Page 186 of The Wild Prince's Favorite
That baby dragon was cute, she had to admit. And it felt nice to have a companion down here.
“Are you a boy or a girl dragon? Oh, right, you dragons are neither... but you do have a mama, right?”
The little dragon remained silent, napping happily on her lap.
Alezya frowned.
“You probably have a name... What should I call you? Tiny? You’re probably not going to stay tiny long... You’re going to stay black-scaled and younger than Kein, I imagine. How about Niiru, then?”
It meant “small shadow” in her language, and somehow, it seemed to suit her new companion.
The little black dragon let out a yawn, stretching over her lap.
It was already so big that its hind legs and tail were on the ground next to Alezya. All the ice near its rear had melted too, leaving a little puddle of cold water seeping through the rocks.
Alezya glanced up at the sun shining on them again.
Had Kein managed to bring Lumie to Kassein? Had they figured out she shouldn’t be out in the sun? Lorey seemed to be a natural caretaker, so she hoped her female friend would know what to do with a child...
She realized it was the first time she had thought of Lorey as a friend, but it was true. She had spent a lot of time with her in the past week.
With Kassein’s sister too. That woman was a bit scary, and she had a lot of unwomanly attitude, but Alezya found her quite amazing. She was exactly the kind of woman Alezya would have never been allowed to be: loud, outspoken, unapologetic, charismatic.
And then there was Tievin, the most unmanly man she had ever met. That was the one man she hadn’t felt threatened by, aside from Kassein, albeit for a very different reason. He was always pouting or whining, wrapped in a lot of fur coats, yet unable to hide how scrawny he was.
Alezya sighed and leaned her head against the wall, feeling slightly tired again.
She had no idea what was going to happen next. Her calling Kein had probably caused a commotion amongst the clans, and there was no doubt her father was going to try to leverage that first. He was probably making many threats, using both his daughter and the child he thought she carried. He ought to keep her alive at least, but Alezya knew he would make her pay for her treachery... and she wasn’t sure he wouldn’t actually kill her once he did figure out she wasn’t pregnant.
“...Is she in there?”
Alezya frowned, looking up at the opening to try to see who the voices belonged to. They didn’t sound familiar at all, and they were whispering. Her father’s men didn’t need to hide their presence.
On her lap, Niiru also glanced up, its tail swishing left and right with what Alezya guessed to be curiosity.
“Our spy said he saw her father push her down there,” a second male voice spoke.
“He wouldn’t have killed her, would he?” another voice asked nervously.
“Madman that Darak is, it wouldn’t be surprising, but he needs her...”
“Who’s there?” Alezya asked aloud.
There was a pause, and then, someone cleared their throat.
A vague shape appeared to be blocking some of the sun, and Niiru jumped on its feet next to Alezya, but she held the baby dragon by its neck before it flew and attacked or something.
“Tawa,”she whispered.
It let out a little growl of frustration but lay down next to her, its tail still furiously agitating, splashing water and snow around.
“W-we’re from Munsa Clan. Are you Darak’s daughter?”
“What do you want from me?”
“Our Clan Chief saw you at the gathering last night and, uh... Th-they think they want to negotiate with you rather than your father. It didn’t seem like you two got along, so...”
“You think?” Alezya raised an eyebrow.
