Page 235 of The Wild Prince's Favorite
Alezya nodded at her ten raised fingers, but she was still giving a defiant look to the three little terrors, who were now off on a race around the Onyx Castle, it seemed.
“I amnottaking those three shitstains for the night,” Kiera hissed. “You’re in charge of those little assholes. As if it wasn’t already enough that you left without a word earlier and left me behind with them...”
“Yes, yes,” Lorey smiled, walking up to her to press a kiss on her cheek. “Don’t worry, we’ve got them. Kassein will bring them back in the morning.”
Kiera’s frown lessened a bit after a look from Lorey, and she let out a sigh. As her partner seemed pacified, Lorey walked back inside, and for some reason, the triplets followed behind her, perhaps excited to explore the Onyx Castle or maybe hopingshe’d feed them. Once they were gone, Niiru popped its head from under Kein’s wing and made its way back to Alezya’s feet.
“Speaking of the morning... Now that you’ve got your girl back, what’s the plan?” Kiera asked, turning her eyes back to her brother. “We were looking for her, but now that we’ve got her, do we keep attacking the tribes? Not that I mind, but–”
“Alezya has a plan,” he said.
Kiera’s jaw dropped.
“Excuse me?” she scoffed. “Shehas a plan? What do you–”
“She has allied with tribes that do not want to fight us,” Kassein said, his eyes on Alezya, who was returning his gaze with a little frown, Lumie pressed against her chest. “They will be joining our army to fight those who attacked her. Her home tribe wants to attack us.”
“...Alright,” Kiera muttered. “I don’t really care whose butts we kick, to be honest. But how do you know that...?”
“She told me. She had me meet them too,” he said, pride coating his words. “Alezya managed to save herself, and she met with other tribes. When I found her, there was some sort of meeting going on, but they were fighting. Those who were on Alezya’s side called themselves the Munsa. They took me back to their home, and there were more people there, probably other tribes. The tribespeople she showed me respected and listened to her.”
After a beat, Kiera sighed and gave him a nod.
“Fine. I mean, that woman has proven time and time again that she’s smart... but are we sure they want us to keep fighting? They don’t want us to just fuck off?”
“No. Alezya said some tribes were still hunting... attacking the others, and she wants us to fight alongside them.”
He glanced down, and Alezya was intently staring at him, probably trying to decipher each word. He gave her a gentlesmile and petted her hair, trying to comfort her while she hugged Lumie against her chest.
“I see,” Kiera nodded. “Well, not that I mind a good brawl, and your men might enjoy an actual fight too. All the tribes we’ve come across so far were busier running away than actually defending their homes, for some reason.”
That was mostly due to the trio of young dragons running absolutely berserk inside the tunnels; Kassein hadn’t anticipated the triplets being so efficient, but the three of them were terrorizing the tribes before any of his men could even launch attacks. While it was a lot of fun for the young dragons, he had no intention of putting them in any more danger.
It had been fine for them to run amok, and truthfully, the three of them were too small and too fast for the tribespeople to land a blow, but in a real battle, he couldn’t guarantee one of them wouldn’t be hurt.
“Let’s bring Tievin to the camp tomorrow,” Kassein said.
“Tievin?” Kiera raised an eyebrow with a sneer. “You want to bring your paperwork guy to a battlefield? He’s already two seconds from shitting himself on a normal day in the camp, Kassein!”
“If we’re going to negotiate with the tribes and convince them we can be their allies, we can’t only have fighters present. Tievin can stay at the back with the young dragons.”
“...You want Tievin to babysit the triplets?” Kiera chuckled. “Kassein, they’re going to eat him alive!”
“He’ll be fine.”
Tievin ranted a lot, but Kassein knew there was no chance the young dragons would actually harm him; they had been raised not to harm humans, despite the impression they gave their enemies. While painful, their bites were just their way of playing and never meant to actually maim, more of a nibble.
Moreover, he knew he was going to need to move the entire army north. From what he’d seen in that cave, the battle was going to be far more significant than he’d anticipated. It wouldn’t be about chasing one tribe after another from their mountains anymore; he could sense a real fight looming, and the movements he had spotted from the skies seemed to confirm so too.
His sister’s wish would be fulfilled soon.
“We need to catch some sleep,” he said, wrapping an arm around Alezya’s shoulders. “Tomorrow might bring the biggest battle of all.”
“One can dream,” Kiera snickered. “Fine, I’ll pick up Tiev, but I’ll expect you guys before dawn tomorrow. This is your army, Brother, not mine.”
“I know.”
For once, Kassein felt more attached to his role than ever; having a purpose had changed everything. His sister let out a long sigh, and then turned around just as her dragon came close, preparing to depart.
