Page 195 of The War God’s Favorite

“I will drop you and mother at the Diamond Palace, and stay until the Imperial Army catches up. Maybe a few days. A week at most.”

A week… They had a week left together. Cassandra nodded, but her throat was tight, and her heart was so heavy, she almost felt like crying.

“You won’t be in danger, will you?” she asked.

“No.”

She chuckled. He was so sure… Of course. The invincible War God of the Dragon Empire. Cassandra hugged him, feeling a bit vulnerable at that moment.

“Kairen… If it rains during this next week… Let’s have our Ceremony. Please.”

“We will.”

Under Kareen’s impulse, their departure was put in motion quite promptly. None of them had much to take back to the Diamond Palace anyway, so they took their time, decided to have breakfast and let the servants prepare whatever they needed to pack.

Once again, they had breakfast in the Imperial Concubine’s Garden, much to Krai’s pleasure, as it could lay next to Cassandra and nap in the rising sunlight. As everyone had been woken up quite abruptly, they somehow agreed to take their time whilst having breakfast. They even waited for Missandra to wake up, and Anour showed up before their departure, too.

As promised, they were ready to depart soon after dawn. To Cassandra’s surprise, the First Prince’s concubines, who had heard of the news, showed up to bid her goodbye before she left. Cassandra gave them a couple more recommendations about Prince Sephir’s health and politely said goodbye.

Krai seemed ready for this flight, stretching its wings and walking around in the garden, a bit impatient. To everyone’s surprise, Roun, Anour’s Green Dragon, actually showed up too.

“I’ll accompany you,” said the young Prince. “This way, I can take Shareen straight to the Northern border and save you some time! I want to go help her at the border, too, the Imperial Palace is so boring!”

“Fine,” said Kareen, with a pout. “Aren’t you two just in a hurry to leave me to go play with swords!”

After that, she got on Krai’s back, as if it was her dragon. Cassandra wondered what a young Kareen handling baby Krai would have been like. The Black Dragon always seemed happy to see the Imperial Concubine, growling softly at her the same way it did to Cassandra. She secretly wished her own son’s dragon would have a similar attitude with her, even when she would be old.

Missandra and Dahlia both agreed to climb on Roun’s back, behind Anour, as the green dragon was smaller and less scary to them than Krai. Shareen climbed on Krai’s back after her mother, and both her and Kairen helped Cassandra up.

Just like that, the little group took off without much of a ceremony.

It had been a little while since her last flight, and Cassandra took a deep breath, hoping she wouldn’t get nauseous again. Slowly, the Imperial Palace got smaller under them, and she realized once again how big it actually was. She thought about her medicinal garden, and wished she could have brought it back with them. It was a pity she had only been able to use it a couple of times.

As it was still quite early, the sky was colder than usual. Cassandra was wrapped up in one of the fur coats, and was held on to tightly by her Prince, as usual, while Krai was peacefully flying to the Diamond Palace. The dragon knew the way all too well, it was an easy ride. Actually, it even bickered a bit with its younger brother, Roun, fooling around, growling at each other and trying to bite each other’s tail playfully. They kept changing spots, one above and one under until Kairen and Anour had them stop before the women on both sides got sick.

To Cassandra’s surprise, Roun was slimmer and smaller, but considerably faster than the black dragon. Its personality, for what she had seen so far, seemed to match that of Anour, too, being more cunning and curious than Krai.

The two of them kept playing more quietly for the rest of the ride, but as they arrived above the Diamond City, Krai got more interested in the Diamond Palace. The dragon accelerated a bit, in a hurry to land there. Both dragons knew the place well and didn’t need to be told where to go. Another dragon’s growls welcomed them as they landed in one of the larger gardens.

“Hello, my darling,” said Kareen, getting off first.

Srai, the little dragon, was excited to see her, jumping all around the place and growling loudly. It even bumped into Krai a couple of times without caring. While Kareen caressed it, calming the young dragon a bit, Shareen jumped off Krai’s back, and Kairen helped Cassandra down.

On another end of the garden, Anour was helping Dahlia and Missandra down. The two girls were a bit green and white, but they took deep breaths once they were on the grass, relieved.

“I’m never, ever getting on one of those creatures again…” muttered Missandra, still shaking a bit, walking back to Cassandra with a frown.

Dahlia was quiet, but her expression was not good either. Cassandra felt a bit sorry for them. She had ridden on Krai’s back over a dozen times, and was still feeling a bit sick at times. Moreover, the dragons had made the girls’ first trip a bit rowdy.

Behind them, Krai was a bit impatient. It kept growling and tottling in circles, getting grumpy. The Imperial Concubine sighed.

“Oh, enough, enough… Let’s go.”

Cassandra, too, was sharing Krai’s excitement, just a bit more quietly. They followed the Imperial Concubine into several corridors. Unlike the Imperial Palace, the Diamond Palace was more dragon-friendly, and full of roof-less rooms. Hence, even if the adult-sized dragons couldn’t follow in one room, they would find a way to reunite with the little group through another opening. Behind Cassandra, Missandra kept staring around, impressed, just like her sister the first time. Cassandra chuckled once she noticed this. Indeed, the Diamond Palace was much more to their taste, with all of its wild plants growing freely, wide-open spaces, sunny chambers, and the many water fountains and natural rivers crossing here and there.

“Here it is.”

For once in the Palace, Kareen had to open a lock for them to have access to another large indoor garden. It could be accessed through the open roof for the dragons, but for humans, it would have been impossible to climb, with such height and the slippery stonewall.

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