Page 230 of The Wild Prince's Favorite
“Hello, my friend,” she smiled. “I missed you.”
The dragon let out another growl and approached even closer, letting Alezya pet its neck as it curled its large body around her.
In the meantime, Niiru had already made its way to the giant dragon and was now fiercely trying to climb the mountain of scales. It made Alezya chuckle at the sight of the tiny black dragon trying to climb Kein, who was eyeing it curiously. When Niiru lost balance and rolled down the orange scales, only toland in a splash of water, Kein put its snout in the water and suddenly sneezed a wave at the young dragon. Niiru let out an amused growl, rolling and jumping in the water, before it ran back toward Kein, unafraid, only to be grabbed in its maw and sent flying into the water with another splash. Niiru jumped out of the water and ran back toward Kein for another round.
Meanwhile, Alezya smiled, petting her dragon friend.
“Thank you,” she whispered, pressing herself against its warm body.
Then, she turned toward the crowd gathered on the bank of the body of water while she pressed her body against Kein’s, its scales warming her back. Everyone was watching her like she was absolutely mad, their eyes wide in disbelief.
“This is Kein,” she said, the cave echoing her voice. “One of the dragons we’ve learned to fear our entire lives. And yet, when it could have killed me many times, this dragon saved my life, saved my baby’s life. He’s never hurt me either, and he is my friend now.”
She could see all of their stunned expressions, watching her stand fearlessly next to the incredible beast. Kein was still busy entertaining Niiru’s shenanigans, its snout pushing the young dragon around in the water. Now that she could witness it entertaining a young dragon a fraction of its size, Alezya could barely remember how much she had once been terrified of Kein. It was like the day its silver eyes had pinned her against the mountain, so sure she was about to die, was forever ago, but the truth was, it had merely been a few weeks.
Now, she trusted Kein far more than she trusted most men.
“He doesn’t eat humans,” she said. “Well, not to feed himself. The only time I’ve seen him do so was when some men assaulted me. Men from the Dragon Clan, and I’m sure it attacked men from the Deklaan Clan who hurt me too. If I asked, it would attack you too.”
There were a few shocked reactions, and some now seemed to back away from her as much as they were scared of the dragon. Only the Munsa Clan seemed unafraid. Kassein was standing with his arms crossed, his toes inches from the water, his eyes riveted on her at all times.
She gave him a little smile, thankful for his endless patience.
“Why does it... obey you?” a man asked. “C-could it obey someone else?”
Alezya knew there was probably a longer, more complex explanation that lay in her relationship with Kassein. She glanced at him again and slowly detached herself from the dragon to close the distance to its owner. Kassein’s hand was extended several seconds before she reached it, and he closed his fingers around hers, immediately pulling Alezya closer to him. His skin was as warm as his dragon. She turned toward the small crowd.
“The short answer is because it wants to,” she said. “I spent time with them, and I befriended the dragon. I learned their language enough to know a few commands too.”
Then, she turned to the dragons.
“Niiru, Kein?Growl,” she ordered in Kassein’s language.
Immediately, Kein turned its silver eyes to the crowd and let out one long, furious, and menacing growl that had most of them panic again.
A few ran toward the nearest tunnels, hid behind others, or ran to the wall like Kein wouldn’t be able to reach them. Secretly, Alezya found it a little bit funny, and she had to bite her lower lip. Even better, Niiru made a little jump to climb on Kein’s back and, like a miniature version, imitated Kein’s growl, letting out a sound that was far cuter than fierce.
“...It’s fine,” Alezya told the group of terrified adults. “I was just trying to show you what I can ask them to do, like growl.”
Not looking annoyed in the slightest, Kein moved into the water, walking up to Alezya until it could press its snout against her core. She smiled before remembering she was pregnant, according to Kassein. Could the dragon feel that she had a baby in there? Was she genuinely pregnant? It still felt too crazy to believe, and right now, she couldn’t focus on that. With a hand petting Kein’s head and Kassein’s arm around her waist, she turned to the clans again.
“See? I promise the Dragon Clan will be on our side. You may stay out of it, but my father is set on fighting them, and he will take many clans down with him, but he won’t win. I don’t think so.”
Not with Kassein and Kein fighting. She had seen both of them in action many times. No matter how many men her father threw at the Dragon Clan, and though she was still scared to find out the actual number, Alezya still believed Kassein would come out victorious.
There were a few seconds of silence, but after a lull, several of the clan chiefs exchanged glances and determined nods before turning to her.
“Fine, Alezya of the Lumiata Clan,” said one of the clan chiefs, stepping forward. “The Samial Clan shall ally with the Dragon Clan. So long as they uphold the promise to let us live and have the dragon leave our mountains alone, we will fight with them. The Deklaan Clan has abused our trust for too long for their gain, and we refuse to stand aside while the future of our mountains is decided in this battle. It won’t be said that my clan hid like cowards while the Dragon Clan won that war for us.”
“Nor mine!”
“Neither will we!”
Just like that, several clans reconfirmed their desire to fight, giving her determined nods and fierce gazes. Alezya tried to takeit all in calmly, but she felt strangely empowered to see so many clan leaders addressing her like they would a peer. She had been the pariah of the Deklaan Clan for the longest time, and now, she was hailed as a leader.
“Alright,” Ekut said, gesturing for the attention to get back to him. “Alezya will explain to the Dragon Clan who the enemy is, but we need to be sure who our allies are. Reach out to any clan you know that might still be on the fence. From what we’ve heard, Deklaan has rallied at least eight or nine clans to their cause, and their numbers might still be growing. The Dragon Clan might be mighty warriors, but like you said, they won’t fight this whole battle for us. We need to properly rally with them and get ready for the biggest war our clans have faced in decades.”
Alezya listened while leaning into Kassein as the twins took over the war plan. The first part was all about leading their new allies to the Dragon Clan; the Munsa Clan couldn’t stay here after the word was most likely already out that they were now allied with her and Kassein, and their warriors had to gather somewhere to prepare for the battle. When she turned around and tried to explain, using as much of his vocabulary as she could and with many hand gestures and pointing at the men, Kassein focused on her, his eyes drifting to the clans every now and then and nodding along.
