Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder novel Chapter 394

Chapter 52: Lady Nita

“Who would that be?” I asked.

When Jake responded, his answer totally shocked me. “Lady Nita, King Sebastian’s third wife, Prince Theo’s mother.”

“What?” I sank down onto the edge of the bed beside Theo, my mind trying to process what Jake had just said. “But… that’s his… mother.”

The Beta nodded, folding his arms across his chest. “That’ s right. She has always hated her own son and treated him. coldly since he was a little boy.”

I felt a cold shiver shoot down my spine.

It was so hard for me to understand how that was possi- ble. My own mother and I were so very close. She would’ve done anything for me and I adored her the same way in re- turn. Some of my happiest memories were from when my mother and I spent time together.

The lullaby I had been singing for Prince Theo just a few minutes ago was one that she had taught me and sung to me when I was a little girl.

Who could hate their own child?

Turning my attention back to Jake, I asked, “Why would someone want to see their own son suffer?”

“Their relationship is… complicated.”

I shifted on the bed to look at Theo. Perhaps that was one of the reasons why he was now so distant and cold.

He was frowning, seemingly suffering from something. Whatever dream he was in, it was definitely not a good one. And he was calling for her, his mother, earlier. I felt a dull ache in my heart. Could he be a different person had he had his mother’s love?

I still found it hard to believe. “I just don’t understand-”

Before Jake and I could continue our conversation, I heard a slight knock on the door of my chamber. I rushed to open it and saw a slightly disheveled Brook standing there with something in her hands.

“Brook? Are you okay?” I was worried. It was late, and nor- mally by this hour, the entire palace had quieted down. Polite as Brook was, she wouldn’t come to look for me unless it was something urgent.

“Yes, I’m okay,” she said quietly. “Oh, Beta Jake.”

Jake had come through the door that connected my room with Theo’s. “Oh, hi, Brook.”

She looked at Jake and blushed slightly before she re- turned her attention to me. “I just woke up after having the strangest dreams. I can’t remember most of them, but I know they were unusual. I couldn’t fall asleep, so… I went to the kitchen and got these cookies I’d baked earlier. I was hoping someone would be awake to help me eat them so I don’t eat them all myself.” She smiled shyly.

As I was hesitating about whether I should get Brook in- volved in this situation, I heard Jake say, “Come in, Brook.”

The three of us returned to Theo’s room. She headed to a chair near the bed, setting the plate of cookies down on a lit-tle table.

She was observant enough to know something was going wrong. “Is Prince Theo okay?” she asked.

“He… um… he’s sick.” I wasn’t sure it was the best to tell Brook the entire story, so I found an acceptable excuse.

I took a cookie off of the platter and snapped it in half, nibbling on a piece of it, even though I wasn’t hungry.

“Oh, no,” Brook said, turning toward Jake. He sat down in a chair next to her. “Do you think he’ll be alright?” She reached over and put her hand on his arm, and I realized the pair of them had a deeper connection than I had realized. He didn’t pull away.

“I’m not sure,” Jake admitted, concern lacing his voice. He took a deep breath and looked from her to me and then back. again.

“Is there anything we can do to help?” Brook asked.

I exchanged a look with Jake, and he slightly nodded his head. “We are thinking about reaching out to his mother.”

“Lady Nita?”

I was surprised. “You know her, Brook?”

“No, I don’t know her, but I’ve heard about her.” Brook smiled. “Ciana, you haven’t been around the rest of the girls much and even when you’re, you don’t gossip. Words spread in this place very fast.”

“I suppose it’s no secret that Alpha and his mother have never gotten along,” Jake agreed with Brook.

“Yes, that’s what I heard as well,” Brook confirmed. “But why?”

“That part isn’t something people openly discuss here. The king forbids it. Also, it happened so long ago, only the older servants remember,” Jake explained. “King Sebastian conquered her pack, the Ortiz pack, and forced Lady Nita to marry him against her will. Ever since then, she’s hated every- thing about the royal family. Her father had been the Alpha of the Ortiz pack when she was younger, before King Sebastian practically wiped it from the face of the earth.”

“That’s terrible!” Brook exclaimed. “That poor woman!” She shook her head, and tears began to form in her eyes.

Jake leaned over and brushed them away, a sweet gesture that made my heart flutter a bit.

