Sold AS The alpha King's Breeder

Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder Chapter 826

Chapter 37 : Home, to the Village

Brandt didn’t stop running, not even once, until we reached Jared’s village. The Dark Forest passed us in a blur of shadow and rain. Maybe he felt the same crushing weight I felt as the trees whispered and rattled, maybe he saw the same shadows that lingered in the darkness, little flecks of light dancing against the tree trunks, like stars… or eyes.

We were never alone in the Dark Forest. Whatever else was there with us obviously didn’t think we were worth pursuing. Maybe those indescribable beings who called the forest their home sensed that we were rushing–broken, tired, and scared–and let us be.

I was thankful for it, and I was more than thankful to hear the sound of wind chimes rustling in the spring rain as we broke through the trees near the Healer’s cottage, the village rising in the distance.

Home–I felt it with overwhelming certainty.

Brandt nearly collapsed as he skidded to a stop next to the sparring ring. I slid off his back, my knees buckling and legs tingling painfully from gripping his back with my thighs for an entire day. People were running toward us with blankets, shocked faces blurred by the downpour that pounded the top of my head and my face as I looked up to see a hooded Giselle, her eyes alight with worry.

“Jared?” I croaked.

“Not here–” Giselle began, but Brandt’s voice cut through the rain, strong and demanding.

“Five scouts, two along the southern trail and three in the Dark Forest. Don’t be seen,” he said to the men beginning to gather around him. I glanced at him as Giselle helped me up, seeing him wrapped in a blanket and shivering with exhaustion and cold. “Jared might be alone, or he’ll be with–with Carmen. Archer was meant to be heading east, toward the capital.”

Giselle furrowed her brow, mouthing “Carmen?” with a look of shock flashing behind her eyes. Brandt stalked off as several of the men convened next to the ring, one of them barking orders as the rest began to shift.

“Where’s Miriam?” I said through chattering teeth as Giselle wrapped her arm around me and walked me toward the house.

Lights twinkled in the windows, and several people were standing on the porch, watching as we approached. It was well into the night now, and muffled voices poured from the open door of the house as people were roused from sleep by the commotion we’d caused.

“Let’s get you into a hot bath first,” Giselle whispered, rubbing my arm as she guided me up the front porch steps, glaring at everyone nearby.

Miriam met us at the door, looking more than concerned.

“Oh, my dear,” she breathed, taking me into her arms and holding me to her chest. “I am so happy to see you again.”

***

I slept well into the next day, curled up in my old bed. Scarlett and Giselle had fussed over me for what felt like an eternity until I’d fallen face-first into my bed, asleep before my head hit the pillow.

Gray daylight drifted through the open window between our beds, lace curtains dancing in a humid breeze. I rolled over, rubbing sleep from my eyes to find Scarlett’s bed made, and empty.

I had no idea what time it was. No one had roused me to start another day’s washing and mending. It took me a few minutes to come to terms with the fact that I’d spent the last two days sprinting through the Dark Forest in the rain, and before that… close to a week in Aeris’s kingdom.

like a dream–a nightmare, especially since Jared hadn’t made it home, not

sheets to my chest. I bit down on the

night before, not saying a word about the map, the scroll, or the Cryptex as she laid out everything to dry on top of

the scroll, with was falling to pieces in my hands, and the Cryptex off the dresser before

here enough not to go through his things while he was away. I sat down at his desk, huffing a dusty breath as I carefully unrolled what was left of the scroll and

parchment, blurring it considerably. I ran my hands over my face, cursing under my breath as I scooped it into my hands and balled it

at the Cryptex for a

mess with it

Had he made it out of Aeris’s kingdom? Was he

spoke to me in a low whisper. We’d joked about pretending to be husband and wife, coming up with silly little

to be on the table every evening when I’m back from the sparring

with Miriam,” I’d replied. “She won’t allow me to

been so easy, so unlike anything I’d ever experienced with

to him, that I needed to

come back, what was I supposed to

quill pens like the one

journal was long gone now, lost with the rest of the supplies when the witch’s familiar had stomped

smoothed a piece of paper down on the desk, staring at it blankly for several aching minutes. I should

parents knew I wasn’t dead–at least, I hoped they didn’t think that. I’d been jetting across our realm for the past two years, gone for weeks at a time on expeditions related to my studies. They were used to not hearing from me. But I’d taken off this time with no itinerary,

never make it to its destination, lost

else to say other

Mom was sure to hit the ceiling with rage if this letter ever got to her. Dad would just

the best of my abilities, trying to keep my emotions in check. ‘I’m fine. I’m safe. I’ll be home, eventually. I have a lot to tell you, a lot I’ve seen and experienced. It was worth it, and I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m

folded up the letter and set it aside, moving on to

scribbling one single line of

somewhere out west. But I’m fine. I met someone, and I think–’ I paused, the pen hovering over the paper. ‘I think I

might stay. I

rather stiff. I wondered

the Cryptex once more before rising from the desk and leaving the room, locking the door behind

her back to the doorway and an unfamiliar woman stirring one of the tubs, her eyes lifting to meet mine as

giving me a relieved

I didn’t come down to work

don’t be. Miriam has other plans for you, I

watching an expression I