Page 234 of The Wild Prince's Favorite
Niiru heard its name and scurried to Lorey, making a loop around her legs, before it ran to Kein, playing with the olderdragon again, this time by gnawing its maw while Kein tried to bury the unruly child under its chin.
“It doesn’t make sense,” Kiera scoffed. “Why would the tiny black dragon be stuck to Alezya? Dragons aren’t born until the children are, and Alezya’s baby was conceived just days ago. Even if Alezya is pregnant and that is her child’s dragon, it makes no sense that it hatched so soon! Nor that it’s that big!”
“...Unless that dragon’s baby is already born,” Lorey muttered.
Kiera frowned at Lorey, and Kassein gave her a confused glance.
“What do you mean?”
The young woman took a deep breath, glancing toward the egg Kein was guarding next to the broken one then back to Niiru. The young black dragon had now been flipped on its back while Kein’s head rested on it, and the new game was to escape by pushing its tiny paws against the massive head with little growls of protest.
“It’s... I know it’s a bit of a far-fetched theory, but I’ve had it since we talked about it last time, and if we consider the facts that we do have, I think I’m right. Niiru is very likely one of Kein’s babies, which means that Niiru would be attached to Kassein’s child. But Kassein has no blood-related child so far, and of all the humans it could have fled to, Niiru went far to find Alezya. He found her when Kein couldn’t. Baby dragons usually stick to their human moms, like how your dragons were always with Lady Cassandra while you were growing up, and your grandmother always said your father’s and his siblings’ dragons did the same. We can also all see for ourselves that Niiru grew at a very fast rate as if it was catching up to his human. And we don’t know exactly whether Kein laid either egg or if he had both eggs at the same time, but when did helastfly off before thathappened? Right after Kassein met Lumie, Alezya’s already born child.”
“...Are you trying to tell us you think Niiru is... Lumie’s dragon?” Kiera blinked. “Honey, that makes no sense. That child doesn’t have the blood of a dragon! She isn’t Kassein’s biological–”
“She might not be hisbiologicalchild nor have the right bloodline,” Lorey interrupted her, ”but look at the three of them! Kassein adopted her the minute he met her. He cares about her as much as his unborn child. She’s the baby of the woman he loves, and Niiru is exactly the right size to be the dragon of a child her age, isn’t he?Andhe acts with Alezya the way your dragons act around your mom! What if Kein decided LumiewasKassein’s, regardless of blood? She won’t have your unique Dragon Blood characteristics, but she could still very much have a dragon! All it takes is for Kein to give her one! She won’t have your scales to heal, and she might not have your strength nor all of what makes your bloodline special, but she could have a dragon.”
“This... This is insane,” Kiera scoffed. “What’s more insane is that I am actually starting to believe this. You’re saying Kein would have... sensed Kassein basicallyadoptingher and decided, yep, that kid gets her own dragon?!”
“Listen,” Lorey said calmly. “We have never fully... understood everything there is to know about dragons. No one has ever seen them lay an egg, nor do we know how they sense when their owner fathers a child that’s not even in their body as soon as the child is conceived. We don’t know how they can even reproduce while being genderless and incapable of mating. We don’t know how your oldest brother’s dragon knew it had to hatch early to save your mother. We don’t know how your father’s dragonsensedyour mother was related to the original tribe of the Water Dragon, either. Your sister Cessilia told usabout another dragon that survived his owner’s death for years to protect his sister, and you know her own dragon came back to life years after we all thought she died. Your grandmother told us countless incredible stories, Kiera, like how your grandfather’s dragon scales changed color to turn gold when he became the Emperor or how a centuries-old dragon gave its life to resuscitate one human. We know for sure that stranger miracles have happened. Why is it so hard to believe that Kein could sense that Lumie would be Kassein’s adoptive child and decide to give her a baby dragon as well?”
A heavy silence fell, and eventually, Kiera was the first to move and throw her hands up in a defeated movement.
“A headache,” she finally mumbled. “This is going to be such a headache... Gods, Tievin’s going to go crazy with that one. Nobody tells him without me there; I want to see that.”
“You may think it’s crazy,” Lorey chuckled, ”but my theory is the only one that holds up, love. There’s no better explanation as to why Niiru hatched so fast while being Kein’s and is now stuck to Alezya. Kassein adopting Lumie is the only explanation that works. Look at it!”
They did, and Niiru had gone from playing around with Kein to rubbing its back against Alezya’s legs like an overgrown cat. Kassein and Kiera exchanged a long look, having a silent conversation with their eyes. Although Lorey’s theory was indeed crazy, it still made a whole lot of sense. They had grown up in a family of eight siblings, and they knew Niiru was the size of a toddler’s dragon. Plus, there was no denying how obsessed that young dragon was with Alezya.
“Alezya has scales,” Kassein noted, gently raising her wrist to show them.
“Whitescales,” Lorey noted, ”from the baby she’s carrying, the one with its dragon in the white egg. So, Niiru...”
“Niiru came from that hatched black egg and has to be Lumie’s,” Kiera scoffed. “Alright, got it. This is insane, but let’s just... run with that one because I’m out of ideas. And I have to admit that little shit does look like Kein.”
It was unmistakable whenever Niiru was near Kein; the young dragon was indeed a copy of Kein, except for its colors: all black scales and amber eyes.
After a beat, Kassein gently took Lumie out of Alezya’s arms and, under her confused eyes, put her toddler down on the ground.
Immediately, Niiru came near, and instead of sniffing her like it did the other humans present, it immediately jumped over the little girl’s legs, and swirled around her grabby hands, making Lumie squeal.
Alezya seemed a bit nervous at first to see the dragon so close to her child, but after a few seconds of observing the two of them playing around, she relaxed. Soon enough, they were chasing after each other in the garden, both of them on all fours, and though the young dragon was obviously faster, it made loops around Lumie, delighting the little girl.
“Are you spending the night here?” Lorey asked Kassein.
He nodded.
“Alright,” she smiled. “I’ll go and prepare a bath for you. You could both use one, no offense... Kiera?”
“Yes, yes, I’m leaving,” Kiera grimaced. “I’m going to sleep in the mountains, on the floor of some cave, with a bunch of stinky men, while my brother gets to sleep all comfy in his bed in the Onyx Castle while I watchhisarmy prepare for the battle thathedecided to launch forhisgirlfriend. No big deal!”
Just then, her dragon, Kiki, appeared above them in a swift flap of wings, and while the dark gray dragon elegantly landed, three balls of bright colors hit the ground. Alezya gasped and immediately went to grab Lumie, visibly rendered nervous bythe triplets. It was a fair reaction, given that the three of them immediately began fighting on the ground, with loud growls and rowdy movements, and twice, one of them bumped into Niiru before jumping to attack a sibling again. The triplets were about two or three times its size, and after being knocked over twice, the tiny dragon quickly darted to stay next to Kein, hiding under its wing, intimidated. When the triplets finally noticed the smaller dragon, a growl from Kein prevented them from picking on Niiru.
“Those little–” Kiera hissed. “You’ve hunted and ran all day already, will you calm down? Do you know how many times I had to stop them from biting people’s toes today? What’s with their obsession with toes? Those can’t possibly be any good to eat!”
“...Baby dragons?” Alezya asked with a nervous voice, her eyes riveted on the rowdy bunch.
“Those are children dragons,” Lorey chuckled. “They’re small but not babies anymore. Ten years old.”
