Page 233 of The Wild Prince's Favorite
“...Those herbs don’t work?” Lorey realized, baffled.
“Oh, they probably work fine for regular humans, but they don’t work on this kind of specimen,” Kiera pointed a thumbat her brother. “Our kind’sseedis apparently far too strong for that. I mean, Mom never complained about having any of us, but she probably would have loved to be able to space some of us out a bit more. Putting some physical distance between herself and our dad helped, at least for a little while. Remember how our father stayed in the north while Mom often traveled to the palace? I mean, she also had to do so for duty’s sake, but you know, it probably made it easier for them to physically stay away from each other. And just as Kassein here apparently demonstrated, dragons are scarily efficient. Not that I’m going to ask how many tries that one took; I don’t want to know.”
Just once, Kassein thought. He wouldn’t admit it to his sister, but one time was all it had taken to make Alezya pregnant. Still, the fact that she had tried not to get pregnant unsettled him. What if she didn’t want the baby? He hadn’t thought much at the time, but he hadn’t been thinking much at all because it was his first time, and all he could focus on then was Alezya. Gently, he pressed another kiss to her temple.
“Alezya,” he called her.
She finally tore her eyes away from Lumie to look up at him.
“The baby,” he said.
She smiled, and her eyes returned to Lumie with a big smile.
“No,” he said, taking a breath in. “The other baby.”
To make his point, he splayed a hand on her stomach under Lumie’s bum. Alezya’s expression fell a bit, and she frowned slightly, but not in a disappointed or disgusted way. It seemed more like she was still confused.
“Do you not want the baby? Do you not like it?” he asked, his heart beating with unprecedented unease.
She didn’t respond. Her lips parted, but no sound came out, and after a second, she closed them again. Kassein felt his heart drop to the pit of his stomach, but he steeled his nerves. It was her decision. As much as it would tear him apart, he wantedAlezya to want the child, and if she didn’t, he refused to force the hardships of pregnancy on her.
“You took medicinal herbs,” he said, ”to stop bleeding. Because you don’t want the baby?”
After a second, Alezya glanced briefly at him, tears in her eyes, before glancing down at Lumie. She must have seen some of the dread in his eyes because she softened her expression a bit and moved Lumie to her hip to free a hand to cup his cheek. She took him by surprise by getting on her toes and pressing a quick kiss on his lips.
“It’s your baby,” she whispered after a while, a tender look in her eyes. “I like the baby, Kassein. I’m...”
She bit her lip, visibly struggling to find the right word. After a few seconds of frowning, she glanced toward Lorey, then Kiera, then the dragons before she pulled her gaze back to him.
“Danger,” she said in a hoarse voice. “So much danger for the baby and Lumie. My home hunts me. Men hunt me.”
“...You’re scared,” Kassein finally understood.
Alezya gave him a faint, trembling nod.
“It’s Kassein’s baby,” she let out a tear. “I like Kassein’s baby. But... Lumie is...”
A wave of relief hit Kassein.
Although it wasn’t what she had anticipated, Alezya didn’tnotwant the child. But it was true that things would have been a lot easier if she wasn’t pregnant, and he could understand that. They’d had sex before she had reunited with Lumie. Of course, she would have wanted to save her child and ensure their safety before she even considered another. Alezya was a mother and a good one too, despite the circumstances and everything against her.
It made sense that she would have been terrified to bring another child into the world when she couldn’t even secure Lumie’s safety. He had witnessed firsthand how worried andheartbroken she had been when she was separated from her baby girl. It wasn’t that she absolutely didn’t want that baby with him, but that woman was too wise and caring, and she had considered their situation and knew the timing for this new pregnancy was far from ideal. He couldn’t resent her for that, not one bit.
Their baby was a happy, unexpected accident, and just then, Kassein knew that Alezya would love them too. She was too good of a mother not to. He could understand that she was scared, but he wasn’t; he was ready to protect them all.
While Alezya was still looking at him with sorry, tearful eyes, he gave her a gentle smile and pressed his lips against her forehead. Her body relaxed a little, and as Lumie let out a giggle, he turned to the baby girl, doing the same to her and triggering more giggles.
“Don’t cry,” he whispered to Alezya. “Don’t worry. I’ll protect you, and Lumie, and the baby. I won’t let anyone hurt you anymore. You’re safe.”
Alezya nodded and leaned into him, her face again fitting perfectly into the crook of his neck while he caressed her long, silk-like hair.
Meanwhile, Niiru came to their feet, and Lumie cheered excitedly, trying to tear herself from her mother’s arms by leaning over toward the baby dragon.
“While we’re addressing some matters...” Kiera said. “That is our runaway baby dragon, isn’t it? Because that’s not the regular size of a newborn dragon. Even Dran wasn’t that big!”
“She named it Niiru,” Kassein nodded.
“Niiru,” Lorey repeated with a smile. “That’s adorable... and he looks like your father’s dragon, doesn’t he? He’s even darker than Krai! He’s as black as ink, like Shan.”
