Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder
Chapter 1114 - 25 : Whispers of Deceit

Chapter 1114: Chapter 25 : Whispers of Deceit

Chapter 25: Whispers of Deceit

*Rion*

I was grateful for the colder weather on the walk back through the forest. It distracted me from the feelings the princess generated in me. I couldn’t stop thinking about her, especially when she wore that dress I had Katheryn give to her.

Katheryn wasn’t too happy about it, but that’s what she got for doing what she did. She’d thrown the princess into a broom closet, bound and gagged her, and just expected me to be okay with it.

Her words haunted me. She said I was going soft for the princess. I hated to admit it, but maybe she was right. The dress was a clear indication of that... and the kiss. I couldn’t forget the kiss.

There was no ambiguity in my feelings for the princess anymore. My body and mind no longer kept secrets from each other. They were on the same page as far as the princess was concerned.

Well, for the most part, anyway–there was that loose end I didn’t want to think about. For a few seconds, I wished I had never seen the princess, that I had never come across her. She was trouble, that was for sure.

But it was a fun kind of trouble, I had to admit.

I had to be careful, though. It wasn’t just feelings on the line. There was far more to our relationship than just a few hurt feelings. There were lives at stake, and if I wasn’t careful, I knew that someone may end up in the wrong hands.

People could really get hurt. I didn’t really want to think about how bad it could get between us. It almost paralyzed me how much things could go wrong.

As we continued to walk deeper into the forest, I forced my attention out of my head and up into the trees, where I glimpsed the dark gray clouds above. They hovered, threatening rain again. I couldn’t risk getting the princess sick, not again.

If she got sick again, it would slow down our mission, but that wasn’t my only worry. For the first time, I felt concerned for her. I wanted to care for her. I wanted to shelter her from both illness and attack.

The desire to keep her safe came from a place deep within me, so far down that I could not place its origins. But it was there nonetheless, and it was so ingrained into my core that I couldn’t rebel against or ignore it.

I tried looking up at the clouds again, but their ambiguity left my thoughts open to pool out in the open.

I didn’t like that it had become so easy to fall into those feelings, but they were too powerful to ignore. The attraction was more intense than I’d ever felt before.

It had all become so complicated when I’d seen her in the bathroom with just the towel on. Something in her drove me wild. I wasn’t sure what it was about her, and I didn’t even want to know. All I knew was that it grew stronger every time I thought about it, and therein lay the danger of it all.

But then, the more I entertained the lust swirling in my nether regions, the more the guilt brewed in my chest. Having feelings for her didn’t feel right, not when I took more than one second to think about the situation that awaited us ahead.

The end of the line drew closer with each passing step toward the meeting point with Hestia’s followers. Even with the decoy, who was already resentful about being the decoy to begin with, there was always a chance things could blow up in our faces.

A snap of a twig brought me out of my thoughts, and my eyes couldn’t help but watch Daphne as she moved near me, her hair gently swaying in the breeze and her footsteps light and gentle.

I turned away with those feelings rising to the surface again and fought to hold them down.

It felt so wrong, even the thought of entertaining those feelings of attraction. I had put her in a dangerous position. How could I feel that way when everything that was happening to her was my fault?

I could feel her beside me, getting closer, her movements falling into step with my own. Her scent wafted toward me with every movement, entering my nostrils and penetrating to my core.

I shook my head. I couldn’t have feelings like that, not for someone who would be out of my life just as quickly as she’d entered it. Even if my plan worked and my sister was freed without giving up Daphne, I knew she would be gone the first moment that she was free to leave. I would have to give her up, one way or another.

And if her parents ever found out, they would send an army of Royal Guard warriors to run me into a fiery pit before they would ever accept me as one of their own.

What scared me most about those feelings was that I had never felt this way about anyone before. The intensity frightened me. It made me lose all sense of control over myself. It was uncharted waters, and I felt like I was drowning in them.

The feeling was overwhelming. I needed to focus. I tried to distract myself by concentrating my focus on the mission itself.

When I had set out on the mission, it had all felt so simple–hand the princess over, get Eva back, and the two of us would then return home and go on with our lives.

But in my single-mindedness, I’d forgotten how the real world operated.

The real world was full of kinks, wrong turns, dead ends, and wrenches thrown in the works. The path was never stable for me, and I was a fool to expect my luck to suddenly change when throughout my entire life it had been rotten from day one.

