Page 224 of The War God’s Favorite

Cassandra felt like she was dreaming. The two siblings she had always seen as perfect accomplices were fighting, and Phetra was crying on the ground, next to Dahlia’s dead body. This was so unreal. This had to be a nightmare, one she was going to wake up from.

This only lasted a minute, however. Vrehan stopped kicking his sister, out of breath and glared at her one last time before taking a deep breath, returning to his normal stance. Cassandra had never seen a scarier attitude than that. He was abusing his own sister just a few seconds ago, but now, he was turning to her, looking perfectly calm and composed. This man was worse than a monster.

“Now, enough of you women, fighting. You’re coming with me,” he hissed at her.

After that scene, there was no way Cassandra was going with him. She was terrorized, in shock, but her survival instinct was screaming in her head telling her not to go with that man, no matter what happened. She couldn’t get the vision of Dahlia’s death out of her mind, but now, her eyes were focused on Vrehan’s hand, which was coming close to grab her. Cassandra retreated, even pulling the two soldiers who hadn’t expected her to resist, with her.

“Don’t touch me,” she said, with a cold voice.

Her emerald eyes had never been so determined, so defiant. Even the Prince was shocked for a second, but soon enough, Vrehan frowned.

“Don’t you dare oppose me, you damn witch.”

He tried to extend his arm to grab her again, but just as he reached out, a white shadow brutally jumped from behind Cassandra. It took a quick leap onto her shoulder and pounced on the Prince’s arm. Vrehan screamed and stumbled back as horrifying sounds resonated in the room. Blood splattered, the flesh brutally ripped open, and as he pulled back, his hand was covered in blood, some fingers missing or chunks ripped off. Cassandra looked down, but whatever it was had just jumped in a flash onto one of the soldiers holding her, attacking him violently. The small creature was biting the man, and growling furiously. The other soldier let go of her arm, terrified, while Cassandra looked down at it, speechless.

When the man stopped moving, the little dragon turned its head towards Cassandra. Its two big emerald eyes stared at her for a second, and, without warning, it jumped towards her with a cute little squeak. Cassandra barely had time to open her arms and receive it. It was so heavy! However, she was more stunned by the gorgeous, adorable, silver-scaled creature in her arms, rubbing its little head against her chest. The little silver dragon was growling softly, just like Krai would do whenever she was scratching its snout.

“Oh, by the Lord... Don’t tell me you’re...”

“The Baby Dragon,” whispered Lady Kareen, on the verge of tears. “He hatched already! To protect his mother!”

Cassandra was rendered speechless.

Her baby dragon was in her arms! Now! When had it even hatched? Was it because of the slaps earlier? Or, because her baby had felt her fear? She kept staring at the adorable creature in her arms, growling softly and rubbing its head against her chest innocently. In front of them, Vrehan was holding his head, covered in blood, looking at the newborn dragon with a horrified expression.

“No, no! Capture her! Now!”

“Cassandra, go!” yelled Kareen.

The Imperial Concubine’s voice was what Cassandra needed to wake up from her inner turmoil of emotions. There were so many things going on, but for now, she stuck to the one thing she had to focus on, escaping Vrehan’s grasp, no matter what. She turned around and started running, despite her heavy belly. The Baby Dragon jumped out of her arms to follow her, jumping around, almost looking excited. Cassandra heard Vrehan yell orders somewhere behind her, but she didn’t listen. All she needed was a way to leave the Diamond Palace and hide. She had to find Missandra and escape, escape at all costs. Her heart was bleeding for poor Dahlia, but she couldn’t stop to mourn her friend now. She trusted Lady Kareen to take care of her.

Moreover, she had other problems now. She could hear the soldiers running after her, and Vrehan’s voice still shouting orders. The birth of the baby dragon had apparently made the Second Prince absolutely furious. No wonder. He had been on the verge of killing Kairen’s pregnant concubine, but now, she was about to escape and have this baby! That sole thought motivated Cassandra more than anything. The Baby Dragon’s birth wasn’t a coincidence, her baby was going to come out soon, and she would do anything to protect her child. However, she was still heavily pregnant, and unable to run fast enough to escape anyone. She needed a way out, quickly. She was already deep inside the Palace, where could she escape to now? Cassandra found the solution after recognizing one of the corridors. It was a bit of a crazy idea, but it was the only way out she knew of, and the only way that neither Vrehan nor his soldiers would be crazy enough to follow her.

Just as she recognized the door she was looking for, one of the soldiers grabbed her. Not for long, though. The baby dragon furiously jumped on the man, attacking him ferociously. Cassandra heard the man’s screams, but she couldn’t look, as she was busy opening the doors. The large room finally appeared in front of her, with her way out.

She had returned to the infinity pool room. The wide pool in front of her, Cassandra walked in quickly. She heard the man hurrying behind her when the water was already up to her waist.

“Baby! Come!”

The Baby Dragon immediately dived in the water, not looking afraid at all, and disappeared under the surface somewhere around her. Cassandra didn’t have time to check where it had gone to. The men were starting to follow her into the pool, with their swords, and Vrehan yelling at the entrance of the room.

“Catch her! If you let that crazy bitch die here or escape, I’ll kill you!”

Cassandra glared at him, and kept walking and swimming inside the water. Once in her element, she had a big advantage in speed over the soldiers chasing her. None of those men were good swimmers, and with their heavy armors, each step was a struggle. For Cassandra, however, she was faster than on the ground.

“Don’t you dare!” yelled Vrehan.

Oh, yes, she would dare to. Cassandra was almost at the wall’s end, at the great opening towards the waterfall, when she heard a loud growl. She retreated just in time, as the red dragon’s head appeared. Thankfully, she had seen how far Krai was able to reach inside and had evaluated right. The Red Dragon was smaller than the black one, but it encountered the same problem. Only its head could fit in. That saved Cassandra’s life.

However, with Vrehan behind her, and his dragon guarding the exit and the waterfall, she was trapped inside the water, with the soldiers closing in on her. Cassandra hesitated. Should she dive in? Krai couldn’t find her in the water, but if that dragon decided to attack blindly, her chances to go unnoticed were not that high. She had to make a decision, and quickly. She knew she couldn’t go back anyway. She had to try.

“Don’t you dare! You...”

Cassandra dove beneath the water before hearing Vrehan’s curse. Like her people, she had the peculiar ability to see underwater and keep her eyes open without trouble. Hence, as soon as she dived in, she saw how deep she could go, and where the large claws of the red dragon were resting. However, as she had predicted, he started moving as soon as she disappeared. She could see his fangs and claws attacking blindly, making waves underwater. Cassandra tried to stay away for a while, but she couldn’t stay underwater for too long, and her pursuers were still coming.

To her surprise, the baby dragon suddenly appeared next to her. It tilted its head, and she realized, just like her, it had no problem seeing or swimming underwater! Was it because of her? Did the silver dragon get some of her characteristics? Was that possible? Cassandra didn’t have much time to wonder, though. While the baby dragon was comfortably swimming around, the bigger, older version was furiously looking for them. Cassandra took her little dagger out. They had to secure their way out, one way or another. If she could get the timing right ... Next to her, the silver baby dragon suddenly stopped swimming around, too, fixated on the red dragon’s movements, agitating its butt like a cat about to jump.

That’s when Cassandra decided to attack. Judging its position from those large paws, she waited for the next attack, and just when its maw appeared in the water next to her, she jumped with her blade to attack. She got the red dragon right in the eye, and on the other side, the baby dragon jumped too.

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