Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder
Chapter 544

Chapter 46 : The Court of Blood and Fury

*Xander*

Lena, the White Queen?

I chewed the inside of my lip as I held the door of the diner open for her. We stepped out onto thesidewalk, and I moved her to my side so she was walking near the buildings, and I was closer to thestreet.

Not tliat a car was likely to bound over the sidewalk-I'd seen more cars in Crimson Creek than I'dever seen in Morhan.

It was that snake, Slate, tliat I was worried about. I was waiting for him to just appear out of ashadowed alley and try to finish what he'd started with Lena at any second.

We only had three more blocks until we reached my apartment, however. For now, we were safe,and alone.

Alone. Alone with my thoughts. Alone with the crushing certainty that I would never be able to bewith Lena like I had intended to.

I couldn't take her away now. I couldn't ask that of her. She was more than just a descendant ofRosalie, those women with their special, life-giving blood. She was an heir to the most significantthrone in the realm of light. I couldn't take tliat from her.

I thought other's would be in line for the crown first, but she made it seem like that wasn't the case.Those strange powers she held inside, bottled up and buried, were much more than some fluke inher' genetic code.

She had those powers for a reason. I saw it clearly now.

Adrian was right. What reason did I have now to tell her the whole truth about who I was and why Iwas here? Even if I told her the truth, she'd never accept the terms of what our relationship neededto look like. It wasn't like she could get on a ship, or a plane, to come see me while I ruled my lands,and vice versa. A sacrifice would need to be made.

I wondered if I could be the one to make that sacrifice as I looked over at her. Snow stuck to hereyelashes, and the tip of her nose was red from the cold. I wanted to tease her, to tell her this iswhat she deserved for wearing a scrap of fabric to cover her body in the middle of winter, but I keptmy mouth shut. My eyes drifted down to where the slit in her dress exposed her hip bone, althoughit was currently covered by my heavy jacket.

I wouldn't even need to take the dress off of her to do what I desperately wanted to do to her.

But I shouldn't touch her. It felt wrong. The only thing keeping me from turning around and takingher back to her apartment, saying goodbye for good, was tire simple fact tliat there was nothingelse I wanted to do less than say goodbye. If we only had one night together before parting forever,maybe it wasn't so wrong to make the most of it.

Especially if I told her how I felt.

I guided her across one last snow-packed street and into my apartment building. It was quiet insidethe foyer of the building. We climbed the three flights of stairs to the shabby two-bedroom unit Ishared with Adrian. He'd already told me he wouldn't be coming home tonight. He meant to makethe most of our last few nights in Morhan as well.

But his absence was for another reason too. It afforded me the privacy I needed with Lena. Iwouldn't have this chance again.

I closed the door of my apartment behind us as we stepped into the front hallway. Lena shruggedoff my coat and hung it on the coat rack, and I brushed melted snow from my arms before takingoff my boots.

My skin was freezing, and the rush of warm air in the apartment made it tingle as I looked up,watching Lena walk into the open kitchen, living, and dining area. She looked around, her bare feetsoundless on the caipet. The streetlight flooding through the window overlooking the street washedover her skin, highlighting the muscles of her arms and upper thigh, where the dress parted andswept over her leg.

The look of her was enough to drive me crazy with desire. She turned, her breasts hugged by thesilken fabric as she faced me, giving me a soft smile.

“It's not much,” I breathed, walking toward her’, “but it's home-and affordable.”

“It's nice," she smiled, but she wasn't looking around anymore. She was looking at me, her pale grayeyes fixed on mine.

“Lena,” I began, taking another step in her direction.

She straightened her shoulders a bit, gearing up for what looked like a fight. I hesitated. What couldI possibly say to her?

“What are we doing?” she asked, her voice a barely audible whisper.

I ran my tongue along my lower lip, dropping my eyes from her and settling them on the floorbetween us. “I wish I had a straightforward answer for you-"

"Why were you in Crimson Creek?"

"Alma told me you'd need the blood root for a time. I don't know how or why it affects you. Ithought it was because of your injury, but now I'm not sure. It might have something to do with youbeing a White Queen-"

"Why were you acting so weird in the diner after I told you?"

"I-didn’t know about the line of succession.” I paused. It was a half-truth, at least.

She blinked a few times, and I noticed her eyes were misted with tears. I wanted to reach out to her,to pull her’ into an embrace. But my hand curled into a fist at my side inside.

“I'm tethered to this path, Xander. I was bom for this role. I don't have the same freedoms as others.One day, I'll move to Winter Forest, and I will live there until the day I die.”