I picked up my pace, putting some needed distance between Daphne and me, but it wasn’t enough. She was still there, near me. I couldn’t shake her scent, and I couldn’t stop feeling her eyes burning into my back as I tried to get farther ahead of her.

I needed focus, no matter how much my frustrated heart tried to drag my thoughts back to her. The plan was simple, so I played it through my mind like a mantra. I would hand over Katheryn with as little fuss as possible until Eva was safe. We would fight to get her out. We would win. We’d have to win.

That was the plan, and that was as simple as I could make it.

I could never forget that as much as I was attracted to the princess, someone else needed me. Eva was the top priority. She needed me to swoop in and rescue her.

I knew with each passing step, I grew closer to Hestia’s followers, but as we went deeper into the woods, I knew other dangers hid in the shadows. The woods were certainly not a friendly place in general, but the dark forest was particularly nasty.

I had heard of rogue packs using the forest as a way to hide from travelers on the main road. The trail we walked on was thousands of years old, used by the people as they traveled across the continent to their current settlements. It was off the beaten path well enough that if the rogue packs decided to take advantage of a few weary travelers, there would be no help for them.

I was fully capable of defending myself, and so was my crew. We were prepared for an ambush if one might occur. But it was the princess that complicated things. She had no experience, and it would only take one rogue to sweep her off her feet and take off running.

On top of that, I was not sure I could trust our decoy, Katheryn. She had promised to do this for me, but for a hefty price, one that in all reality I couldn’t afford if things didn’t go as planned. Everything depended on the decoy exchange going right.

And that played heavily on the assumption that Hestia’s followers would believe the bluff. I wondered if the face of the princess was widely known enough to be recognizable to the followers.

If they found out that Katheryn was not the princess, that they had been duped, I feared the consequences of betraying them.

Instead of focusing, more and more worries piled up in my mind. I tried to force my attention outward and ahead, but I only fell into gloom once I saw the clouds overhead roil and cover the sun as they traveled across the sky.

***

*Daphne*

As boring as walking through the dark forest was, I couldn’t help but think about the kiss. I couldn’t believe Rion had done that. My skin tingled and I relished in the remaining afterglow.

I remembered the electric crackle between us after we exchanged the kiss. It had been such an intense moment. I wanted to relive it, so it played in my head over again as I walked.

But then, the more I allowed it to play in my mind, the more I was reminded of who he was. I remembered what he had done to me. A sense of confusion and alarm washed over me, and I felt a little ashamed of the feelings I wanted to indulge in so much.

He had kidnapped me and subjected me to violence. I the way he had pressed me up against the wall, his hot breath on my neck. I was his hostage. A warm bath, a new dress, and good food wouldn’t change that.

I tried to push the thought out of my head, but my mind replayed the scene again like a movie stuck on the rewind button. I groaned and tried to get it out of my head but failed miserably.

Rion had moved ahead of me. I watched his movements as he carefully led us down the old, well-worn path. I slowed and fell behind more, looking around the forest as I went to find something, anything that would take my mind off the kiss.

“Hey.”

I heard a woman’s voice and instantly recognized it as Katheryn’s. I turned to her. I had fallen back more than intended, and she was beside me now, a way back from the rest of the crew. A part of me knew that it was definitely on purpose.

I didn’t trust her, but I nodded a polite greeting. It was too late to catch up to Rion.

That didn’t satisfy her, apparently. She made a gesture for me to fall back even further from the group.

I glanced over at everyone else, but slowly branched away, My heart pounded as I drew further from them. I remembered what she had done last time and tried to push past it. She was taking my place in the exchange, after all.

“I’m sorry that we got off on the wrong foot,” I said, trying to extend an olive branch.

“You’re sorry for trying to escape.”

“No... not really,” I admitted.

She laughed. “I like you. I can see why he likes you. You are beautiful and strong.”

“You think he likes me?”

Katheryn nodded as she examined my face. “I guess you like him too. But, there is no room for feelings in this life. Love and trust are dangerous.”

“That’s... sad.”

“It’s a fact. I see the way you look at him, and I just want to warn you. Rion is a far cry from any Prince Charming. He’s still the guy who kidnapped you in the first place. His feelings may have changed, but they could just as easily change again.”

I got the feeling that she was speaking from experience.

I pondered her words in silence. I didn’t want to believe it, but I couldn’t help but admit to myself that she was right. Still, I didn’t want to believe the worst of him, despite all he had done to me.

I saw his memories.

That had to be for a reason. I had to believe that it was.