Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder by Alice Knightsky
Chapter 190 Hope Bloomed Eternal
“Well… what did she mean?” Georgia mumbled after Otto and Gayla excused themselves.
I had no answer for her, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to sit idly by and wait. Since there were no further directions from Gayla, I decided it would be best for me to focus on things I could do.
“Georgia, let’s go check on Soren. If he was wounded, you know I can help him heal.”
Georgia fed the water mixed with my blood to Soren, and he woke up not long after that. His first sentence was, “Georgia, go tell our jack*ss brother that he better be prepared to take a hard blow from me for what he put me through!”
Then he saw me, “Oh, hi, Rosalie… What’s wrong?”
I was too heartbroken to tell him that Ethan sacrificed himself for me. Georgia sighed and helped Soren sit up, “Well, I wish that day would come soon.”
After Georgia gave him a quick update, Soren murmured, “I never….”
His voice faded, and when I turned to look at him, I could see he was choked up. “You never what?” Georgia asked him, but she didn’t wait for his reply. Instead, she asked again, “You never thought that he could actually be selfless?”
Soren’s silence confirmed Georgia’s guess…
“I thought the same thing when I was younger,” Georgia admitted. “But as I grew older, I started to see he wasn’t a heartless beast like most people thought of him.”
Soren retorted, “Isn’t heartless? Georgia, he killed our father, and thanks to him, mother didn’t live that long either!”
Georgia sighed. “You still call him father? When I was young, I wished I had never been born! He treated you very differently because you were supposed to be the heir, the stepping stone for him to secure power. You have no idea how terrible that monster really was. Even though I was his flesh and blood, he was cruel to me as well.”
Georgia lifted a hand to her cheek, as if she was still feeling a slap from long ago. “He wasn’t always that pleasant to me,” Soren said. “But I didn’t think he’d done anything that made him deserve to die.”
“Ethan claimed his blood on behalf of his own father who was killed unjustly. That monster you called father deserved to die for more reasons than you will ever understand, Soren.” Georgie recounted several instances of cruelty brought upon her family members by their father, incidents that Soren didn’t seem to know anything about.
“I didn’t know,” Soren shook his head. “Kai spoke of our father as if he was a god in human form.”
“You’ve been so brainwashed by Kai all these years. You’re lucky that you’re on our side now. Otherwise, I would kick you in the nuts to remind you that Kai is a maniac,” Georgia smirked.
“Ouch, Georgia! You’re a lady! Come on!” Soren protested as if Georgia had executed her plan already.
Georgia let out an unbridled laugh. Soren just shook his head, seemingly speechless regarding his sister’s choice of language.
I listened, but my thoughts went to Ethan’s face.
Georgia pointed out, “You would deserve it if you are still so stupid about your resentment toward Ethan.”
Soren was quiet for a moment before he said, “Maybe I really misunderstood him…”
“I thought you guys had already sorted all this out before you went on the mission. No?” Georgia was quite confused.
He shook his head. “When he first came up with this hairbrained scheme to let himself be captured and beaten so that he could draw Behar and Madalynn’s forces out, I thought he was just a crazy, heartless jack*ss who had lost his damn mind.”
Georgia commented, “Well, from that perspective, he is still a crazy jack*ss. I’m with you on that.”
I whispered, “He did that for me…”
Soren nodded. “Now, I know. But back then, I thought, how could he bring himself to do that while Rosalie was fading fast? What kind of a selfish b*stard would want to put himself through that kind of danger just to prove that he’s better at war than anyone else? What if he didn’t make it? Then Rowan would become an orphan!” Soren then turned his gaze to me. He continued, “I thought he was just a ruthless and heartless jack*ss who likes to boss people around, and his entire goal was be a dumb*ss hero. But I was wrong.”
I felt tears stinging my eyes and wiped them away. Soren wasn’t the only one who misunderstood Ethan. So did I.
However, everything I heard ever since I woke up proved how wrong I was. The man that I loved, my child’s father, he had done so much for me, and for my people. If he ever awoke, I’d be the one apologizing to him this time and begging for his forgiveness.
“Rosalie, Rosalie?” Georgia gently pushed me on my arm.
“Ah- yes, sorry, I was thinking about something else.” I apologized to the other two in the room.
“You look exhausted.” Georgia’s hand was firm on my shoulder. “Why don’t you go take a nap? I’ll stay with Soren so you won’t need to worry.”
It was tempting, but I found myself shaking my head. “I need to stay awake to help.”
“You won’t be any help to anyone if you’re exhausted,” Soren pointed out.
Georgia took her brother’s side quickly this time. “He’s right. You lost quite a lot of blood earlier, you know. Resting will help you recover for sure.”
As she spoke, I was feeling a little dizzy, and I did feel laying down wasn’t a bad idea.
