassein cut her off with a warning glare.
His sister wasn’t offended; she let out a long sigh and nodded.
“Got it. Let’s just go the old-fashioned way then. You and I can use Kein to drop us off around the back, and hopefully, we’ll get enough of them before they flee...”
Kassein hated the idea.
A mountain was no small battleground, and if Alezya was held captive, his enemies would have plenty of time to take her elsewhere.
He and Kiera were amongst the best fighters of the Empire, but even they couldn’t split themselves to be everywhere all at once. He’d have to go in blind and locate Alezya quickly.
“We should find the best entry point and have Kein survey the area for us,” Kiera said. “He loves chasing them as they crawl out of the holes, so that might be what we need. Maybe if he–”
She was interrupted by a familiar, high-pitched dragon growl.
She and Kassein exchanged a confused glance before they darted outside, alarmed. Sure enough, as soon as they stepped out, they recognized Kiki’s familiar figure flying toward them. Why was Kiki back? Kassein felt worry pool in his stomach. Was something wrong with Lumie? With one of the eggs?
Before he could spiral too much, Kiki landed, and he noticed Lumie wasn’t there.
“Lorey?” Kassein frowned. “Where’s Lumie?”
“She’s fine,” Lorey said. “I left her with Lady Nebora; they’re back at the Onyx Castle.”
“Everything alright, honey?” Kiera helped her down from her dragon. “You look shaken up.”
“I... I’m not sure,” Lorey blurted. “Something... strange happened, I had to tell you. Uh... O-one of the eggs hatched.”
The siblings glanced at each other, utterly confused.
“No way,” Kiera scoffed. “Alezya shouldn’t be due for at least another seven months. There’s no way a baby dragon would have been born already. They usually wait pretty much for the due date–”
“It hatched, Kiera,” Lorey insisted. “Not only that, but, I–... I mean, it’s my fault; I should have stayed with it when I noticed something was wrong. Right after you left, I noticed the bigger of the two eggs was growing way faster than the other. I could see it grow with my own eyes! But I had to go and greet Lady Nebora; she’d just come to the castle after she’d noticed Kiki from afar, and... and when I told her the situation, we went back to check on the eggs, but the black egg was broken open, no baby dragon to be seen!”
“Wha–” Tievin choked. “What do you mean, Lorey, ‘no baby dragon to be seen’? Y-y-y-you can’t havelosta baby dragon!”
