Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder by Alice Knightsky
Chapter 123 Princess Rosalie
**Rosalie’s POV**
He was finally here!
And he was perfect!
Looking down at that precious little face, I smiled through my tears of joy and gently rocked the sleeping bundle in my arms.
After all of these months of carrying this sweet baby in my belly, now he was here, and I finally got to meet him. He was every bit as beautiful as I thought he would be, with dark hair and bright blue eyes. When Seraphine had first laid him on my chest, even though I’d been in pain and so exhausted, all I could do was look at him in wonder and thank the Moon Goddess.
How could someone so amazing, so remarkable, be mine?
My son gurgled in his sleep and stretched his arm, moving a bit, and I readjusted him, wiping at my tears with my free
hand. I patted his head and rewrapped the baby blanket I’d made him just a little so that it was covering him better.
Even though I didn’t want to wake him, I couldn’t help but kiss his adorable cheek.
I knew that there’d been complications during the birth, and the doctor had been concerned about the amount of blood I was losing, but then something had happened, and I had suddenly begun to recover.
I seemed to see Ethan standing there beside me, encouraging me, telling me I could do it….
I shook my head and laughed at myself. I thought I’d let go of my past and my love for him. Why would I still want to see him at that life-or-death moment?
That doctor had said it was a miracle of some sort. He probably was exaggerating. Like Seraphine said, every child birth was a tough challenge for women, but most of us pulled through it eventually.
Now, all my attention should be on my precious child, not something that was no longer important.
Seraphine opened the door quietly and stuck her head in. “Mr. Soren is here to see you, Ro, if you’re up for a visitor?”
I nodded. “Of course. I’m happy to see him.”
“I’ll let him know.” She had a strange look on her face, one I could only describe as apprehensive, which I thought was strange.
I’d told her I didn’t want Soren here when I delivered the baby because I just wanted to be left to manage on my own, but now I didn’t mind if my little one met a friend of mine.
The smile on Soren’s face when he walked in lit up the room. “Oh, my goodness!” he said, whispering but still full of excitement. “I can’t believe how adorable he is!”
I beamed in response. “He is, isn’t he?”
“Wow! And you look great!” He leaned down and kissed my cheek before pulling out a box. I couldn’t take it because my hands were full, so he opened it. I could see that it was a necklace that read, “Mommy,” in gold with diamonds on each letter.
“It’s beautiful. Thank you, Soren.” It really was beautiful. He set it on the nightstand next to me.
“When I saw it at the jewelry store, I thought you would love it. Have you named him yet?”
“No,” I said. “I have been thinking about it for so long, I’m afraid I’ve second-guessed myself and just can’t decide.” Everytime I thought I had settled on a name, I changed my mind.
“Well, Soren is a nice name,” he said, clearly teasing me. “I’m just saying.”
I wanted to laugh, but it was hard while I was holding the baby. “Won’t that be confusing? We won’t know who everyone is talking to.”
“We can call him… Sorry while he’s little.” He shrugged, like that was the obvious answer.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I told him, but it wasn’t really going on my shortlist
His face went serious. “I heard that you had some complications during the birth. How are you feeling now?”
“I’m fine,” I said. “I’m honestly not sure what happened during the birth. It’s all kind of a blur now.”
“I guess if women remembered how hard it was to give birth, they’d only have one baby, huh?” Soren said, still trying to be funny to lighten the mood.
“That’s probably true,” I told him. “My arm doesn’t even hurt where the doctor took that blood. He said it’s a good idea to do a blood test just to be sure.”
He arched an eyebrow, and commented, “I’m not a medical professional, but I’d listen to the doctor.”
I smiled, “I agree.”
“Well, I should let you rest,” he said. “But when the two of you are ready, I want to hold that baby.”
I smiled up at him. He was sweet. Regardless of my doubts and suspicions of him, he had been my friend and by my side during my most difficult times.
“I’m sure you’ll get plenty of chances to hold him.”
Soren leaned forward and gently brushed the baby’s cheek. When he pulled back a bit, the two of us smiled at one another. Maybe it was the mothering hormones flowing through me, but I felt closer to Soren at that moment than I had in a longtime.
I felt he was truly happy for me, and he cared about my child.
After all, he was also related to the baby- he was his uncle.
He played with the baby’s face for a few moments, and I noticed that he seemed to have something to say. I asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing…” he started, but then he decided to be honest, “Alright, here’s the thing. I may need to head to the frontline in the next couple days.”
By now, there was no need for Soren to lie to me about his involvement in the war. I had no say in anything he did- not that I wanted to interfere with his life anyway.
Since he and his half-brother were war enemies, all I could say was, “Stay safe.”
He smiled and patted my hand again. “Rest, beautiful,” he told me. “I’ll see you soon.”
I watched Soren leave the room and closed my eyes, thinking I would take his advice, but a few moments later, Seraphine came in. “Everyone’s gone,” she told me.
“Okay,” I said appreciatively. “Thank you.”
“Rosalie,” she said, her tone so serious. “I need to tell you something.”
My instinct told me that whatever it was that Seraphine was about to tell me, it was important.
A chill went up my spine, leaving every hair on the back of my neck standing on end, as well as the fine hair on my arms.
