Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder
Chapter 314

Chapter 94 : 1 Kissed Her

Rowan

“It wasn't easy,” said the metalsmith as he wiped his grimy hands on a rag. He spun around in hiscar, plopping a small, smooth ring in the palm of my hand. “You were right about the stone; it wasjade-a sizable, practically flawless hunk of it. Say, where did you replace it?"

"On the beach,” I said softly, turning the ring over in my hand.

The entire thing was made of jade, carved right out of the stone Hanna had found on our walk onthe beach several weeks before the snow had begun to fall. That was months ago, I thought,wrapping my fingers around the ring. Things had some how felt easier then.

“There's enough of the mother-stone left for a second ring, at least partially. Half would need to bemetal of some kind, I rec ommend platinum. It's what I used to give the first ring support, you see.”“It's... it's fine. It's just a gift.”

IL

A parting gift.

Something I had planned on giving to Hanna under very dif ferent circumstances. I had carried thatdamn rock around in my jacket since the day she found it, marveling at the pale sea — green band ofjade running through it whenever I had a moment of solitude to fish it out of its resting place.

I had imagined making a ring with it, one of pure jade, think ing the color would look perfectagainst the paleness of her skin. I

had imagined slipping it onto her finger and taking her hand in mine, as my wife.

I swallowed back the pain and paid the metalsmith, thanking him for his time. The ring felt heavy inmy hand as I walked through the center of the village, crossing the road leading up to my houseand through the woods toward Hanna's cabin.

It had been a week since Maeve and my parents left for Mi rage. Two days ago, a pilot from Miragehad arrived in a Cessna 210, large enough to fit six passengers. He had come bearing news ofMaeve, but we didn’t have much time to grieve her expe rience. She was fine, as were my threenephews, but the large seaplane that had been carting my family back and forth to Mi rage fordecades had crash-landed and needed repairs.

We had all been summoned to Mirage. And I knew in my ab sence, Hanna would likely go back toRed Lakes as planned.

I wanted to ask her to come with me. I was ready to beg. But I knew it would be fruitless.

Any future I had with her seemed to evaporate the second she told Maeve and me what she hadseen in her vision of Maeve’ s future. Maeve and Troy had been discussing what sounded like asuccession of sorts, facilitated by my dad. My interpretation of the dream was that one of their sonswas ascending a throne, which couldn't have been Troy's soon-to-be — title of Alpha of Poldesse.That left only two options: Alpha King of Valoria, or Al pha of Drogomor.

Which were the titles I was meant to inherit.

Which could only mean that I would have no children to pass them on to.

1 The only shred of hope I had was that Hanna had been Wrong about only two of the tripletssurviving. The entire vision

could've been wrong, but what did it matter? Hanna was leaving. There was nothing I could doabout it.

And I couldn't carry the hunk of jade in my pocket any longer.

I barely noticed how far I had walked, lost in thought, until i was standing at the bottom of the stepsleading into her cabin.

She must have heard me coming because no sooner had i put my foot on the first step did sheopen the door, her black hair hanging loose over her shoulder and a plush bathrobe covering herflannel pajamas.

It was late afternoon, the sky an inky purple dappled with stars. I needed to be at the seldom usedand grossly neglected landing strip outside of the village in the next hour.

This was it. This was goodbye.

"I meant to shovel the stairs for you again, but 1-" I started, motioning toward the three or so inchesof fresh snow blanketing the stairs.

Hanna leaned on the doorway, her eyes shining in the porch light. “It's okay, Rowan. Pete can do it.You've... it's been a rough week.”

"Yeah, it has been.” The ring was burning a hole through the palm of my hand. I wanted nothingmore than to toss it to her without a word and run then try to continue to stifle the heavy,overwhelming heartbreak. I understood her reasonings for want ing-no, needing to leave. But Iwould never understand why she felt like I wasn't strong enough to protect her, and my family, fromwhatever was coming.

“Kacidra said you're leaving soon.”

“I am. Now, actually. I have to... I wanted to give you some

thing before I went. In case you weren't... weren't here when I re turned.” I climbed a single step,unsure if my feet would let me go any further. The truth was, I likely wouldn't be returning to WinterForest for a long time. Dad had called a major conference in Mi rage, and all of the Alphas would berequired to attend.

I would be made Alpha of Drogomor, officially. And I would set up residency in the castleimmediately.

I looked up at Hanna, holding out my hand. I placed the ring in her open palm, wrapping my handaround hers.

“I had it made from the piece of Jade you found on the beach. I thought... I want you to have it,despite everything. I couldn't leave without knowing you had it. I don't expect you to wear it. I don'texpect... I don't expect anything. I respect you, Hanna. I respect you as much as I love you... andGoddess, I love you. I just needed you to know that.”

I took my hand from hers, looking into her eyes for a split sec ond before I turned and walked away,letting the dark of our early nights wrap itself around me.

Ernest lifted George into the snug cabin of my Cessna 180, which looked like a toy compared to theglossy two-prop Cessna 210 that was idling only ten yards away on the ice-covered river. Hehanded George to Gemma, who immediately started fussing over the white snowsuit George waswearing, which made him look like a marshmallow.

