“I’m fine, My Lord,” she protested.
Kairen ignored her and drank the rest of her cup himself, then ordered for the wine to be taken away. Cassandra was a bit disappointed, but she didn’t dare to ask again, and shifted her interest to the cheese instead.
Suddenly, a big ruckus took place at one of the nearby tables. For a reason she hadn’t caught on, two men were now fist fighting and insulting each other. Cassandra was shocked.
“Shouldn’t someone stop them?” she asked.
However, no one around them appeared to want to stop the fight. Actually, the men around were laughing and cheering, telling them to hit harder and get the other. Cassandra was shocked to see such violence, as well as so many people happy to witness it. Eventually, one of the men was thrown down and admitted his defeat. The men around laughed, and to Cassandra’s surprise, his opponent helped him up with a laugh.
“What…?”
“It’s fine. The soldiers like to fight.”
“But, it could have ended so badly!”
Kairen grabbed some meat and shook his head.
“There are rules. They are not allowed to fight their comrades with any weapon, disable them, or kill them.”
“Everyone respects the rules?”
“Krai gets an extra meal from time to time…”
Cassandra looked at the dragon. She had almost forgotten about Nebora’s warning. Krai was so cute to her all the time, she had a hard time remembering that the dragon was actually a man-killer too. Seeing she was staring, the dragon raised its head, curious, but Cassandra only sighed and turned her eyes to the men again. The two that had fought before were now laughing together and showing off their injuries to each other. Men were truly too complicated to understand!
They kept eating in silence. From time to time, one of the generals or lieutenants came up to pay their respects to the Prince and give him a report, but none of them reacted to Cassandra’s presence at all. She didn’t mind, as she didn’t want to attract extra attention to herself.
About an hour later, they were done with their meal, and Cassandra was starting to feel cold. With the night, an icy wind had come along and was biting her exposed skin. The men too, came to eat and left as quickly as they could, to shield themselves from the wind in their tents. She shivered.
“Are you cold?” asked Kairen, putting his hand on her back.
She nodded. How did he never get cold? No matter what, she had never seen him shiver or get goosebumps, despite being less clothed than she was!
Kairen stood up, and they left the table, without a word for the servants waiting close. But instead of heading for his tent, the Prince actually pulled Cassandra towards his dragon, and Krai raised his head.
“My Lord?” she asked.
Without an explanation, he whistled at Krai, and the dragon stood up. But instead of mounting him, Kairen only held on to an area behind Krai’s head, with his hand. The other held firmly around Cassandra’s waist, she frowned. She had a bad feeling about this.
When Krai suddenly took off, she couldn’t even find the air in her lungs to scream. The Black Dragon had gone up so quickly, she felt the wind whip her skin, and hid her face in Kairen’s fur coat by mere reflex. However, she didn’t have any more time to be scared. Before she realized it, her feet were touching the ground again, with Kairen’s arm around her.
“Are you alright?”
She wanted to say no, but could only shiver and stay still instead. Kairen caressed her neck until her nausea was gone.
“Wha… Where…”
Her throat couldn’t formulate any sentences, so she raised her head to look around. It was only at that moment that she realized they had totally moved locations, and were surrounded by a warm fog. Cassandra was completely lost. Where were they? But in front of her, Kairen suddenly started undressing, making her blush again. Couldn’t he at least warn her before getting naked right in front of her!
“Cassandra.”
She dared to look at him again, as he stepped into what seemed like a natural pool. That’s when it finally hit her. Hot springs! They were at a natural hot spring!
Cassandra was amazed. It was a completely wild area, where dozens of cavities were filled with natural hot water. She had only seen man-made hot springs so far! Kairen held his hand out to her, and she undressed swiftly before joining him. The water was strangely blurry, and she couldn’t even see her feet. She held onto the Prince’s arm the entire time, too uneasy to let go. The ground under them was uneven and only Kairen was moving around without worry.
The Prince sat up in one of the hole’s corners, while Cassandra was still glancing sideways.
“This is incredible,” she whispered.
