Sould As The Alpha King's Breeder

Chapter 20: Just Like Your Mother

Troy-Three Nights Ago

“Troy. So, you came.”

As if I had a choice. Romero was the whole reason I was in this place, trying not to get struck by lightning or drown in the unrelenting humidity while Aaron was stranded on a beach in the Isles of Denali, enjoying a cool drink and tanning his nearly translucent skin on the soft, white sand.

I eyed Romero coolly as he neared, his cane tapping against the stone floor with each slow step in my direction.

“You look like your mother,” he said with a strange, slightly menacing smile. I bit the inside of my lip to stop myself from saying anything, willing myself to have a filter for the first time in my life. “But I understand that you wouldn’t know her, would you?”

I swallowed, tucking my hands in my pockets.

“Ah, yes. That’s what I thought.” Romero finally reached the bars, sitting down on a stool. The action took most of his strength, and he was quiet for a moment as his heavy breathing returned to normal. “You know I’ve been up here for twenty years, Troy?”

I nodded, once, watching the man as he coughed into his fist.

“Ah, yes. Twenty years in this tower. Almost longer than that Alpha below us has been alive, did you know that? I’m sure you assumed he wasn’t the man that put me here, no, that was Talon. The half-wit’s father. Ethan’s Beta. Of course, King James was still in power then.” He looked away from me toward the landing of the stairs, snickering. “Ethan. Ha! Tell me, have you seen his girl? The daughter, what was her name… Maeve? Say, does she look like her mother? Do you know who I’ m talking about-”

Ethan, Romero,” I said bluntly, color rising in my cheeks at the mention of Maeve’s name. In truth, I only knew what Ethan looked like from the handful of portraits I had seen scattered around the castle, but

sound that made the hair on my arms stand on end. “I was told you

have much to say,” I growled, struggling to maintain my composure. I hadn’t needed to say much as a child, anyway, having grown up bouncing from island to island in the Isles, working on the ships for the pack of Poldesse that crept through the waters like ghosts in the mist. I was one of many orphaned

blood. I was a descendant of Romero. My mother was his daughter,

the girl. Her mother was a real beauty at one time. Ethan’s breeder, she was.” He paused, his beady

and narrowed my eyes on him. “What are you talking

He didn’t answer.

at me through the bars, his eyes cloudy with age. I wondered briefly if he could see very well at all now. “When do they

take,” I said shortly, watching his

lost his grip on those wolves,

get you out of Valoria?” I sneered, stepping forward. I had heard of Romero, and had known we shared blood. That’s why I had been sent to Valoria when word of Ethan’s plans for the future of his family’s hold on Valoria trickled down

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I remain? Why I rot away in the tower?” He let go of the bars and reached down, his back cracking as he groped in the dim light for his cane. He rose to his full height, leaning on the cane for support. “Ethan. Ethan is the reason. He and that whore unraveled

does this have to do with Maeve? Why wait for

I wanted access to her powers. She was the key,

“Her blood can open doors, Troy. I lost my chance with Rosalie. But they had a girl child. The next White Queen. She is my key now. And the child she births will fertilize our family tree, paving the way for wolves more powerful than

“You’re delusional-”