Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder novel Chapter 387

Chapter 45: The King’s Bride Is…

After all of that running through the woods, trying to get away from the beasts that had been chasing us, both Warren and I were exhausted. Theo didn’t seem tired at all. He led the way for us back to the palace, where Sophia had been waiting for us there.

The moment we came into view, Sophia came running over to us, already crying and carrying on, blubbering all over Warren.

“There you are, my darling! My King! I was so unbelievably worried about you! I thought I had lost you forever!” She flung herself into his arms and began to cry even harder.

It wasn’t good for his hurt leg for him to be standing there, supporting her and himself. Since we’d stopped running, his injury had seemed to be healing somewhat, but now, it made me worried that he’d be hurt all over again.

Some of her guards had come out with her. I turned to one of them and said, in my most authoritative voice, “Fetch a healer for the king.”

The guard looked at me like he wasn’t sure whether or not he should do what I said.

“Now.” I told him, and he jumped into action.

Theo arched an eyebrow at me, clearly surprised to see me take control of the situation. He also had a sour expression the entire time we’d been walking back. I had no idea why.

Warren was still leaning on me so that I could help him walk. Nothing else was happening between us. Of that, I was certain. So when Warren addressed Sophia by saying, “We need to talk about this wedding,” my ears perked up immediately.

What was going on?

He sounded like he was about to give her bad news.

She didn’t hear it that way. “Oh, don’t worry! I have been working on things while you were gone, even though my roses were trampled!” She gestured toward the destroyed flower garden nearby, but Theo simply folded his arms across his chest, uncaring.

Keeping her at arm’s length, Warren began, “I’ve had plenty of time while I was gone to think about this situation, and I‘m afraid I’ve made a grave mistake.”

Suddenly, Sophia was starting to get it. Her face blanched and she stammered, “Wh–what?”

“I have only been reunited with you a short amount of time, and even when we were together a long time ago, it was a few months. But I’ve been with Ciana for years. Just now, in the cave and the forest, when I was injured, when we were being chased, she proved herself to me. She helped me to survive out there. I can’t just forget about that.”

Sophia’s eyes turned on me, and she glared in anger. “Are you saying you’d rather marry this… tramp than me?”

“Please, don’t use such foul language to describe the woman I love. I know it’s hard for you to understand, but you and I have been apart for many years, and people change. I realized I cannot hurt Ciana this way.”

Sophia said nothing, only stood there, staring at him, with her mouth hanging open.

“What about… me? What about our son?!”

“You both are welcome to stay in the royal palace if you want… and our son will still be the prince. However, as a king, I can only have one queen, and it has to be Ciana!”

“How could you do that to me?!” Sophia covered her mouth with both hands, started crying even harder and turned around and ran away, back toward the palace, screaming over her shoulder, “I hate you! I curse you! Both of you!”

Watching her go, no one said anything. Even the guards didn’t seem to know know what to do. I was as stunned as Sophia and could only stand there, speechless.

It was Theo’s voice that pulled me out from my shock. “Wow, I can hardly believe my ears. After all of these years, now you want to marry this woman? After the way you’ve just treated her? You are such a prick!”

“Theo!” I scolded him, wishing he would just stop. He was just a guard here, after all, and he shouldn’t be addressing the king in such a fashion.

But Warren didn’t seem angry. It was almost like he was his old self, from our world. “I know I have not treated you well of late, Ciana, and I apologize for that.” He turned to face me, taking my arms gently. “You have been acting in the capacity of the Luna and queen of this land for so long. Now, it’s time I made you my Luna Queen officially.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

Behind me, Theo grumbled, “It’s too little too late if you ask me.”

I wanted to step on Theo’s foot to make him shut up. Why did he say that? From what I’d just heard, we were getting exactly what we wanted, and we didn’t even have to kidnap Sophia and threaten to kill her.

“I haven’t been a good man to you lately,” Warren continued. “I’m honestly not a good person in general, but I‘ m glad it’s not too late. I didn’t go through with my decision to marry her because I know that this is right–you and me.”

I heard Theo groaning behind me, so I turned around and gave him a look that told him he needed to stop it. He glared at Warren but eventually walked a bit away from us. I was relieved that Theo stopped influencing Warren’s decision.

“Let’s return to the castle and get some rest,” Warren suggested. “The healer will be looking for me. Tomorrow, I will make sure that the finest wedding gown designers are at your disposal. This wedding will be perfect, and you shall have everything you deserve!”

