Page 277 of The Wild Prince's Favorite
He heard movement, voices, steps, and people busy evacuating the injured, gathering bodies, and looking for whoever was missing, but Kassein didn’t react.
Not even when he heard Tievin nearby assessing the damage and trying to communicate with the tribe leaders. Not when Kein finally was able to land nearby, after Dajan and his men had spent more time digging and shoveling, until there was enough space for his dragon to land, crawl to Alezya’s other side, and extend a wing to shield them.
All he could hear was Niiru’s faint whining.
The baby dragon kept letting out little wails and sniffing Alezya’s face. It was curled up in her arms, its eyes wide open, glancing at her and Kassein, waiting. Kassein didn’t speak. He was staring at her face too.
He couldn’t tell if she was breathing. He couldn’t know if she was warmer since Kein had landed behind her. He couldn’t tell if the white scales were fading or still. He couldn’t know if she was asleep or already gone. She was too still. They were eerily still compared to everything that was going on around them. Under Kein’s wing, in the darkness, lying as if they were in a cocoon, shielded from the rest of the world.
“...I need you,” Kassein rasped after a long time had passed, and things had gone quiet around them. “...I feel like a man with you. A man I want to be. You make me feel strong, yet weak at the same time. You make me want to love and protect. Before you came, there was nothing but chaos in my head.”
He forced himself to breathe as his throat hurt, and his eyes prickled.
“I wanted to die before you came,” he muttered. “I never... I couldn’t forgive what I’d done. I felt like I was living for nothing. For no one. But then, you...”
He swallowed a sob.
“You fought so hard to live, Alezya. You wanted to live. I’d never seen someone as brave as you. You were hurt, but you were... so, so courageous and so beautiful. I grew up surrounded by strong people, but I never knew what brave meant until I met you. I fought to die, and you fought to live. I’d never met someone as radiant as you, my moonlight. You shine in the dark, my moonlight. So bright, so blinding.”
He dared to move, and with trembling fingers, he caressed her pale cheek.
“...I love you,” he whispered. “I love you so much that I can’t go on hating myself. I forget it all when you’re near. You make me want to live and be alive. You make me want to have the world with you.”
He closed his eyes, and very carefully, he moved even closer to lean his forehead against hers.
“You terrify me,” he whispered. “You make me fear a world where you don’t... you don’t...”
He swallowed again, and forced himself to take a shallow, shivering breath in.
“Where you’re not here,” he mumbled, “and I know I’d have to go on without you. Because I’d have to be there for them. For Lumie. For all those who need me. You’re the one who made me care, and now, you can’t leave me to... to face it all alone. Please. Please, please, please, my moonlight. Please wake up. Please come back to me again. I’ll never let you go ever again. I’ve learned my lesson this time. I miss your eyes... I miss you. Please. Please. Please, please, please...”
He kept repeating it over and over again, like a quiet, whispered prayer that got lost in the wind. Niiru stopped whining, leaning against Alezya’s chest and closing its tiny eyes.
The hours passed.
The night grew colder as the aftermath of the battle disappeared.
The mud turned solid, and a gentle rain flushed the blood down the rift, washing it all away.
The voices gradually disappeared. The crowd grew distant, except for steps approaching now and then, stopping somewhere nearby, and then leaving again. Then, none was left.
The rift turned quiet as it emptied of all human life. Nothing else moved. It all went away, replaced by the quiet drumming of the rain against rocks, the faint stream of water.
Then, just before dawn, steps were heard again.
The rain had stopped, and the sounds of heavy boots, coming closer, could be heard in faint splashes.
Kassein let out a heavy breath as a large, warm hand landed on his shoulder.
“You did good, son,” a familiar male voice whispered. “Now let me help.”
Only then did Kassein let a sob shake him.
Chapter 21
Her body had never felt so heavy. Nor so cold. It didn’t feel like her body, but a mountain: cold, hard, still, and impossible to move. Everything felt off, like she was floating in a shell of herself. The first sensation was pain. Her head ached in a dull, slow throb. It was numbing and overtaking all of her senses. She couldn’t remember anything; the pain was tainting and blurring everything. She had the vague sensation that she should have remembered something. Anything really. But right now, it felt too hard, too much of a task. So, she let herself drift away softly, away from the pain, away from everything.
Faint voices reached her through the fog of her mind. Whispers she couldn’t understand, lingering at the borders of her consciousness, titillating her senses. She couldn’t remember who those voices belonged to, but they felt familiar, even pleasant. She tried listening, but even that felt like an overwhelming effort. So, she let them be, like a lingering sound she didn’t need to hold on to. They felt nice, she thought, so nice that it made her happy for a reason she couldn’t quite pinpoint. Thinking felt like too much work, but listening was passive; it was easy.