“You're next in line? You said-"

“My Aunt Maeve is my grandmother's heir, but..." Lena took a deep breath, looking at me throughtears. “She stepped down from the line of succession. There's... more. But I don't think.... It doesn'tmatter-"

"What if you didn't accept the throne?" I asked, but she shook her’ head, hugging herself with heramis.

“I can't reject it. I'm the only female heir in this generation. It's mine. The title will pass to mydaughter-if I have one.” She stopped talking abruptly, exhaling through her nose.

An indescribable pain washed over me. I hadn't told her what Alma had said about her ability, orlack thereof, to have children.

“I had a very privileged life," she began, her eyes fixed on the far wall, staring at nothing inparticular. “I can admit tliat. I am loved deeply by my parents and my extended family. But I'mdifferent. I was bom different. And no one knows what that means for my future.”

"What do you mean?”

“My powers, Xander. Do you not remember how I told you I almost killed my mother? I've doneother things without knowing how to control it. I can't stop it. It's tied wholly to my emotions, andI've spent my life keeping my emotions at bay. Do you know... do you even know what being withyou has been like for me? This game we're playing just... it just..."

“This isn't a game to me, Lena-"

“Then what are we doing, Xander? Please!"

“I love you," I said without trying to stop myself.

She stared at me, her eyes shining in the faint light from the windows. I repeated the words, and theweight that'd been pressing down on my shoulders since our first night in Crimson Creek finallyeased.

“Don't say tliat to me,” she said, her voice frill of pain.

“What? Why-"

“Because I don't just want you for now!" she cried, and I grabbed her, pulling her into my chest. Oh,Goddess. What the hell was I going to do?

“We can make this work—"

“You don't understand-"

“Then tell me, Lena!"

She pushed away from me, swallowing hard as she reached up to wipe away a rogue tear rollingdown her face.

“My mother is... and my dad..." She shook her head, obviously trying to gather her thoughts. “I'mdifferent-"

"You said that," I breathed, grabbing her by the shoulder. “How are you different?"

She looked up at me, sniffling. She looked pathetic and desperately sad. I held her to my chestagain, wishing I knew how to comfort her.

“Have you ever heard the fable of Leto and her twin children?" she whispered into my chest.Adrenaline burned through my body, and I had to fight not to grip her too hard as I held her close.“Lycaon and Morrighan,” I said, and she nodded, laying her cheek against my arm as she looked upat me.

“The lines split long ago. Morrighan was the first White Queen, and her twin brother, Lycaon, he...There was war when my parents were young, when they were our age. My mother is Lycennian andmy father...”

I gripped her, hard, holding against my chest for dear life.

How did I not know this? How could I have been in this Goddess forsaken realm for a year and notknown?

“There was a prophecy. My parents and my aunt and uncle fought against the woman who wantedto see the pack lands fall and the prophecy unfulfilled.”

"What prophecy?" I whispered into her hair. My voice was trembling, but my body was still and rigidas I clasped her against me.

"Me," she whispered painfully, a choked laugh escaping her mouth and sending vibrations over myskin. “It was me. I was the prophecy.”

Two lines into one. I thought, my mind racing as memory after memory of my boyhood camerushing back to me.

Two lines into one. The builder of realms seeks its throne. Through the trials of the court of bloodand fury, out of darkness comes light, as day turns to night. A new dawn of the Empire of eternalsun.

I blinked, the poem I'd read during my school years flooding every recess of my mind. Two lines intoone. Two lines into one...

"Xander," she asked, her voice penetrating the memories tliat had overwhelmed me.

“I'm here," I whispered, turning my head toward the window. Snow was still falling, and the windowwas frosted and sparkling with icy flakes tliat clung to the glass-little crystals shining in the paleamber streetlight.

Oh, my Goddess. It wasn't a poem. It was a prophecy. I held her at ami's length, looking into hereyes for any shred of understanding. I wanted her to read my mind, to pull the suffocating thoughtsout into the open and make them clear enough for me to decipher.

Tell her, I told myself. Tell her who you are!

But my mouth and mind were not currently intertwined. Instead, I kissed her, the gentlest and mostearnest kiss I'd ever given.

“I love you," I repeated against her lips, and I meant it with every fiber of my being. “We're going tofigure this out. I will make this right, all of it."

Because I had to.

Because as my hands began to wander over Lena's body, my mind continued to race and flood overthe poem from my childhood. A court of blood and fury?

It could only mean one thing.