I nearly jumped up and down with glee. I was so happy–not that I would have a wedding with Warren, but the fact that we were about to complete the quest!

Theo walked back to the castle, keeping his distance. I could feel his anger radiating off of him, though.

“Would you calm down already? What’s going on?” Once we got back to my courtyard, I lowered my voice to reason with him. “Wasn’t this exactly what we wanted?”

“Exactly what YOU wanted!” He scoffed and walked back to his own room.

I just didn’t understand why. What was wrong with him? If I hadn’t known better, I’d say that he was jealous!

The next morning, Brook and Theo both came with me to try on the gowns. I was escorted to a large room near the library, and when I entered, I found it wasn’t just one designer, but multiple designers were there with racks of dresses, and all of them were very excited for me to try on their gowns.

A short woman with dark hair pounced on me first. “Try this one, my Lady!”

“No, try mine first!” a tall, thin man with a large nose insisted.

“You simply must try this one!” a plump older woman said, holding up a gown with a long train.

I felt a bit overwhelmed, looking at all of them. Everywhere my eyes fell, all I could see was miles and miles of white satin, tulle, and shiny white pearl buttons.

After careful consideration, I chose a dress to try on. The designers gathered around, watching to see my reaction. It was beautiful. I really liked it. Wearing it, for the first time in my life, I actually felt like a princess.

Everyone oohed and ahhed, and I couldn’t help but smile at my own reflection.

“You look so beautiful,” Brook said, and I thought she had tears in her eyes.

I thanked her, but then, I saw Theo standing in the corner of the room.

“What do you think?” I asked him.

He shrugged. “I mean… with a skirt like that, you look like you could be dropped out of an airplane at ten thousand feet and sail gently to the ground.”

My mouth dropped open. I almost laughed, it was so absurd–and a little funny. Although this was just a quest, not my real wedding, I still didn’t want my gown to look like a parachute.

Turning on my heel, I headed back to the changing area, and Brook helped me put on a simple A–line gown. The skirt wasn’t nearly as full on that one.

I made my way back out to the mirror and climbed the steps again. Swirling slightly, I took it in. The gown wasn’t as full or complicated, but it was elegant, and I liked it.

“You look so regal!” Brook told me.

Again, I thanked her, but then, I could see that Theo was making a face. “What’s wrong with this one?”

“Nothing,” he said with a shrug. “I hope it doesn’t snow, though. In a dress like that, we’ll never find you.”

“So this one is too white?” I asked him.

His only response was another shrug.

I headed back behind the screen to try on another dress. The next one was strapless, and it made my breasts look rather large, pushing out the top of the gown.

As soon as I stepped in front of the mirror outside of the screen, I knew that Theo would have something to say.

“What?” I asked him.

“Nothing. I just think maybe you should try a dress on in the right size. That one clearly doesn’t fit. You’re spilling out all over the top of it.”

Frustrated, I turned to look at him. He came a bit closer to me, and I set my hands on my hips. Brook walked away, clearly understanding that I wanted to speak to him in private, and the designers were busy preparing the next dress for me to try on.

“Listen, you and I both know this is a fake wedding, so who cares what the dress looks like?” I asked him.

“Clearly, you do,” he replied. “I guess you’re happy to be marrying Warren, even if it’s not real. You’ve always liked him, right? And why wouldn’t you? Warren is a great guy. Sweet, charming, good looking. No, it’s clear you’re happy about this, and why wouldn’t you be?”

Again, if I hadn’t known better, I would have thought he was jealous. At that point, the best explanation I could come up with for his strange behavior was that he didn’t like Warren for some reason.

I had no intention of spilling my guts to him, but I didn’t like seeing him act this way, even if he was usually rude to everyone. Seeing him angry and frustrated made me feel anxious. I needed to fix it. Finally, I sighed, “There’s a lot to my relationship with Warren that you don’t understand.”

“I’m listening.” He folded his arms and leaned in toward me, like he was truly interested in what I had to say.

With a deep breath, I told him, “Spending time with Warren now reminds me of the time I spent with him many years ago, when we were both younger.” My thoughts went back to the time in the cave, not the scary nightmare version, but the pleasant interactions that had happened in real life.

“You spent time with Warren when you were younger?” He was obviously confused, and I couldn’t blame him.

I’d started peeling the onion, and now, all I could do was explain. “Do you remember that bracelet Warren gave to Sophia?”