Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder
Chapter 843 - 59 : Promise You Won’t Stay

Chapter 843: Chapter 59 : Promise You Won’t Stay

*Eliza*

After Jared and Abe disappeared after dinner, I went back to my room and changed out of the dress. I stared down at it for a while, wondering why I’d barely questioned Abe’s intentions for the dress in particular. Was it just to piss Jared off? To make him feel territorial over me? If so, I didn’t think it had worked as he intended.

I got dressed into a pair of simple cotton pajamas and washed the makeup from my face. I don’t think Jared had ever seen me wearing makeup, not even once. I stared at myself in the mirror for a while, trying to gather my thoughts. My mind felt... tangled.

Why had I so blindly trusted Abe, and for what purpose? Why had it been so easy to do so?

I blinked, using a rag to wipe the mascara from my eyes.

When I came back into the bedroom, Scarlett was there, but so was Archer. I lingered in the doorway to the bathroom as they spoke in inaudible whispers.

Archer noticed me first, his eyes widening as if he was shocked to see me there.

“Hey,” I said softly to both of them.

Scarlett gave me a smile that nearly cracked my heart in two. It was dripping with relief and pure... joy, pure happiness. I hadn’t ever seen her look like that before. Archer noticed it too, his shoulders losing a bit of their tension as he let out his breath. He gave a knowing look, nodding as a silent understanding passed between us.

Things had gone well today with Scarlett and her son. The look in Archer’s eyes told me he was grateful, to me in particular.

But I could also tell by the look on his face as his expression shifted that he wanted me to get lost. I grabbed my journal and did just that.

I closed the bedroom behind me, leaving the mates alone.

I leaned against the wall for a moment, closing my eyes as I took a deep breath. I had no idea what was coming next for any of us.

My knotted thoughts were preventing me from forming a rational solution to the rest of my problems.

I pressed my journal against my chest as I wandered aimlessly through Abe’s darkened house. I found myself in the main foyer at some point. Rain pattered against the towering windows adjacent to the front door. Everything was cast in deep gray shadows.

I just wanted a place to sit down for a while, so I turned and walked down another long, narrow hallway... leading to where, I didn’t know.

But I heard the click of a doorknob being turned, and soft yellow poured into the hallway as a shadowed figure stepped into it, closing the door behind them.

I knew without a doubt it was Jared.

I wasn’t sure whether to run, hide, or stay where I was. My bare feet felt like they were glued to the ground as Jared took a few steps in my direction, then stopped as he took an audible breath.

“I have some things I need to say to you,” he said, and through the darkness, I could see one of his palms raised in a silent plea not to bolt. “Please.”

“Okay,” I whispered.

He walked toward me, his face cast in shadow. I could barely see him as he approached, both of us blanketed in near-total darkness. He walked right past me, and a pang of disappointment prickled over my body. How many times had he led me around with his hand gently pressed to the small of my back? I used to hate it... but now?

I followed him, staying a few paces behind him as we moved through the lower level of the house. He tried a door and it swung open, total darkness enveloping the room.

He pulled a string hanging from the ceiling and the room was bathed in light. I blinked a few times, adjusting my eyes.

It was a large closet full of outfits so fine it made the gaudy people from Aeris’s court look like beggars.

“Why does he have all of this?” I asked, reaching out to brush my fingers over a dress of the purest emerald green, the fabric soft and silken.

“He’s a thief,” he said, and reached up to turn out the light. “I don’t know this house very well. I can take you to your room–”

“Scarlett is in there... with Archer,” I whispered, pursing my lips with a shrug.

A distant memory of my freshman year at the University of Mirage drifted through my mind. My roommate in the dorms had been exercising her newfound freedom from her strict parents every day, sometimes multiple times a day, while I sat on the floor in the hallway trying to ignore the sock over the doorknob.

I clutched my journal to my chest and backed out of the closet.

“My room, then. I know where that is, at least.”

I followed Jared through the house, neither of us making a sound or speaking. The air was thick with both tension and that undying electricity I felt whenever he was nearby.

I wasn’t even sure if I was capable of talking to him right now, not with my head so off-kilter. I felt like I was drowning from the inside out.

Jared opened a door and stepped inside. I followed, walking into the center of a modestly sized and rustically decorated room. I heard the door close behind him, then he turned on a lamp in the corner of the room. My heart was squeezing painfully as I exhaled and turned to face him.

He flexed his hands, examining them for a split second before his eyes flicked up to meet mine.

Shadows played over his face, curling under the sharp edge of his jaw. He hadn’t shaved in a while. I liked it, even though it made him look even more terrifying than he normally did. His eyes reflected the lamplight, rich and amber as they settled on my face.

The last time we’d been alone together, he’d shattered my heart.

“I’m sorry about what Abel did to you,” he began, taking a cautious step toward me. I took a step back, and he caught the hint.

