Page 39 of The Wild Prince's Favorite
He felt her flinch; it ought to hurt a bit. Her skin and injuries looked much better though. Now cleared of all the dry blood and dirt, it was much smoother and the injuries and cuts clean. Her skin was healing fast, little scabs had appeared here and there to try and cover the open wounds. It smelled nice too. The soap that had smelled too floral for Kassein was now wonderfully adorning Alezya’s skin, and it tickled his senses a bit.
He realized his fingers had paused a bit longer than normal on her ankle, and he looked up. She was staring at him, and faintly blushing. Alezya wasn’t like most bashful young ladies though, averting her gaze and acting shy. Instead, she wasn’t afraid to stare at him, with an inquisitive, confused gaze, her cheeks a bit red.
He quickly withdrew his fingers, and went back to the ointment, applying it quickly where he ought to. When he got close to the areas her towel covered, he stopped and put it aside. Then, he grabbed the bandages and began covering her feet again, careful of his movements and grateful to have a reason to hide her skin away.
He was feeling much more mindful of the way their skin touched, and Alezya’s reactions. Sometimes, it was just a very faint flinch, but he couldn’t help but wonder if it was because of the pain, or the contrast between their body temperatures. He tried hard not to look up again, focusing on bandaging her feet properly.
Suddenly, another loud growl was heard from outside, and Alezya jumped in fright. Kassein glared at the area of the tent behind which he knew Kein to be still wreaking havoc.
Either his dragon had actually found something or had begun hunting for the fun of it; it was just being annoyingly rambunctious and scaring Alezya.
Kassein ignored it and finished bandaging her wounds he could access. Then, he pushed the clean clothes toward her, making a gesture, so she knew it was indeed meant for her. Alezya nodded, but her eyes kept going toward the back of the tent nervously.
Kassein sighed, but anyhow, she had to get dressed. Even in his tent, it wasn’t so warm that she could stay like this for too long.
Thus, he grabbed the dirty, old bandages and lifted the large water bucket to take it outside. Using the time he was outside to give Alezya some privacy to finish getting dressed, he spilled the dirty water in the snow a few steps away from his tent and got rid of the blood-soaked bandages.
Two soldiers came to pick up the now empty bucket and take it away, giving him curious glances. He’d visibly not taken a bath yet, as he still had some blood on him, so they had to be wondering who had used that in the Commander in Chief’s tent.
Neither dared to ask it out loud though, so they were left with no choice but to leave, their gazes shifting to the noisy mountain behind the tent. Kassein also turned around to see what kind of rampage Kein was still on.
His dragon was just jumping and climbing on the mountain, digging into some area with its tail swishing around like it had found something to play with. For a while, Kassein just stared its way, until the dragon picked up on his gaze. Kein stopped moving and glanced back, glaring immediately at its owner.
The dragon growled and jumped back down in a few hops. Its heavy body brutally and loudly landed on the ground, shaking the whole area. Kein stood facing him, visibly upset.
The only reason the dragon wasn’t growling louder was the prey caught between its fangs. A dead snow leopard was trapped there, its blood dripping down the dragon’s maw and on the snow.
Kassein clicked his tongue.
“What’s that?” he growled at his dragon.
The dragon growled back as if it was equally pissed at him.
They both stood in another stand-off, but the anger was rising slowly. The dragon raised its shoulders and lowered its head, its silver eyes riveted on Kassein. Because he’d joined the fight before, Kassein’s sword was still hung on his back, ready for use. He lifted his hand, threatening to take the handle.
Kein’s growling got louder.
Then, a yelp coming from the tent got both dragon and man to suddenly turn their heads. Kassein didn’t wait more than a second to lower his hand and head inside; that was definitely Alezya’s voice.
He walked inside the tent, mentally fortifying himself in case she was naked or almost naked again. This time, however, she wasn’t; in fact, Alezya had already finished dressing herself, except for the coat that was still next to her on the bed.
Kassein walked up to her, wondering what was wrong, but she had her eyes on the entrance and was visibly nervous, not in pain or anything.
“What is it?” he asked when he reached her.
“M-mike ha menissa bahira?”
Kassein was stunned. This was the first time Alezya had tried to actually speak to him, and in her own language too. He was so shocked, he forgot her scared expression for a moment and just stared at her.
He hadn’t understood a word of that, naturally, but hearing her use her mother tongue was making him strangely happy.
“Can you repeat that?”
She looked at him and noticed the strangely happy expression on his face. She got impatient, and pointed at the door, visibly running out of patience and not in the mood to indulge him.
“Kassein!Mike tyo ho?” she insisted.
Kassein followed her finger, glancing at the entrance. She was probably getting nervous because of Kein’s growls.