“Wh-what is it, Seraphine?” I asked her. My eyes opened wide.
She didn’t answer me right away. Instead, she took a deep breath, her lips pressed together, as she walked over and sat down next to me, careful not to disturb the baby as she sat down with her hip next to my knee.
Seraphine swallowed hard, her eyes focused on the wall. “I hope that you can forgive me for my part in what I’m about to tell you. If I had known you before I got involved in all of this, I would have….” She stopped talking, and it sounded as if she might start crying.
I had never seen Seraphine cry before.
My eyebrows knit together, and if I’d had a free hand, I would have reached forward to comfort her.
“You would have what?” I asked her.
“I would’ve told him no, but I trusted Soren, and the way he told me the story, what he was doing was going to help our cause. I had no idea that you were going to be so wonderful. I didn’t think you were the innocent, sweet girl I’ve come to love and respect.”
She turned to look at me then, her head swiveling around, like her mind was elsewhere, and there were tears brimming her eyes.
“What are you talking about, Seraphine?” I needed to know what was going on.
“Soren orchestrated everything, Rosalie,” she said, no longer calling me “Ro.”
“He was working with Damian from the beginning. None of this was a coincidence. The boat, my running into you there, the little girl… even the men that beat you, although they went way beyond what they were supposed to… all of that was him. Rosalie, he’s been lying to you.”
Her words were entering through my ears, but they weren’t quite registering in my mind. They were floating around on the surface of my brain, and no matter how hard I tried to absorb them, they refused to soak in.
“How is any of that possible?” I whispered, not necessarily asking her. I was asking the universe. How could this man who’d been so kind to me be such a liar? How could he be such a fake?
All I could do was shake my head in disbelief. It all seemed like a dream, like nothing Seraphine was telling me could possibly be true. How could someone I had trusted so completely be telling me lies from the very beginning? Sweat broke out all over my body, but I felt cold and clammy as I tried to brush my hair away from my face with my free hand. It felt like I was moving in slow motion, like my body was underwater.
Even when I had doubts and suspicions towards Soren, I still believed that he had his burden and he didn’t mean any harm. Yes, I may choose to leave him at some point, but at least, I would still always remember him as a friend and a… family member.
But none of those happy days in my life with him were real?
None of it made any sense at all, and yet… I believed her.
My breathing was heavy, my teeth clamped together as I tried to contain my emotions.
Seraphine’s hand came down on my arm. “Rosalie, I don’t blame you for being upset. But there’s more to what I need to reveal.”
“Seraphine,” I said, looking into her eyes, “I’m not sure I can handle anymore.”
She tipped her head to the side and patted my hand. “This next part isn’t bad news, dear. I a*s*sure you. You may even find it as a blessing, a new hope.”
At the moment, I would take any good news she could provide. “What is it, Seraphine?”
Letting go of my arm, she reached up to the necklace she wore around her neck and removed it.
I watched as she dropped to her knees on the floor next to my bed, the necklace in one hand as her arms were bent at the elbow and she bowed down several times at the waist.
“We finally found you, Princess! May the Moon Goddess bless you and your child!”
She said this several times, and I watched, shocked, until I finally demanded, “Seraphine, please, stop! Stop! What are you doing?” It seemed to be some sort of a ritual.
Finally hearing my cries as a command, Seraphine got up on her knees and kneeled next to me, showing me the necklace. “Do you remember this?”
My eyes fell on the woman with the white hair, and I remembered seeing it in the nursery not long ago when we were working together to get it ready for the baby. The woman in the picture had reminded me of my mother. I nodded. “I remember.”
“Well, dear, my lady, you are the descendent of an ancient royal pack. There is an entire pack in the north, my pack… our pack… awaiting your return.” Seraphine smiled proudly at me, but all I could do was stare at her with wide eyes.
Had she lost her mind?
“Me? The descendent of royalty? No, Seraphine, I don’t think so.”
“Princess Rosalie,” she said, “you were bleeding out! You don’t know because you were too busy giving birth to understand, but I have delivered a lot of babies. You lost so much blood. The doctor and I were both so worried that you were going to die. We couldn’t control the bleeding!”
I must have blocked out just how dangerous my labor was. I had no idea my labor was that dangerous. I might have underestimated the severity of what I went through. I heard her continue, “Then, suddenly, the bleeding just stopped, and you were miraculously healed. It shouldn’t have happened. You should be dead right now. The only explanation is that you bear the blood of the royal bloodline of the Edevanes! Your father was an Alpha, yes?”
I nodded, doing my best to understand what she was saying.
“And your mother resembled her, the woman in my locket?”
Again, I nodded.
Seraphine said, “Hear what I’m saying. You belong to my pack. You are our leader, and our people are waiting for you.”
I didn’t know what to say to her, so I could only tell her, “Can I have some time to myself, please?”
“Of course,” she said. “Rest. Think about what I’ve said. But know that you cannot trust him.”
“I hear you,” I told her, the knot in my stomach that had formed from my distrust of Soren growing by the moment.
“And Rosalie, I am so very sorry for my part in all of it.” Seraphine’s eyes were still glistening with tears.
All I could say to that was, “Please… leave.”