Page 56 of The Wild Prince's Favorite
She cried silently, covering her mouth with a trembling hand. She didn’t care if they all saw how shaken up she was, she was a mother first and foremost. She gasped, trying to control her breathing, and took a step forward, but her father suddenly extended his arm between her and her cousin’s husband, who was standing next to him.
Alezya’s expression fell.
“You’ve seen her now,” he said coldly.
“Let me hold her.”
“No.”
“Let me hold her!”
Her father suddenly took out a knife.
Alezya’s blood went cold, while he smiled viciously.
“We may not kill her, but your daughter might get hurt if you don’t start behaving, Alezya. I know you’re a tough woman, but I’m not sure your bastard is as strong.”
She felt absolute fury. How could he use her child to threaten her?! Her eyes went to Lumie, devastated. They wouldn’t even let her hold her child for an instant! She was finally seeing her after so long, and yet they had to stay several feet apart.
“If you hurt her...” she hissed.
“I certainly will if you don’t learn to behave,” her father retorted. “Your daughter has been fine until now. What kind of mother would you be if you caused her harm with your stubbornness?”
Alezya had never wanted to kill a man so badly, but there she was, seriously considering throwing herself at her father’s throat. Perhaps she would have if she hadn’t been so unsure her movement would get both her and Lumie killed.
Thus, she was only able to stand there, trembling with rage, her eyes full of tears and her head full of murderous thoughts. She swore that she’d kill that man someday. No one ever deserved to be treated like that by their kin. Regardless of any blood bond, that man couldn’t ever be called her father again. Alezya mentally severed the last ties she had felt to him. She had tried, hard, to keep an ounce of respect, to try and understand where he came from, but that was all gone. A man threatening to harm a child to have their mother do his bidding was nothing but evil.
She moved her eyes back to Lumie, and she’d never felt so heartbroken. The short happiness of seeing her alive and well had been completely shattered. She couldn’t even hold her. She couldn’t touch her, smell her, feel her body warmth against hers.She wanted Lumie to feel her presence so badly, to know her mom had come back for her. She wanted to tell her she’d never meant to abandon her. That no matter what, they’d find a way to escape, together.
But all that stayed locked up, choking her with tears. Then, her eyes went to her cousin’s husband, and she was surprised to find him looking almost... sorry. Not only that, but his eyes went down to Lumie, and the way he was holding her properly, gently... He had taken her from somewhere without waking her up too.
When their eyes met again, he spoke, in a neutral voice.
“...She’s been well,” was all he said.
And yet, that was enough to procure Alezya with a minimum of relief. It wasn’t about his words per se or how he’d said it, but from the meaningful look in his eyes. She didn’t know exactly what had happened, but now, she had a feeling that her cousin’s husband had somehow changed. Lumie wasn’t a nuisance in his arms, she was a young child. He was a father too, and a better one than her own.
Perhaps he and his wife caring for Lumie during that time had softly changed his mind. Either way, it was a small relief, and perhaps what prevented Alezya from completely falling apart.
She redirected her tearful eyes to her father, glaring at him.
“What do you want?” she hissed.
He smiled, satisfied to finally see her submit.
“You make foolish decisions, but you remain a smart woman. You’ve already spent time with our enemy, and gotten close to their leader. That arrogant bastard, his family, and their dragons have been our nemesis for generations. At each council gathering, there is nothing the clans want more than his demise. We have been waiting for far too long for a chance to strike back. Luckily, Daughter, you have opened a path to our victory.”
Alezya was surprised. No woman was ever included in the council gatherings, so she wasn’t aware of how much they actually knew about the Dragon Clan as the information was never openly shared.
It was her first time hearing that Kassein was part of a family related to all the dragons they’d seen before. She had always assumed their enemy, the one they called the Dragon Tyrant, somehow owned all the dragons and always sent them to attack.
But from what she’d seen in the camp and what her father’s people had probably been spying on for a long time, the dragons didn’t just belong to the enemy, they were actually bound to them. Kassein was obviously bound to Kein, which is why they shared those orange scales; her father’s people had probably figured as much too. Did that mean they had seen other people from Kassein’s family that had the same peculiar common trait with the dragons? Was there someone tied to the black dragon, somewhere? And one tied to that yellow one? Kassein was obviously the leader of that place, but then, where was his family? Had her people seen him with his family and their dragons, hence they knew all this?
She had known her father and all the clans had been spying on the Dragon Clan for a long time, but she’d never realized how far they’d actually come with that information.
“Rejoice,” her father smiled. “You will be the one to carry out our plan and will be able to regain everything that was yours if you succeed. Your honor, your daughter, your place within the clans. Even better, you will be adored as the woman who made our victory against the Dragon Clan possible.”
“I’ve heard that one before,” Alezya coldly said, not impressed, “and you are a delusional man. Even if I have been able to survive confrontations with the dragon, I am in no way capable of tricking that man or harming either of them. I onlysurvived because they showed pity. I haven’t seen any weakness, and their numbers are far greater than you think.”
