Sould As The Alpha King's Breeder

Chapter 104: The White Wolf

“Look, this line, right here-” Mom and I were standing be hind Troy, leaning over his shoulders to peer down at the neat, faded scrawl just above his finger.”

“What does it say? I can barely see the ink!” I narrowed my eyes, wishing the rectory had more than archaic candles to light the dim room.

O

“King Hector-his name is right here. He was the king men tioned by Charles in his journal. Look, he did in fact marry Alouette… and they had a son.”

Mom was silent as she scanned the page, her brow fur

rowed in confusion.

“That means there was a break in White Queen line at some point, right? Can that… can that happen?”

“Your family believes it can,” Mom broke in, looking con fused, like she was thinking of some long-forgotten memory or conversation. “He told me once that if Rowan had a daugh ter, she would be in line to my throne. It was a discussion we had before you were born, Maeve. Before we knew you were a

irl”

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“But would… say a female cousin of a White Queen hold the same powers as the White Queen herself? There’s no men tion of Onya, the White Queen in Charles’s journal, having any other children.” Troy turned to face Mom.

“Perhaps, but I’m not totally certain. There are no texts on this, you know. All there was… was the names of the queens etched into the temple in Winter Forest. That wall was de stroyed. We might never know who the Queen after Onya was, whether Aloutette became the Queen after her mother, or if it was someone else. There is the library in the castle in Winter Forest, but I’ve never seen any text in there that discussed this.”

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“So if I don’t have a daughter, Rowan could? And she could rule?” A strange glimmer of hope tightening around my heart. How close I had come to death for my sons… I knew in my heart I could not sacrifice myself just so the pack lands could have another White Queen.

Suddenly Troy jumped up, nearly knocking both me and Mom to the ground. He was pale, frozen in place for a moment before he turned to us, fear etched into every curve, every line of his face.

“Oh, Goddess,” he breathed, the words meant for no one but himself. He slowly looked at me, sheer pain flashing be hind his eyes.

“Troy, what is wrong? Are you hurt?” Mom had her hands on his arms, trying to get him to look her in the eyes, but he

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couldn’t.

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“Rosalie,” he said, looking past the both of us at the far wall. “Please don’t take offense to what I am about to say. But I must know. I have to know if Rowan and Hanna have been in timate. Have they-is there any way at all that Hanna could be pregnant?”

I gaped at him, then at Mom, who looked just as shocked as I was.

“I assume so, Troy. They’re mates for Goddesses sake!”

O

“We need to go to them, right now. Hanna she-oh, how did I not realize this before?!”

with you!” I shook him hard, damn near ready to smack him to get him to snap back to

it before. On the map, I was sure. But I didn’t understand what

was shaking her head, anxiety

Rosalie. About Hanna. The moonstones, they

She just… she hasn’t been born yet. She will be the twenty-first White Queen.

for rational thought, “what does that have to

allow Alouette to marry King Hector came back without it… which means he either married her by force, or Onya

a break in the White Queen

Troy breathed, running

hair.

rule over Winter Forest in the future if he had a daughter. I argued that wasn’t how it works, that the powers had

Temple so we couldn’t figure this out?” I asked in a soft tone,

not ever know. I don’t plan on

and walking away from the dusty desk, tapping his finger

the world of the White Queens. She destroyed the temple. She’s going to take the stones and kill Hanna. That’s what we know,

Troy

the terrace outside of the atrium, overlooking the fields of long, brittle yellow grass. Hanna and Maeve were standing in the field talking to each other, too far enough from

their legs, whis pering through the grass. The sky was gray, thick with mois ture, and

Lakes. It was likely Ethan was telling him exactly what was going on, and how his family was connected. I felt my stomach tighten, knowing how close we were to battle. But I could barely wrap my head around what the battle would

heavily

the perimeter of the castle’s grounds, little specks of black in the

back on Hanna

she pregnant?” I

a dirty look, then settled, crossing his

don’t know. It

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is enough,” I grunted, leaning on

twice.”

Hanna is going to the mother of the Moon Goddess? It’s

in a wide circle, his tongue lolling. Pete and

threw a stick far into the field,

But

long silence flooded the distance between me

of thunder in the distance and the crinkle of the grasses as a breeze rippled through it. Tasia

I was

both need to stay on the castle grounds. Do you hear me?” Rowan shouted in a fatherly tone, which made Maeve turn her head sharply in our direction

she shouted back, turning away from us to make

the terrace, “I don’t like the idea

know,” Rowan said hastily,

know your Dad is going to want us to come to talk to the

looked at each other for a moment, then began to

crunching through

shifted without another word, shaking out his coat and sending a sprinkle of damp over the rest of us who were still

at Maeve, who looked more ner vous than upset, and shifted myself. Her eyes went wide, and I realized the only time she had seen me as a

tomb over me.

leaning to whisper in her ear. Maeve hugged