Page 184 of The Wild Prince's Favorite
“...Our nephews and nieces,” Kassein muttered.
“Come on,” Kiera squealed. “We are hours away from Darsan’s place. I can fly Kiki, borrow a bunch of kids and baby dragons, and have them ready for the second assault!”
“My lady, PLEASE!” Tievin cried. “Not the triplets!”
Chapter 15
Alezya hadn’t felt this cold in a long time.
Her body was sore, shivering, and heavy. She couldn’t tell how long she had been stuck in this crevice. She missed the fur coats, the fire pit, and most of all, Kassein’s arms.
Everything that had kept her warm, comfortable, and happy over the last couple of weeks was gone, and she felt empty. She had left Kassein, and now, Lumie was gone too, after she’d only had several hours with her. The mere memory of holding her child in her arms after so long and then having parted with her again so brutally made Alezya shed a tear.
She should have been happy she had accomplished her goal of sending her child to safety, or so she hoped.
Yet, Alezya couldn’t find relief.
She missed them both. She wished for nothing more than to be with them, to hug Lumie, and for Kassein to hug her. She tried not to cry again, but another tear escaped, sliding down her cheek. Since when had she become so greedy, she wondered. A few weeks ago, she would have been happy and satisfied with knowing that Lumie was safe.
Now Alezya found herself dreaming of more, of a life with Kassein and her daughter, of a life where she was finally happy, safe, and cherished, where she could take long walks at the foot of the mountains with an amazing man by her side or fly far above them to foreign lands with his dragon. Where she would be by Lumie’s side and watch her daughter grow into thebeautiful young woman she was bound to become. Alezya had lost her own mother when she was a child, and now, at twenty years old, all she wanted was to be able to outlive her own mother and be by Lumie’s side so her daughter wouldn’t grow up motherless as she had.
She glanced around the tiny ice cave.
It was horrible to know that her mother had died in a place like this while trying to gain her freedom. How desperate must she have been to flee her father? To go back to the Lumiata Clan?
Her mother’s clan hadn’t attended the gathering, but Alezya still held some hope she would find them someday; she at least wanted to know about where her mother came from. She was curious about other clans now that she had gotten a glimpse of them.
It was clear as day that her father had lied about many things, and now, Alezya was curious about what else had been left out. She couldn’t help but wonder how different things would have been for her if she had been born in a different clan. Would they have accepted Lumie? Were the other clans more open to their wives and daughters having more meaningful roles than childbearing?
She couldn’t forget about the beautiful women she had seen at the gathering, nor how they carried themselves, unafraid of the men around them, like they were equals to their clan chiefs. Alezya was fascinated.
She had always thought Kassein’s clan was the biggest mystery, because she had seen little of it, and now, she was far more curious about the clans she didn’t know. When had they all become so divided?
They had far more in common than the Dragon Clan. The same language, the same territories... The same predator. When had the clans become so fractioned that they had different customs and values and only interacted once a month, if at all?
Alezya shivered again.
She was cold, freezing cold, but thankfully, morning had come, and it wouldn’t be too unbearable for at least a few more hours...
She had little hope for the evening if her father didn’t pull her out. The temperatures inevitably dropped low in the mountains, and there was no way someone would survive, especially not with so few clothes and nothing to warm themself.
Forcing herself to take a deep breath, Alezya fought against the pain to stand up, using the walls of her ice cage to survey her surroundings once more now that the sun was rising higher in the skies.
The opening was a long, narrow fissure, just wide enough for a human to squeeze through. In some places, it tightened unpredictably, which was why she had bruised her arms and legs during her fall, despite it having lasted mere seconds.
Now, the opening loomed about ten feet above her head, and the walls were impossible to climb, even with her talent. There was ice everywhere, making it too smooth and too fragile to climb. Even if she could hold on to some rock and climb, the angle would be hard to maneuver, and on such hard ground with most of the snow now melted, any fall could be deadly. No, any chance of getting out would come from someone out there throwing her a rope or something.
She didn’t even need to look for another opening. The crevice was so small that she could see both ends, and it was barely big enough to hold seven or eight men squeezed together... It was a bit smaller than Kein’s entire body, she thought.
She had thought briefly about calling for the dragon to help, but that was far too dangerous. If Kein landed anywhere wrong, the snow, rocks, and chunks of ice could collapse and bury her alive or crush her to death. Perhaps a leaner dragon, like Kiki,could have slithered its way in, but Alezya had even less hope of Kiki looking for her than she had for Kein.
While she was pacing, rubbing her arms to try to warm herself up some more, Alezya heard steps and voices nearby. She stood still and waited until, much to her disappointment, she recognized her father’s men’s voices.
“Food, you slut.”
“Hey, watch it. She called the dragon for real...”
“Who cares? Where she is, the dragon can’t help her out anyway. Just check that witch isn’t dead.”
