Sold AS The alpha King's Breeder

Chapter 796

Chapter 7 : The Great Outdoors

Ah, the great outdoors!

I hadn’t been outside of the house in days, not since I arrived. I took a huge breath as I hopped down the steps leading to the kitchen garden, letting the crisp, slightly chilly early spring air fill my lungs.

The first signs of the approaching warm weather were inching through the sodden earth around me. Piles of rotting snow bled into the garden, little tufts of green grass poking through the clumps of dirt-covered ice. I looked down at my reflection in a large puddle near the garden gate, tucking a few rogue curls behind my ears before I started forward, thankful I was wearing boots.

My boots squelched in the mud as I swung my basket. I smiled amiably at everyone I passed, although I didn’t get a smile in return. I was a newcomer, an outlander, someone who had yet to gain the trust of those who lived in the patchwork village surrounding Jared’s house.

A group of children, all boys by the looks of them, ran past me kicking a leather ball. One of them stopped to look at me, his playmates slamming into him in surprise.

“Hello,” I said cheerfully, giving them a wide, genuine smile. The boy leading the fray gaped at me, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. “I’m Eliza,” I continued, wondering why they were staring at me like I was some rabid beast.

One of the littlest boys stepped in front of their leader, his chin jutting to the sky as he narrowed his dark brown gaze on mine.

I pursed my lips, furrowing my brow at him. “What?”

“Are you a witch?” he asked.

I scoffed, pretending to be thoroughly offended. “No,” I said slowly, taking a step toward them. They took a step back in unison. “I work in the laundry. I’m a seamstress.”

“Did a witch cast a spell on you?” asked another little boy. Some of them had relaxed a bit, losing the tension in their shoulders.

“I don’t believe so,” I replied. “Why? Is my skin turning green? Do I look like I’m about to turn into a rabbit?”

One of the boys giggled but was quickly shushed by his companions.

“Your hair looks cursed, like you’ll never be able to get a comb through it without breaking it,” said the smallest boy in the bunch, the same one who had called me a witch in the first place. “My ma says if I don’t brush my hair, the witches will turn it into a mess of tangled heather, and I’ll be ugly for the rest of my life.”

My mouth dropped open in surprise, but the response I was struggling to form was drowned out by a rush of giggles as the boys began to titter at me.

used to it. It was wild and unruly, but I didn’t mind. Being

demons!” came a

thick blonde hair came out of her

in faux terror, the sound broken up by frantic laughter as they scattered and disappeared into

said sweetly. “One

laugh, and she smiled

I swear,” I said, looking towards the woods. “It’s nice to

do you now? Lots

lot of cousins. I was the family babysitter for a long time–” I paused, noticing the confusion on her face.

the same. Marriage felt like freedom from the job, but now I have small ones of my own,” she

completely. The title of “Family Babysitter” had been a right

the

I’d been staying with my

the new maid, then?” the woman asked, breaking me from my

into a smile. “Eliza,”

my hand. She had

to my other hip. “Do you know which cabin belongs to

do.” She turned, pointing into the distance. “It’s outside of the village, due south. Past

sparring

before taking off on foot again, looking at her over my shoulder. She’d gone back to sweeping her front porch, her eyes occasionally scanning the

was bustling with activity, and everyone seemed to have something to do. The number of people surprised me, and I felt a little bad for giving Jared a hard time, but only a little. He

my mouth curving into a smile. Getting a rise out of Jared had been the most fun

behind his own eyes as I tried to assert my dominance in the study.

lining the village. Red

the only

toward the cabin. It was shockingly worn down, the wood gray and splitting with age. The roof was patched in several places, and the porch was nothing more than

didn’t look like anyone lived

healer’s house after all. I looked past the house into the forest, which stretched on and on, growing darker as the trees thickened. The forest must be as dark as night during the height of summer, I thought, when the canopy above my head would be

forest. I heard the chiming of bells in the distance, and even…. No. I

house and moving deeper into the forest involuntarily. I dropped the basket, which bounced across the forest floor