“Abe didn’t do anything to me–”

“Abel is... how do I describe–” He ran his fingers through his hair, biting down on his lower lip. The sight was enough to start melting away at my resolve. I set my journal down on a side table and started wringing my hands. “Eliza,” he said softly.

I looked up at him, tucking my hands behind my back.

“I’m sorry, for a lot of things. I really am.”

“Like what?” I said curtly. I just couldn’t help myself.

“I’m sorry you were so manipulated by Abel that you didn’t realize what was happening–”

“He didn’t manipulate me, Jared. I like him. He’s my friend–”

“You don’t know him or what he’s capable of,” he ground out. “He’s been slowly reeling you in like a fish since the day you got here, and when I saw you in that dress–”

“He wanted to get a rise out of you, that was why.”

“I know that, and it worked, but there’s more–”

“I don’t care!” I cried, my voice shattering over the words. “I don’t care about what’s going on with you and Abel. I don’t care that he used me to get to you. I don’t give a shit. I really don’t. I’ll be out of here in a few days–”

“I am proud of you,” he cut in, his words echoing through the room and silencing anything I had left to say.

I found it hard to swallow as I met his eyes, furious tears blurring my vision.

I’ve never given you enough credit for what you’re capable of... subduing my men, killing that rogue... getting through the forest alive. Eliza–”

“What do you want from me, Jared?” I choked on a breath, trying not to sob. I hated myself for being this way. I hated that I was sniveling like a child and breaking into pieces because the man standing in front of me had broken my heart.

“I don’t know–”

“Then why did you come here? You wanted to send me away. You just left–”

“Part of me wanted you to try something in my absence and you did–”

“So it was another fucking test–”

“I love you,” he said, so softly I almost missed it.

I held his gaze; I had no other choice. I wasn’t capable of even breathing right now.

“More than anything.”

A suffocating sob tightened my throat. I trembled, trying to stop myself from whimpering.

“I had to send you away to save the one thing I’d ever loved so no one else could have it, even me. Maybe it was a way of punishing myself for who I am, what I’ve done... what I’ll become. This life–it isn’t what I want for you. There is no stability here, Eliza. No amount of trained warriors and spies can protect us from the dangers scattered around this realm. I felt incredibly selfish for wanting to keep you, but I felt like my heart was ripped from my chest for letting you go–”

“Jared–”

“I would tear this world apart to keep you safe,” he said, looking at me intensely through his lashes. “And in a way I already have, but I don’t have long. You know that. Whatever happens between us is... it’s going to end soon.”

“But if we break the curse–”

“I don’t think it can be broken,” he admitted.

I swallowed hard, blinking away the tears blurring my vision.

“I have to try.”

“I know you do, but you don’t have to. We could go home. We could just... live, for a while, enjoy the time we have left together... if together is what you want.”

“I can’t let you give up,” I sniffed. “I can’t.” Even if it meant I’d find the missing piece of the Cryptex and unlock its secrets alone... even if it meant I’d go to the witches for help, alone.

And even if it meant I’d never see him again.

I couldn’t just let him die. I couldn’t let his dark powers consume him while I sat back and watched him slip through my fingers.

But if he was really my mate....

“It would be a waste of time I don’t have,” he said, breaking me from my musings.

I shook my head. “You told me we were mates,” I whispered, picking at the seams of my pajamas. “And I’m obviously connected to this curse in some way. The locket, the Cryptex–”

“I can’t risk your life–”

“I can’t risk yours!” I cried through tears. “Please–”

He took two quick steps and crushed me into his chest as I began to fall to pieces. He held me against him, his chin dipping to rest on the top of my head.

I realized this was the first time he’d just... held me, for the sake of being held. There was nothing sexual about it at all, but it was so intimate it nearly brought me to my knees.

This was so unfair. This whole situation just... sucked. I didn’t know how else to describe it other than I felt like my very soul was being ripped to shreds.

I kept reminding myself I was too young to know if he was my mate for sure, if this was truly fated.

But whatever this was between us was raw, and real, and powerful enough to turn my entire world upside down.

He felt it, too.

“If I stay, I’m staying... for good,” I whispered against his shirt. “You have to promise me you won’t try to force me to leave again. If I go home to the Realm of Light, you’ll be coming with me.”

He didn’t speak, but his hold on me strengthened, one of his hands gently gripping the back of my neck.

“And we’re going to at least try to break the curse. We have to at least try to go find Myrel–”

“Fine,” he breathed, sounding anything but happy about my terms.

“And we’re going to do this my way.”

“What exactly does your way entail?”

“You’re going to listen to me and follow my directions. I am leading this expedition.”

He pulled away enough to look down at my face, a wry smile touching his lips.

“I’m not used to taking orders,” he said, running the back of his knuckles along my jaw.

“Well, get used to it.”

“It’s a deal,” he said, but then he exhaled, his fingers now trailing down my spine. “But... if this doesn’t work, if there comes a point where we have to give up–”

“I won’t give up–”

“Promise me you won’t stay in Egoren if I die, Eliza. Please.”

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