His black curls were sticking out of the bright purple wool hat Gretchen had knit for him, and he wasstaring forward at the dashboard of the plane, mesmerized by the lit-up switches and gauges.

“Do you have his blanket?” Gemma asked, her voice distorted by the sound of the engine.

Ernest handed her the fluffy blanket in question, then stepped into the plane to drape a heavy woolblanket over his mate and their child, tucking the blanket around Gemma'’s hips.

“Here,” I said, reaching back to hand Ernest a headset, which he put over Gemma'’s hat, securing theheadset over Gemma'’s ears. I reached down to the controls and switched on her mic

Ernest tucked a duffle bag next to Gemma, then grabbed the front passenger seat, which had beenfolded forward to allow Gemma to climb into her seat, and put it back into position. He climbed innext to me, closing the door and buckling his seatbelt.

“Do you know how to fly this thing?” he joked with a wide smile, securing his own headset over hisears.

I reluctantly switched on his mic, and his laugh boomed in my headset.

“No barrel rolls, Rowan,” Gemma said sternly, looking a little pale as she sat behind us with Georgein her lap.

“Not until Georgie is six months old,” I laughed, which elicited a steely glare from Gemma. “We'rejust waiting on the other plane to taxi. Shouldn't be long.”

Talon had taught me how to fly. He was a shitty pilot, howev er, and Mom and Dad had allowed meto take actual lessons from someone in Winter Forest when I turned eighteen. I turned my gaze tothe other plane, watching as Georgia and Vicky settled all three of my young cousins into theirseats.

Talon was, of course, sitting in the co-pilot seat. If the pilot was smart, he would cut Talon's mic.Otherwise, Talon would be

directing him on how to fly the plane for the entire flight.

I smiled a bit at the thought then turned back to the dash board of my own tiny vessel. It had onlytwo rows of seats, big enough to carry four adults at the most. It also didn’t have heat, so we wereall bundled up in parkas and heavy gloves. George seemed fine with the arrangement, and withinminutes, the heavy vibration in the cabin had lulled him into a deep sleep.

“How long is the flight in this thing?” Gemma'’s voice cut through my headset, and I turned to lookat her, adjusting my mic over my mouth.

“Roughly four hours, but we're going with the wind, not against it. We're landing on the strip nearthe castle so that cuts our trip short.” And that was the truth. The seaplane could fit our entire familyin comfort but needed to be landed at the port or the lake, which were both far from Mirage. SmallCessnas could land on the practically forgotten airstrips with relative ease, but it was a lesscomfortable ride.

“I'll never forgive you if you crash!” Gemma glared forward and swallowed hard, obviously nervous.“I promise I will try to land this hunk of rust in one piece, by at least the second attempt!”

"Rowan! Stop messing with me!”

Ernest was laughing despite his mate's turmoil. I reached down and shut off her mic to thwart anyfurther attacks on my pi loting abilities.

"How come you didn't just take this thing down to Mirage when you stopped hearing from me andMaeve?" Ernest asked, resting his head against the headrest.

I pursed my lips, tapping my fingers on the yoke, which is what was used to steer the plane.

“The water on the inlet is too rough for a plane of the size. I can't fight the tide with it. It's better totake off on the ice, with wheels instead of floats. I'd love to take this thing out in the sum mer, butDad thinks I'm going to die in this one day, so he refuses to build an actual airstrip.”

“Well, you're about to become Alpha of Drogomor. You can build as many airstrips in Mirage as youlike.”

I smiled to myself, thankful things between Ernest and I weren't at all awkward, even though I wastaking the title he had recently given up.

Ernest and I hadn't ever gotten along very well. He was closer to Maeve's age, and we hadn't hadmuch in common as kids. But he was very much changed now, I realized. Gemma had gotten tohim, smoothing his rough edges.

We also now had Troy in common, who seemed to be pulling everyone together lately, hisfriendship almost as magnetic as his personality, despite the fact that he had kidnapped my sister."Well, I gotta build those radio towers first.”

I wasn't sure if he'd heard me. He had turned to Gemma, holding his headset off one ear as shecomplained about the fact Thad turned off her mic.

This was going to be a long flight.

The pilot of the other plane came over my headset, telling me he was about to taxi out. There wereseveral warriors on the ice holding flashlights to help guide us along. I watched them spread

out, moving out of the way as the larger plane powered forward.

I caught movement out of my peripheral and turned my head just as the first plane took off. I hadmy hand on the yoke, sec onds away from taking off.

Hanna. She was talking to a warrior, pointing to my plane.

The jade ring was on her finger.

I opened the door of the plane, fighting against my seatbelt and cursing audibly as I fumbled withthe clasp. Ernest reached over and freed me, giving me a look and nodding, a whisper of a smiletouching his lips.

slipped on the ice, twice, as I made my way to Hanna. I was breathless and ruffled when I finallyclosed the distance between us. I stopped short of her, apprehension sweeping over me. Why wasshe here, if not for me?

“Is there room for one more in that tiny plane?” she asked, her mouth widening into a brilliant smileThen I kissed her.