Page 10 of The Wild Prince's Favorite
She was even more tense as she knew this kind of gathering was highly unusual and felt threatening.
“What is this about?” she asked first.
“We heard you said you saw the dragon last night?” said one of the elders. “An orange dragon?”
“Didn’t the spotters see it too? Why do you need to confirm it with me?”
“They did. However, they were careful to hide and only saw it from afar... They saw it attack a woman.”
So that was what they were all curious about.
The spotters had seen the scene, they’d seen her survive, and no one could explain it. No wonder all those elders felt uneasy and suddenly wary of her; Alezya’s experience was completely unheard of.
She crossed her arms, nervous about what they were going to do with that information.
“And?” she asked coldly.
“Was that woman you?” Her father squinted his eyes.
Alezya directed her glare back to him. She could see him thinking deeply about this, probably wondering how he was going to be able to use her next. She knew she had to be careful with her answer; she couldn’t predict their reactions to this unheard of situation. She was already trapped.
“...So what if it was me?”
He slapped her.
Alezya took it silently despite the painful burn on her cheek. Instead, she didn’t hesitate to turn her glare back to him, making her father even more enraged. He could keep hitting her all he wanted, she wasn’t going to back down so easily. Not when she was being cornered like this.
“Answer our questions, girl,” hissed one of the elders.
“I am no girl,” Alezya retorted. “I have a daughter of my own.”
“You’re an unmarried wench,” scoffed another elder.
“This unmarried wench still won’t answer unless I know what the hell you want with me,” Alezya retorted, fierce. “Yes, I survived after that dragon attacked me. What of it?”
Those men all exchanged glances. Of course they would be surprised. The dragons and their masters were the clan’s archenemy, why would one have let a Northern clanswoman go? Alezya was as baffled as them, but after being able to survive the previous night, she hadn’t thought too deeply about it. As if she could possibly ever understand a dragon, a creature akin to a living deity...
“Why did that dragon let you go?” one of the elders sternly asked her. “What did you do?”
“How would I know?” she retorted, growing impatient. “I barely managed to escape, how would I possibly know what possessed that dragon to let me live? It’s not like it talked or anything!”
They exchanged glances, annoyed with both her tone and her answer, or lack thereof. Although, she could tell they were strangely cautious.
With her tone even more rebellious than usual, her father should have already hit her once or twice more by now. Alezya could endure the beating, but those men acting differently than expected were making her nervous.
“What did you say to it?” Zenia’s husband asked. “Did you say anything?”
“I told that dragon I had my child waiting for me, and that I’d curse it if she became an orphan! What’s the use of this? I doubt it understood a word I said, perhaps it was just fed up! What’s the point of your questions anyway? I was lucky to survive, why does it matter what I said?!”
Some of them exchanged glances, making her even more nervous. Why did it matter what she said? She had answered thinking it was completely irrelevant, but she realized she had been wrong. What did those men know that she didn’t? She didn’t like this at all.
“...Just as we thought,” said one of the oldest men. “This is another sign from the gods.”
Alezya squinted her dark eyes. A sign from the gods was precisely the sort of nonsense those people often used to justify forcing their ways regardless of others’ opinions. She didn’t give a damn about the sign from the gods, for she believed the gods couldn’t possibly be bothered with these petty people. But she got even more nervous. She didn’t think anything they were going to say next was going to be good news for her.
“We’ve never had someone survive an encounter with the dragon,” muttered Zenia’s husband.
Alezya glared at him. She regretted ever saying anything.
