Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder
Chapter 1129 - 40 : Mixed-Up Memories

Chapter 1129: Chapter 40 : Mixed-Up Memories

*Rion*

The pounding in my head awakened me, and I blinked, trying to throw off the fuzzy feeling. I was groggy. Where was I? What happened? I felt so groggy and moving was a chore. The last thing I remembered was having dinner with Eva. Then everything went black. What happened?

I sat up with great effort and rubbed my aching head, then swung my legs over the side of the bed. Something smelled odd in the room, like burning leaves. I looked for the source of the smell but couldn’t find it.

My eyes adjusted to the dark in time to see Eva march into the room.

“Good morning. I’m so glad you’re awake,” she said briskly. "We have a lot to prepare for the upcoming Soul Swap Ritual."

I blinked, staring at her in confusion. “We do?”

“Of course. I’ve been planning this for such a long time, and now it’s finally happening!”

Soul Swap Ritual? What was she talking about? I couldn’t remember. I searched my mind, but my memories were as fuzzy as the rest of my brain.

Eva set an old battered book down in front of me. “Everything must be perfect so that our mother, the great Hestia, can live again and take down the Dark King and his bitch consort. And now that we have the key component thanks to you, everything can proceed.” Her eyes flash at me. “Nothing can stop us now.”

“Key component?” I needed more information.

“Of course, brother dear, why do you think I went to all this trouble? Nothing is too good for our mother. Princess Daphne will make an excellent sacrifice.”

Princess Daphne?

At the mention of Daphne’s name, I furrowed my brow. I should know that name. It seemed familiar. My heart beat faster upon hearing it. But my brain was foggy.

Eva talked on, taking my silence as agreement. “It’s fitting, don’t you think?”

I fumbled for something to say. “Very fitting.”

“You have a talent for understatement. It’s nothing less than justice, which our mother has been crying out for.” Eva paced with a restless energy I hadn’t seen before. “And I think you would agree that sacrificing the bitch daughter of King Xander and Queen Lena, who ripped our family apart years ago, is the ultimate justice!”

Now I remembered. I had been with Princess Daphne, whose parents destroyed our family. I was fuzzy about why I’d been with her, of all people.

Eva continued to talk. “I must say, she’s proven challenging. Really, it’s as if she hasn’t realized that this isn’t the palace! Our pretty little princess is arrogant, spoiled, headstrong, and clearly hasn’t learned any manners from this experience. I can hardly wait to see whether she still thinks she’s high and mighty when I spill her blood in the ritual. I especially want you to look her in the eye when she dies. Apparently, you charmed her into thinking you were on her side just to keep her in line. Well done.”

What? What did I do? What happened?

Eva continued with relish. “I can’t wait to see her face when she realizes she never had any hope of escape.”

I got up, and felt grubby. “I need a shower,” I said.

“Of course. Shower and then come have breakfast.” She hugged me and left.

I stepped into the shower and the water poured down on me, bringing back a memory. I was in the rain, soaking wet, helping Daphne, who was soaking wet and shivering and burning up with a fever. I gathered her in my arms and wanted to help her. I felt such a pull, far beyond the sympathy I’d feel for someone who was sick.

Another memory washed over me along with the water. Daphne in the shower, and I was waiting on the other side of the bathroom door, smelling the soap and imagining her beautiful naked body. My wolf still liked that memory, but I didn’t think I was supposed to like it... not then, and not now.

After I toweled off, I realized the shower didn’t wash away the confusion. In fact, it was quite the opposite. As I got dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved white T-shirt, I remembered throwing some clothes, grungy pants and an oversized shirt, to Daphne, who turned her princess nose up at them and demanded that I let her go.

My friends and I had a good laugh at that.

I headed to the dining room, where Eva was giving orders to some of her people, who all fell over themselves rushing to do her bidding. I sat down to a hearty breakfast and hadn’t even taken a sip of coffee before I remembered something.

“What is it?”

“I gave Daphne food,” I said. “She threw it on the ground. I told her not to waste food, and she said I shouldn’t take people hostage.”

Eva smiled in sympathy. “I can only imagine what you endured. Having to put up with that prissy, entitled, nose-in-the-air woman would be torture.”

I felt my face. Daphne had hit me. Her words came back to me, asking me why I healed so fast, as though healing quickly was a bad thing.

“Rion?”

Eva’s voice brought me back to the present.

“Yes, Eva?”

Eva sighed, looking at me with compassion and love, and her eyes glowing purple. “You are a million miles away, and you have a puzzled look on your face.”

I didn’t trust myself to speak, not when my head was full of questions and mysteries.

Damn that princess for clouding my thoughts.

