Sold AS The alpha King's Breeder

Chapter 11 My Bracelet

My eyes flew open before the sun was fully up. I remembered instantly where I was, and my interaction with Prince Theo weighed on my mind.

I took a few deep breaths, trying not to let his constantly irritated state get to me. I had slept well, had good dreams, and had a lot of energy pulsing through my veins. Why would I let his pessimism ruin my day before it had even begun?

I glanced down at my pillow and saw the flower that Prince Warren had given to me and instantly felt a rush of

adrenaline.

No wonder I’d gotten a good night of sleep. The blooms were slightly faded from the vibrancy they’d had when he’d first picked it and handed it over to me, but the fragrance still filled my lungs when I inhaled, and I thought it might last another day or two.

I quickly put the flower in the top drawer of the night stand and hopped up, ready to prepare for the day. Lots of hard manual labor lay in front of me, but I was mentally prepared for all of it.

After a few hours, I had almost finished wiping down the entire wing. Almost, because the ceiling was too high for me to reach. While I was pondering what I should do to get

myself up there, I had an overwhelming feeling that someone was watching me from behind.

I looked down the hallway and saw a tall, lean form coming toward me, and immediately, my heart knew who it was.

Quickly, I sprinkled some water on the floor so I’d have an excuse to speak to him. “Be careful, Your Highness!” I called. “The floor is wet here!”

“There you are!” Prince Warren greeted me as he approached, staying back from the area I’d just dampened. “I had wondered why you weren’t outside with the animals. So… you were chosen to be my brother’s personal attendant, huh?”

Something was slightly off about his tone. He was saying kind words, but he didn’t exactly seem happy about the news.

“This is my assignment, for now,” I said, keeping my head down. “It was… an accident… sort of.” I couldn’t quite explain to him how I happened to be at the pavilion at the same time that Prince Theo was expecting his attendant there.

“Well… congratulations.” His smile looked forced for some reason that I didn’t understand.

“Thank you,” I said. “But honestly… if I had a choice….” His eyebrows raised, and he took a step closer to me, as if he knew I was hesitant to say what I was trying to get out, which was true. “I wouldn’t have chosen to be Prince Theo’s attendant.”

I wasn’t sure whether it was a good idea to share my displeasure about one prince with another prince, but looking at Warren’s face, I knew I could trust him.

“Really?” His tone suddenly changed, and I thought I heard a bit of lightness to his voice. “Well, it looks like you’ve got quite

a bit of work to do, cleaning up this wing of the castle. You know, a personal attendant isn’t meant to be a maid.”

I felt my cheeks redden as I thought about how I had gone

| into Prince Theo’s room last night and ended up getting myself into this predicament. But at least I had something to do. “I don’t mind a bit of hard work,” I told him.

“Perhaps I could help you? I’ve never done much cleaning, but I can give it a try.” He flashed a kind smile to me that made my heart skip a beat, and I wondered if he could hear it.

to help me clean!” I had to turn down his offer. “That wouldn’t be appropriate at

the sound of it made my cheeks flare up again. “You’re not asking me, silly,” he reminded me. “I’m volunteering-as a

to help, simply because I wanted to spend more time with him. I glanced around and suddenly realized exactly what I could ask him to do. “Well, I am having a bit of trouble reaching those cobwebs up there in the corners,” I said, pointing one out to him. “I’m just not tall

studied the problem. He gave me

of the ladder and a duster with a long pole, he moved over to the corner and climbed up,

his sleeve moved back just enough, and

in my throat as I got another, clearer look

and color as the one I’d given away as a gift all those years ago, I could see some wear on one

I looked away, but I couldn’t lose this opportunity

bracelet you have there, Your Highness. Where did you get

respond since he was working. When he finally lowered the duster down, he said. “This?” He held it up so I could see it. His gaze seemed to get even softer as he said, “It was a gift

my rib cage again. “From… whom?” I was fishing for information now. I needed to know

me.” He climbed down off of the ladder and moved it to another corner so

another web above him.

you have fond memories of receiving

important person to me.” He turned and looked at me, and I had to avert my eyes, grabbing the mop and sliding it

“I-I was just curious.”

before he got suspicious. I had to pretend like I didn’t know where

that it had come from me, that I’d been the girl who saved him in the woods all those years ago. I wasn’t sure whether this was

anything else, an annoying voice hit my ear, and I suddenly wished I’d mopped the entire floor with the

girls. She’s supposed to be one of Prince Theo’s bride candidates, but here she is again, doing the dirty work that

to

at her shoulders, all of them looking down their noses at me. Sophia bowed down to greet Prince Warren, “You Highness,

to look at her and then climbed down off of the ladder. I couldn’t quite read his expression. Was he

whore!”

not lady-like at all for you

rumors and speaking unkindly about others. That’s not the job

“Come along, ladies. Let’s get back to the clean part of the castle. Clearly, this girl is a terrible maid who doesn’t know how to keep

snarky comments about me, and I got the distinct feeling that she didn’t like me being so close to Prince Warren. She probably saw it as a

more, she was going to be making more trouble for me soon. I could feel

gone, I turned to Prince

me briefly on the shoulder. “You’re

a tingle of electricity

sentence. When he

brother,

||

7.