Cassandra smiled at him and gently kissed him.
“I’ll be careful again, I promise. With Shareen and Krai, too.”
The dragon immediately raised its head, putting its hot snout against Cassandra’s thigh.
“I’m curious to meet that mischievous sister of yours,” admitted Shareen. “I do have a thing for troublemakers.””
Chapter11
The next morning, everyone in the Palace was so busy with the preparations for the New Year’s Festival, Cassandra and her Prince were woken up early by all the outside ruckus. The young concubine, still tired, rolled over to his side, and laid her head on his shoulder.
Despite his closed eyes, she knew Kairen was awake from his fingers gently stroking her hair. The previous night, Shareen had left early after grabbing Valeria and taking her to her apartments. Cassandra trusted her to get as much information as she could out of her younger half-sister, and had left with Kairen to avoid more trouble. The tension was high between the brothers, and she didn’t want to stay in Phetra’s presence longer than necessary. That woman made her too upset, it was like being in the same room as a venomous, cunning snake.
“Get up, sleepyheads!” suddenly yelled a voice inside the room.
“Your Highness! You can’t barge in like that.”
Cassandra sighed from recognizing the voices. Kairen sat up and glared at his sister, who was at the end of their bed, fists on her waist.
“Come on, I want us to get out of here before the whole Palace goes crazy.”
“It’s barely dawn,” sighed Cassandra, sitting up, too.
She was glad she had slept in her nightgown instead of naked like most nights. Kairen, very unhappy about the unwanted morning call, was glaring at his sister with an annoyed face. She was good at ignoring him though, and sat on their bed.
“I know, but we have to find what that potion is made of, who made it, and your younger sister. Plus, we have to be back early for tea with Mother before the beginning of the celebrations. And you don’t want to be late for tea with my mother.”
Cassandra sighed. Indeed, Kareen had limited patience, but what Shareen ignored was that she was most severe about her own daughter’s lateness. Cassandra had never been late, but she could tell the Imperial Concubine would let it go a couple of times.
“Dahlia, could I get some tea, please?”
“Coming right away, My Lady!”
The servant left the room, and much to Kairen’s annoyance, Cassandra got up and started getting ready.
“What did you get from her?” he asked with a raspy voice.
All three of them knew who he was talking about. Shareen crossed her arms.
“Phetra ordered her to go get the potion, but she really didn’t know who that snake was intending it for. But she said it was before Phetra knew you and Cassie were coming, so… She probably really didn’t intend to use it on you in the first place.”
“Then, the question is, who is pregnant?” said Cassandra, while grabbing a pink dress out of the closet.
“Someone Phetra would want to lose their child. You would have been first on her list, I guess, but if it isn’t you, it has to be one of our brother’s concubines. What I don’t understand is why she would care since no dragon egg seems to have appeared yet.”
While she was relieved it wasn’t aimed at her, Cassandra was disgusted that Phetra would try to make someone lose their baby. Kareen had warned her many times about the greedy and jealous women of the Palace, but she could never accept it.
She put a hand on her own belly, which was growing a bit bigger each day. According to Kareen, she still had about three or four months to go before her son would be born. The dragon-tamers always came to the world early, but they would be healthy nonetheless. As long as she could endure one more week in the Palace, Cassandra could leave and have her son at the Diamond or Onyx Castle.
Kairen took her by surprise when he came from behind, putting his arms around her.
“What are you worried about?” he asked.
Cassandra shook her head, giving him a quick kiss.
“It’s nothing. I will go to my herb garden and then outside. I’ll stay with Shareen and Dahlia.”
He nodded, despite his usual frown. If it wasn’t for his sister being with her, he wouldn’t have let Cassandra anywhere he couldn’t see her.
