Page 280 of The War God’s Favorite

“Lady Kareen!”

The Baby Dragon disappeared into the corridors, while Lady Kareen ran after it, still holding Kassian. Evin immediately ran after her, too. He didn’t have his place in a fight against so many soldiers anyway, and the Imperial Servant was concerned about Cassandra’s baby. Anour glanced at them leaving, hesitant.

“Go with them,” said Kairen, his eyes still glaring in Vrehan’s way.

His younger brother hesitated. He wasn’t comfortable letting their mother and the babies run away, but War God or not, Kairen was in an unfavorable position there. Moreover, he had already thrown his weapon, and Anour knew he and Shareen wouldn’t risk Missandra getting killed either. Vrehan was a poor fighter, but he still had his dragon. Yet, he had trouble leaving. When Missandra was like that.

“Are you sure?” he whispered.

Kairen didn’t answer, which was the equivalent of a definite answer from him. Shareen gave him a nod, too. Anour swallowed his saliva, a bit bitter to have to leave them. However, he wasn’t stupid. He wasn’t on his older siblings’ level, he would have been no more than a hindrance here. After one last glare towards Vrehan, trying not to look at the injured Missandra, Anour finally ran out, to catch up to Lady Kareen. Once he was gone, the War God and his sister were suddenly left alone with an army of Imperial Soldiers, Vrehan, and his dragon.

Shareen sighed.

“About two hundred men? Really, Vrehan, you’re such a coward.”

“Drop your weapon, Shareen, and recognize me as the Emperor,” hissed the Second Prince. “Or I swear I’ll finish this girl and you’ll have to watch her bleed out!”

Shareen glanced down at Missandra. The young girl was still not moving, one couldn’t tell if she was still breathing. Only her eyes were still teary, turned towards them. After a few seconds of staring at each other, she very distinctly saw Missandra nod.

Shareen sighed.

“You’re not too rusty yet, Brother?” she said, her eyes on Vrehan, making her spear turn between her hands.

“Stop playing.”

She snickered. Suddenly, her eyes went up on the Red Dragon.

“Enough!” yelled Vrehan, feeling what was going to happen. “I am the new Emperor! The council already agreed! You can’t kill me, I am the Emperor!”

Shareen laughed.

“Oh, Vrehan, you’re really the Emperor of rats. The Council you said? You convinced a bunch of scum like you to sign some paperwork, and just like that, you think we should leave you Father’s throne? Don’t worry about the council. I think it will be time for some serious spring cleaning once we are done with you!”

Vrehan’s eyes opened wide, and he stepped back. Shareen was still smiling like a cat about to eat a bird.

“You know what? I think we need fresh blood on the Council’s seat. How about we start with yours?!”

Just like that, she suddenly threw her spear across the room. Her weapon flew far above the head of the soldiers and, with a horrible sound, dug deep in the Red Dragon’s shoulder.

The gigantic beast growled furiously in pain and anger and jumped to attack, coming their way. The first ranks of soldiers, distracted by the dragon, turned their heads back a second too late. They met Kairen’s furious glare from extremely up close, and a second later, the War God’s fist began wreaking havoc around him.

Chapter25

Cassandra slowly woke up to the sound of something dripping next to her. She suddenly felt a horrible sensation in her throat and started coughing out some water, almost suffocating as she was trying to get some air back. She felt exhausted, and a bit dizzy, though she was lying down. Underneath her was something cold... and wet. It wasn’t very comfortable either. She struggled to move her body, pushing on her numb arms to help herself sit up. Her hands met with the cold rocky ground. Cassandra coughed a little, spitting some water again. She felt exhausted, but her instincts quickly reminded her of the dangerous situation.

She sat up, looking around anxiously. She had no idea where she was, but somehow, the presence of light disturbed her. Her memories were slowly coming back, and she was almost sure she had lost consciousness in the deep, dark waters of the lake in the Imperial Palace. So the question was, where was she now? Against all expectations, she was alive, but with no idea where she had ended up.

As her eyes got used to the blinding light coming from above, Cassandra slowly realized she was surrounded by rock walls. In all shades of grey, sometimes silverish, the undefined walls of this cave were making a semi-sphere above her head. She could still hear water clearly dripping all around her. How far was she under the surface level? If there was this much light, she couldn’t be too deep.

She barely had any strength left and wished to remain seated, but somehow, she couldn’t just stay still either. How had she even gotten here? A few meters away from her, there was what looked like a large pond, or a little lake. It was completely still and quiet, and everything else was echoing inside the cave. She could almost hear her own heartbeat echoing. Cassandra realized her body was cold, but not as wet as someone who had just gotten out of the water. How long had she been here? She was completely at a loss and even more panicked due to that. What happened to Opheus and Missandra? What about the Old Emperor?

Her head was aching a little bit. She touched her forehead and felt a vivid pain. It was a bit swollen. So she had bumped her head in something, causing the headache. Cassandra sighed. What had she gotten herself into this time? She looked around, trying to look for the creature from before, just in case, but she was obviously completely alone. After much effort, she finally got back on her feet. She was in a poor state. Her legs and arms were covered in bruises as if she had been dragged around on that same rocky ground. Cassandra looked at the water again. Had she been taken out of there and how? By whom? She was obviously alone here.

She tried to walk to the walls, checking if there wasn’t some opening she may have missed. It was all stones, ground, ceiling and walls alike... thousands of little stones, and she couldn’t see all of the different levels of the wall. It was sharp too, but some had iridescent reflections, like pink or blue. They almost looked like dark gemstones.

Cassandra’s eyes were attracted to the light above again. What she had taken for a bright light was actually some long slit in the ceiling, letting in what was most likely natural light. Cassandra squinted her eyes, trying to see anything. She was almost sure she had seen some movement up there. Was she actually that close to the ground surface?

Suddenly, something moved in the water. She retreated towards the wall as a reflex, but there was nowhere to run. Slowly, scales started appearing at the surface. Cassandra felt her blood go cold again. She could see parts of the body undulate in the water and surface at some places like a snake swimming around. How big was it really? She had been unable to see the whole body in the water, but now, she could see it move in so many places, she was only starting to get the reality of this creature’s real size. Then, the head slowly merged out of the water. First, the two horns she had seen, one of them broken at half its length. Then, the silver eyes appeared. They were so clear. If it wasn’t clearly staring at her, Cassandra would have wondered if it wasn’t actually blind. Then, the nose and maw came out of the water, dripping. She tried to keep breathing normally, but no matter how she looked at it, this creature was part dragon.

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