“But we need her help. Prince Theo needs her help,” I sighed, “We are trying to figure out how to approach her.”

“It was terrible for her,” Jake sighed, “and unfortunately, she took her anger out on her child. She’s always been cold and distant to Alpha. Some people say she actually despises him.”

I couldn’t imagine how it would have been for Theo grow- ing up in a castle with a mother who hated him. He probably felt so lonely.

Now, some of the comments he had made to me since I’d arrived about how he didn’t care about being alone began to make sense.

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I turned and looked at him now. He was sleeping, and his brow was wrinkled as his head turned from side to side. I wanted to sing him a lullaby again. That seemed to help last time, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it in front of two other people.

“She hates King Sebastian,” Brook said, thinking aloud as Jake finally tried her cookies. “I could understand that, but

Prince Theo is her son. How could she-”

“She was brought to this palace against her will, her peo- ple were killed by her husband that was forced on her.” Jake sighed. “She hates everything related to King Sebastian and this palace. Prince Theo has his blood and therefore, unfortu- nately, is a constant reminder of the king.”

Brook replied softly, “It’s really a shame.”

“It isn’t my position to comment on His and Her Royal Highnesses’ relationship, but I know Alpha loves his mother deep down. I just wish she could show a little tenderness to- wards him,” Jake took a cookie. “These are delicious, by the way.”

Brook blushed. “Thank you. It’s my mother’s recipe.” Her own words must’ve weighed on her heart. “I can’t imagine not having my mother in my life. We are close. I miss her so much now, being away from her.”

“There has to be some way to tap into Lady Nita’s innate motherly love, right?” I asked. I was still nibbling on my cookie. It did taste very good, but I was having a hard time choking it down.

Jake shook his head slowly in response to my statement. “She’s been disconnected from him for so long, it’s almost like she’s incapable of caring about him anymore.”

“But I have faith that Lady Nita is not a cold hearted per- son,” Brook said firmly. Jake gave her a soft smile. I thought I knew what he was thinking. Brook was sweet and always tried to find the good in everyone.

I had no doubt Lady Nita could be a good person since she had only become so cold and distant after the atrocities that happened to her people. However, when a person had been trapped in her sad past for so long, it would be hard to predict what years of hatred had done to her.

Theo seemed to be getting worse by the second. Now, tiny beads of sweat had sprung up on his forehead. Not only did we need to find a way to end this endless sleep that seemed to be afflicting him, we still hadn’t solved the problem of the berry. It seemed quite obvious to me that we had failed in our mission.

But Brook and Jake still had no idea about any of that. They couldn’t remember what had happened to us, and any- thing that did come back to them, they seemed to think was just a dream.

I decided to let them think that for now and concentrate on helping Theo.

“We should at least give it a try,” I suggested. “We have nothing to lose. Besides, she might not like interacting with Prince Theo, but I would think it is a different situation be- cause this is to save his life. Even if he is a stranger, wouldn’t she do something to help save a life?”

“She might be more willing to save a stranger than a dan- gerous prince who is known to be ruthless and bloodthirsty.”

“Maybe we can let her know that Prince Theo has been trying very hard to be kinder to everyone recently, and he de- serves a second chance?”

“You think he’s been kind?” Jake asked me. I could hear the surprise in his voice.

“Kinder.” I chuckled. Of course, he’d had his moments, but I did believe that most of the time, he was willing to be rea- sonable.

Now that I thought about it, he actually saved me a few times. He really wasn’t as intimidating as he seemed after I got to know him better. I was surprised that I actually consid- ered myself one of the people “who got to know” the fear- some Prince Theo.

But then flickers of images filled my mind for a moment- Theo on top of me, the feeling of his muscular back beneath my hands, how he’d made me feel when he was pressed so deeply inside of me….

Well, from that perspective, I not only knew him better, I actually knew him too well…

What was I thinking? I shook my head to push all those thoughts out of my head and tried to ignore the heat climbing up my face.

“We can try to speak to her,” Jake nodded, “hopefully, we can convince her. I’ll get it arranged.”

A sharp knock on the door had all of us turning in that di- rection.

Who in the world would be knocking on the prince’s doorat this time of night? An unsettled feeling washed over me as I wondered if the castle had ears.

Brook and I exchanged a wary look as Jake went to the door and pulled it open.