Eva put an arm around me. It felt warm and comforting. “Oh, my poor Rion. You’ve been through such an ordeal. The trauma of what we’ve endured has muddled your mind. For that, the princess will suffer to her last breath, I promise you. And you’ll watch as she does. Then, our mother can live again. Think of it. Our mother will rise in all her glory and live in me, and just as before, everyone will cower and kneel before her, terror-struck.”

And our mother was going to live in Eva?

“I’m doing it for them, and for you,” she continued. “Our enemies will pay dearly. The king and queen will bow before us and beg for mercy.”

“Our mother is going to live inside you?”

Eva rolled her eyes. “Yes. That bitch really messed with your head big time, didn’t she? She will suffer extra for that. Just you watch. I will be the vessel for our mother because as you pointed out, she needs one.”

“No, sister! Why do you think I did all this? I did it to save you!”

What I had done, I could barely remember, but I knew I’d been through the wringer.

Eva sighed. “And I appreciate it, but we’ve talked about this. We need to do this ritual.”

I couldn’t believe my sister would do such a crazy thing. Didn’t she want to be here for me and for her children? Would Mother even want her to do this?

It didn’t matter. I didn’t want Eva to die. Surely, she didn’t want that. But looking at the wild glow in her eyes, I wasn’t so sure. “Eva, think of me. Think of your children.”

“You fool! Why do you think I’m doing this?” Eva gnashed her teeth. “Stop talking about things you don’t understand and just say you’ll do what I ask of you.”

I sat silently, trying to pull myself together, to be the strong, supportive brother Eva needed me to be, but I was fighting my own horror and resistance to this plan.

“Are you with me, Rion? I cannot do this without you.”

My mind whirled. All I could focus on was the touch of Eva’s soft hands in mine. Her voice was hypnotic. She truly believed in getting justice for our family. I had just gotten Eva back. I couldn’t let her go through with this ritual and I couldn’t abandon her.

I slowly nodded my agreement just to placate her for the moment. Seeing the dark glint in her eyes let me know that there was no arguing with her right now, even though so many doubts lingered around me and my fuzzy memory.

“Yes, sister, I’m with you.”

Eva threw her arms around me and hugged me hard enough to squeeze the life out of me. “Thank you. You’re such a good brother. I know these final steps of the plan will succeed as long as you and I stand together.”

I was comforted by her embrace, but my mind was spinning with what I needed to do, and how I could stop her. There had to be a way to talk her out of it, stall for time, or put a monkey wrench in this crazy plan.

“What do you need me to do?”

Eva hugged me one last time before letting me go. “Gosh, there’s such a lot. I need your help getting everything together.”

“Yes, sister.” I picked up the book near my plate and flipped to the section on the Soul Swap Ritual. It was a long, complicated ritual, and definitely bloody. I wouldn’t be taking part in it, but I needed to know everything about it so I could find a way to stop it from happening.

Eva smiled at me and quickly left to continue preparations.

My fragmented memories kept swirling and I couldn’t grab hold of them. The more I grasped at them, the further they slipped away. It was like trying to put together a puzzle when none of the pieces fit.

I had to see Daphne. I jumped up from the table and headed to the dungeon. Eva had told me not to, but I could no more resist the urge to see her than I could fly to the moon and back.

Daphne, thin and pale, peered at me through the bars, her face full of hope. “You came for me after all. Can you get me out of here?”

My head throbbed harder, and my wolf didn’t make it easier, trying to tell me to open the door to her cell.

“Get you out? Why would I? You hit me with a brick and my head and face hurt.”

Daphne’s head snapped back. “You kidnapped me, remember? All because of your sister.”

She’s crazy. She has no idea who Hestia really was.”

Her eyes were full of betrayal and hurt.

Daphne gripped the bars, looking beautiful in her desperation. “Rion, please. What happened? This isn’t you. I know you. We... you care about me.”

Another memory surfaced of me and Daphne together and of a lovely glow all over her body.

I shut out the memory and stalked away, fighting against the raw insistence of my wolf to stay and open that cell door.

My mind continued to torment me, no matter what I did.

As I helped prepare the altar for the ritual and arranged its cloth, I remembered taking the pillowcase off Daphne’s head and removing the tape from her mouth. She’d thanked me.

“Perfect.”

Eva’s voice snapped me out of the memory. I turned to see her watching me.

“And you’ll be on guard?” she asked.

“Of course.”

“Good. If she’s smart, she’ll accept her fate and won’t struggle.”

As I went to bed that night, images of Daphne sleeping both peacefully and fretfully played out in my mind. I shifted my thoughts. The Crimson Princess didn’t matter. It was my sister I needed to focus on.

It was Eva who needed to feel safe enough for a peaceful night’s sleep. Whatever mixed-up memories I had of Daphne, my place was by Eva’s side.

Of that, I was still certain.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.