Page 75 of The Wild Prince's Favorite
Alezya grimaced and tried to glance around but from how dark it was, she could only assume it was nighttime. She painfully moved, trying to massage her leg or find a position where it wouldn’t hurt so much. She turned and found Kassein asleep beneath the bed again. So he hadn’t gone to sleep anywhere else...
Alezya was relieved. She had feared the other women’s arrival would change things, but for some reason, he still found it suitable to sleep beside her on that fur rug. Not only that, but he seemed peacefully asleep, using his arm as a cushion, his body on its flank, turned toward the bed.
Had he fallen asleep while looking at her too? She leaned over the edge of the bed, ignoring her sore body, trying to stare at him. He seemed so peaceful while sleeping... probably the sleep of someone who feared few things in this world. Alezya wouldn’t have been able to sleep so deeply if it wasn’t for her body being exhausted. She’d spent the last two years on edge, desperate to protect Lumie, keep her from any harm, surviving while being ostracized to gather food and other things they needed to survive...
She let her thoughts drift toward the mountain again. Was Lumie alright, in her cousin’s care? Zenia and Suolk could probably provide better for a child that wasn’t their own than Alezya had for her own baby... She felt guilt choke her up again. Her baby was probably living a better life now that she was ahostage of their clan than while she’d lived with her mom since she was born.
She felt the tears come up again, and she chastised herself for it.
She had to stop crying... The crying would solve nothing. She needed to get stronger, for Lumie’s sake. She needed a plan. She needed her baby back. Her father wouldn’t give her child back until he believed she was pregnant with Kassein’s child. She didn’t care what would happen to her, but she needed Lumie to be safe, and out of her father’s reach.
“...Alezya?”
Kassein had opened an eye. He found her eyes over him, and she greeted him with a faint smile. Ignoring the pain, she extended her arm, and boldly caressed his spiky cheek with her fingertips. His skin was so warm... How could he be so warm while sleeping on the floor? Did that have to do with the dragon, like the scales on his skin? Someone like Kassein surely wouldn’t have had any issue keeping a child safe from her father, Alezya thought. But could she really trust Kassein?
Either way, she had to make her father’s spies think she was going along with the plan. She was already sleeping in his habitation; it wouldn’t be so hard to show she was close to him. At least for now, she could trick them into believing she was playing their game...
He put his hand over hers on his cheek and closed his eyes again.
He seemed tired, and she found him looking a bit childish like this. She wondered if he was younger or older than she was. He didn’t seem very old... but it was hard to tell, with his kind. She wasn’t familiar with the people of the Dragon Clan, and they were so different in so many ways.
Soon enough, Kassein’s breathing eased into a peaceful sleep again, still holding her hand. The position wasn’t toopainful for either of them, so Alezya didn’t feel like taking her hand back. In fact, the warm touch of Kassein’s skin was soothing to her too. She really wished she’d never have to let go of that hand... She had to get better, soon. She had to understand him and his world better.
Their hands still linked, Alezya laid her head down on the very edge of the bed, an eye on him, and fell back asleep.
The next morning, Alezya woke up all alone, and thankfully, not due to any pain but naturally. It clearly was the morning... How long had she slept?
She felt rested, and a whole lot better. Kassein was gone, and his spot on the floor was cold. The habitation was empty, but things weren’t quiet outside. She could hear activities going on, the voices of men, and the faint wind against the fabric walls.
Alezya took a little while to sit up and assess the pain throughout her body. She was healing, and faster than the norm again. What kind of medicine did the Dragon Clan have that she could possibly recover so fast? Was it really fine for Kassein to be wasting their medical resources on her? Back in her clan, herbal medicine was one of the most valuable things she could exchange... but maybe here, they had plenty of it, enough that he could use some on one of the enemy’s women...
She let out a faint sigh, stretching what she could, and taking a glance around. This place was now familiar, familiar enough for her to feel completely safe to wake up in. Kassein hadn’t even gotten mad at her for stealing a weapon! She still felt guilty when she thought about the tiny blade she’d hidden under the pillow, but it seemed to be of little consequence. To think she’d been prepared to risk her life for a theft he thought nothing of...
She glanced at the bed, where the thick furs were stacked up, only one having fallen off during her sleep. The comb Loreyhad brought for her was still lying at the end of the bed, and she grabbed it. Even that was a beautiful item, something she wouldn’t have dreamt of owning back in her hole in the mountain.
Slowly, she began combing the ends of her hair, noticing how messy it had gotten while she slept. She hadn’t been able to properly care for it in a while, and it was long too. Those other two women didn’t wear their hair loose, did that mean they were already committed? They had their hair at strange lengths and in strange hairdos... perhaps it meant nothing here. After all, Kassein had touched and arranged her hair, so he probably had no idea of the significance of it.
She blushed a bit again upon remembering his fingers in her hair.
He seemed to like her hair... With this in mind, Alezya combed her long black locks twice as meticulously. A few years back, she was considered the beauty of her clan, but she hadn’t been able to afford to pay much attention to her appearance since Lumie’s birth. She had probably lost the shine of her prime years...
She felt a bit dejected when she thought of women like her cousin, who could afford to spend time, herbs, and effort on their appearance. Being a single mother hadn’t allowed her to spend any time being a young woman. Alezya chased those thoughts away and put the comb down.
Now that her hair was a bit better, she checked on her injuries and rearranged her bandages where she could; her hands were still injured and painful. She had used them to try and protect her head... She shivered, remembering how half a dozen men had unleashed their wrath on her, beating and kicking her against the floor. She could have died, and at the time, she had genuinely thought she would. Her flank had taken a lot of the damage too, but the bruising was already fading...and her headache was mostly gone. What kind of sorcery did Kassein’s people have that she could heal so fast?
“Alezya!”
She glanced up at the feminine voice and spotted Lorey as she stepped in with a little tray of food. Again, Alezya couldn’t help but feel that twinge of jealousy for her to be waltzing in so casually... But Lorey clearly didn’t expect to see the male warrior for she walked straight to her bedside and put the tray aside. Her warm smile made Alezya feel guilty of her bitter feelings again; that woman showed her nothing but kindness, and she was already helping her out, checking her injuries and changing the bandages carefully.
“Lorey,” Alezya said, hoping to greet her somehow.
Lorey seemed a bit surprised to hear her name but gave her biggest smile yet and a big nod. Then, to Alezya’s surprise, she began talking.
She was talking too fast in their strange language, and Alezya couldn’t understand any of it, but it didn’t seem to matter. It looked like Lorey had decided to chat with her anyway, perhaps to make her feel a bit more comfortable, or perhaps in an attempt to befriend her? Alezya tried to listen while the young woman helped her with her bandages, cleaning and dressing them again. They truly had a lot of clean water and bathing items to spare for her... but Alezya took it all gratefully, feeling a bit happy to become more and more presentable every day. When they were done washing her, she presented Lorey with the comb she had left.
“Thank you,” Alezya said, showing how she’d been able to comb her hair.
Lorey smiled again, and having clearly mistaken her, took the comb and moved to sit behind her on the bed. Alezya was frozen in shock for a few seconds. She hadn’t had anotherwoman comb her hair since her wedding ceremony! But she didn’t do anything to stop Lorey.