“In that case, all right. I’ll get some sleep and check back with you both later tonight.” I left Soren to be with Georgia, and I went back to my room.
There, I lay down next to Ethan and spread a blanket across the both of us. My hand was on his chest so that even when I fell asleep, I’d be able to feel him breathing.
Exhaustion washed over me. I was so tired, even though I’d been in bed for a few days. The emotional events of the day had completely drained me, not to mention the healing powers I’d used to keep Ethan from dying. I closed my eyes, and within a few minutes, I found myself drifting away on a sea of darkness.
Before too long, I was dreaming. I knew it was a dream when I saw my mother’s smiling face. I hadn’t seen her anywhere but in dreams for so very long. Now, I finally knew the truth of her death, and I missed her more than ever. She’d sacrificed herself for her people, just as I had done.
“Rosalie, dear,” my mother said, her voice melodic.
“Mother!” I rushed over to give her a hug. “I miss you so much!”
“I miss you too, dear. You’ve grown up.” She caressed my hair, which was the same color as hers.
“Mother, growing up is hard….”
“Yes, it is, but you’ve done well, my dear. I am so proud of you.” She held up my face, and her gaze was soft on me as she wiped away my tears. “Don’t cry, my dear. Whatever difficulty you’re facing, you’ll figure it out. I have faith in you.”
I sobbed, “Mother, I’m not afraid of my fate, but Ethan…”
She smiled and took my hand. “Let’s go for a walk.”
“A walk?” I said, my voice sounding high-pitched and childlike. I looked down at myself and realized I was, in fact, a little girl again.
She nodded and moved forward.
My hand slipped into my mother’s, and we took off walking through the woods. “Do you remember?” she asked me.
“Remember what?” I gazed up at her, a questioning look in my eyes. Night had fallen, and behind her white hair, I saw a field of stars across an inky sky. The moon caught her locks and made a soft glow about her head, like a halo. “The flower, darling. Do you remember the flower I used to speak of? Back when you were truly this age?” I shook my head.
Her soft smile brightened her face and I returned the gesture. “It’s just up this mountainside,” she told me. “The flower blooms only once every century, its petals opening up to receive the moonlight for only a few seconds. But when it blooms, the power it holds is enough to break even the deepest nightmare.”
She smiled at me again as we walked up a steep incline to the top of a mountain.
Below us, I could see village lights dotting the landscape. We were in our homeland, Winter Forest pack, and in the distance, I could see the turrets of the palace.
“We’re almost there,” she said. “The path is treacherous. But nothing worth having is easy to get.”
We wound our way behind some trees. And then, I saw it, in the distance, glowing in the night.
The light given off by the beautiful flower was a soft blue. It was large, about the size of a lotus flower. I only saw one, and it was so beautiful that I was afraid to pick it.
My mother bent down and plucked the bloom from the plant with one hand while she pulled a knife from the other and slit her arm, similar to the way I’d cut myself with the scissors.
“It is the Moon Goddess’s gift to mortals. Your blood can keep it from withering, and in return, the next day, it will offer its precious nectar, which could wake one from his deepest sleep.”
I looked up at her, and my heart began to race with hope. I murmured, “Ethan. I could save Ethan!”
My mother finished feeding the flower her blood and then rested her palm on my cheek, bending down to look into my face. “I love you, Rosalie.” She leaned forward and pressed her warm lips to my forehead. “You will always be my little girl.”
My mother pulled back from me, and I saw the blue light reflected on the pale skin of her beautiful face.
I chased after her, and I could see myself growing up into my adult body. “Mother-!”
She continued to pull back and smiled, “You’ll join me again in the future, but not now, my dear.”
Then she was gone.
Inhaling loudly, I sat up in bed, consciousness rushing back to me again for the second time that day. My eyes went to Ethan. He hadn’t moved.
‘Cerina!’ I mindlinked her.
‘Your Majesty, I am with the elders at the library, I’ll be right over,’ she responded immediately.
‘The Moonlight Lily,’ I interrupted her, ‘when will it bloom again?’ My tone was rushed.
She paused for a moment and replied, ‘Please allow me to look it up. The last recorded sighting was almost three hundred years ago.’
The magical flower only blooms once a century. What if, what if it had already bloomed recently? I couldn’t even bring myself to think deeper. I started running toward the library.
Every second that Cerina spent researching seemed like an eternity. As I pushed through the library door, she looked up and said, “Here it is. I found it, Your Majesty. The eighth day of Wheat Month this year. That’s what it says.”
“Wheat Month?” I repeated.
“Yes, we are in the Wheat Month now, according to the astrological calendar.”
“What day is it today?” My voice trembled. I couldn’t even decide whether I wanted to know the answer or not.