Sould As The Alpha King's Breeder

Chapter 17: Ernest’s Mate

Maeve

“Don’t say your name? Why?”

*Just in that context. I don’t… we can’t-”

“I know,” I said hurriedly, feeling foolish. It couldn’t be personal. That had to be what he meant. I fidgeted, looking past him toward the door. He followed my gaze, then snapped his head back around, giving me a serious look.

“Leave them alone, Maeve. I know what you’re thinking.”

“I just really need to talk to Ernest—”

“No, you don’t.”

“You don’t understand, Aaron. Gemma is in a bit of a crisis right now,”

“Because they’re mates? That doesn’t sound like a crisis to me.” He stood there, staring at me blankly as my jaw dropped open.

“How the hell did you know that?”

“Uh, he told me? Is it supposed to be a secret-”

I turned from him, pacing over to a set of couches that had been pushed up against the wall so that the maid could polish and wax the floor. I felt a little guilty as I looked down at the very obvious footprints left in the fresh wax, but the room was rarely used. It was my first time spending more than a few minutes here myself. “Well, if you know about it then it’s not a secret, is it?”

He shrugged, reaching up to crack open the window. “What do you need to talk to him about that’s so pressing you’d interrupt them?”

“I wasn’t going to interrupt them,” I lied, pursing my lips as he cast me an incredulous look. “I just wanted to talk to him privately.”

“About why he won’t marry and have children?”

Igaped at him again, my jaw nearly hitting the floor. “You know about that? You know why?”

“Yeah, he told me all about it.” Aaron’s tone was so casual that I laughed, unable to stop myself. He peered at me, tilting his head as I sat down on one of the dusty couches. “Do you seriously not know? How could you not know? Your whole reason for being here is to produce the heir he refuses,”

“Refuses? No, he can’t have children.”

“Oh, he’s perfectly capable of having children.”

“1-How?”

it, either. He caught my gaze and I blushed,

“Aaron!”

his feet on the couch, facing me. “Ernest said he had

brow, trying to gauge whether or not Aaron was

same vision, and she was the driving

joking!” I felt myself flush, my skin prickling

that’s what my parents told me after Aaron’s own mother cursed me, after his accident. My mom’s powers were well known, but we descended from the Moon Goddess herself as White Queens. Aunt Georgia and my dad were just…

how ridiculous it sounds. He said he thought it was just a dream until his mom said something

Georgia had ruled over Drogomor in my father’s place. Dad wanted to be in Winter Forest with us, not thousands of miles away in Valoria. I didn’t know the details of the exchange of power, but I do know Ernest became Alpha at a ridiculously young age, sixteen or seventeen, when his parents decided to leave Valoria and travel west to

I tried to talk him out

true,” I said

at me, shaking his head. “You’re kidding, right? It’s fanciful at best-” He paused, the muscles of his neck contracting in the dim light as he swallowed. “You’re not cursed, Maeve.

mother cursed

couldn’t have. It’s not real, just like

I told the nurse in the infirmary to save some of my blood for healing and she only… she only smiled. She smiled because she knows it’s

are you saying, Maeve? That something an angry woman said now determines your future? How do you know your blood doesn’t have

his eyes lingering on mine. “She believed it. I could

is

over my knees to look down at the floor. “That I won’t find my mate. That I won’t come into my

“Well, when’s your birthday?”

at him.”Not until

worry about it until August.” He stood, holding out his hand to me and shaking

“Where are we going?”

he’s being an

said not to interrupt

changed

talk about the day he got hurt

to see Ernest walking quickly down

are you going?” Aaron

wrenching my hand free from his grasp, but he squeezed my hand, tucking it behind his back, and we all came

I have to go down to the village to escort him to the castle. Give him a little tour.” He sighed

into Aaron’s hand. I felt him stiffen beside me and inhale, but his face was calm and firmly fixed on Ernest. Ernest ran his fingers through his hair again, ruffling it beyond repair, then looked me up

great things about this guy. Lance says he’s kind

out with—”Aaron stepped backward, his heel crunching my toes. I let out my breath in a hiss, glancing up at him and noticing the abrupt change in his demeanor. He was looking forward, his gaze traveling well past Ernest and into a darkened corner of the corridor where it wound back toward the grand entrance of

us. I swallowed, exhaling as Aaron removed his heel from

But why?

this guy, how does that sound?” Aaron said, still looking over the top of Ernest’s head at the

need to escort him and his entourage from the train station to the road leading to the castle. Lance will meet them there. I’d definitely feel better if