Sold AS The alpha King's Breeder

Chapter 611

Chapter 111 : Breles has Fallen

*Lena*

The midwife handed me a black and white length of glossy paper with a smile before turning to leave the exam room. Mom was talking to a nurse in the corner of the room as I pulled my sweater down over my belly and huffed a breath, wincing as I struggled into a sitting position.

I looked down at the length of pictures in my lap, my throat tightening painfully as I tried to swallow.

There she was, our baby. I could just make out her head and body in the blurred, somewhat distorted images. I was four months along and doing fine, from what the midwife had said. Nothing looked amiss.

I hadn’t mentioned to her that three of those months had been the equivalent of two weeks in the other realm. But Mom had held my hand through the appointment, her eyes on the screen as she nodded and asked quiet, gentle questions. She was gathering every ounce of information being fed to us, because I barely heard any of it. I was disassociating, my mind far away, my thoughts lingering on the man who should have been here to see the first glimpses of our daughter.

Mom probably thought I was just tired, which was true. I’d spent the last two days training with my Grandma from the crack of dawn to the late hours of the evening. Two days was all it had taken for me to get a grip on how to use each of my powers, and to discover a few new ones. Grandma had been stoic and calm throughout the ordeal, barely batting an eyelash as I shot blasts of white moonlight from my fingertips and opened portal after portal to realms of my own creation, which were little more than air and starlight.

“You ready?” Mom asked as she shrugged on her coat. I’d been looking out the window, lost in thought. I hadn’t realized the nurse had left the room until mom’s voice chimed in my ears. “You’re probably hungry. I was thinking we could stop by the tea shop on the way home and have some lunch.”

I mustered a smile. Of course, I could eat. That was the one thing I felt like I was capable of doing most of the time. Otherwise, I was a tangled mess of grief and anxiety, just waiting for my first shred of bad news to come my way.

I’d received one letter from Xander since he and Oliver left for Breles, almost three weeks ago now. He’d been brief, to the point. He’d made promises that I knew in my heart he’d be unlikely to keep.

The news coming from the west wasn’t good at all. I was trying not to think about it.

I walked a few paces behind Mom as we made our way through the hospital. She looked around, smiling, and nodded at people as we passed. She held the door open for me, and a gust of cool, early spring air washed over us. Outside, the snow was still thick but turning to slush, rotting away with each passing hour.

“That was a long appointment,” Mom breathed as I tucked my hand in the crook of her elbow. “You know, back when Maeve was pregnant with the triplets, this place was a four-room clinic. Now it rivals the hospital in Mirage in size.” She turned her head to look back at the white, four-story hospital.

“I’m not going to be delivering the baby here, am I?” I asked, but in reality, I already knew the answer.

“I don’t know, honey. I… it depends. I’d like to get you home, to Mirage.”

swallowing against the painful lump in my throat that wouldn’t

Mirage was still

and apartment buildings creating a wide open space in the center. Festivals and markets were held here quite often, but today, it was

Mom said as she unwound her scarf and started toward

the city center. Children in rain boots were jumping into the puddles, which were the size of small ponds. Sasha was one of the children, her blonde pigtails bouncing as

scanning the area for her mother. Clare walked into view, then turned and met my eye as though

Mom set down two tea cups of milky, extra sweet tea on the

she walked to the counter. She looked at me over her shoulder, giving

as Clare ordered something at

“What’s the matter?”

I like her very

me a knowing glance before looking outside where a group of people

think she cares whether or not you like her,” Mom said with a soft grin,

“Maeve?”

Kacidra. Maybe a mix of the

Clare exhaled as she plopped down in the open seat at our table, a steaming cup of what smelled like hot chocolate in her hands. She sipped it, sighing into her cup before she set it down. “It’s freezing out there. I

seems to be fine,”

and Mom

impervious to the cold,” Mom laughed, leaning back in her chair and crossing her legs. “We used to spend at least an hour bundling you kids up, only to

window with a

I said, a little sharper than I meant

Sasha was running and jumping with a group of five or six children now, likely her new classmates, watched over like a hawk

matter?” Clare asked, and I

castle with Sasha when the attack began. We’d stopped for dinner after her playdate, and she’d fallen asleep on my shoulder on the walk home. I think… I think that was the reason we’re alive, honestly. I was slow carrying her weight, and when that screeching began I just… I looked up to the bluff and saw the castle go up in flames. People started running into the woods from behind us, and I got knocked to the ground with Sasha in my arms.” She

and then the fall. That’s when a… whatever they were–those things just started coming out of nowhere, walking out of thin air right behind us. I barely had time to get to my feet before they were on us. They’d heard Sasha, and they were going after anything that made noise. I ran with her as far as I could, but everyone was running in different directions. I dropped her again, tripping over someone who had fallen in front of us. It was chaos. Someone else fell on top of

I’d found her, just before the winged hybrid plucked me from the

but they weren’t people who had shifted, no. They were like… spirits, like glowing ribbons of light.” She narrowed her eyes at mine before continuing, “I’m

one power I hadn’t been able to summon again when