Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder

Chapter 110 : Show Me the Portal

*Lena*

I woke to faint sunlight filtering in between the thick curtains blanketing the frost-covered windows in my

room at the castle of Winter Forest. Another day closer to the war, another day further from Xander.

Maeve had gone out into the woods with the book last night, and we had waited up for her to return.

She came inside, her parka hanging loose over her shoulders and her glorious copper blonde hair

tousled and fanning out beneath her hat. Her face was blank and flushed, and she had a distant look in

her eyes.

She handed my mom the book, murmuring, “All of us are meant to gather–you and I, Lena, Mom,

Clare… Mara too."

“We'll get Mara here as soon as possible–" Mom had begun, but Maeve turned on her heel and walked

away, gliding up the staircase like a ghost.

A feeling had settled in my gut that twisted and lurched for the rest of the night, making it nearly

impossible to sleep. Whatever Maeve had seen, or heard, had wrecked her beyond words.

Her face at the breakfast table was like frosted glass when I finally joined the rest of the family for our

morning meal. She didn't touch a scrap of food, and my mom silently took away her tepid and stale cup

of coffee and replaced it with a new one, which Maeve didn't so much as sip.

Grandma was staring at her, her eyes narrowed on Maeve's face. She was searching for something

within Maeve's eyes that I myself couldn't see. I shifted in my seat and pressed a hand over my

growing belly, pressing gently until I felt the baby kick against my touch. I heaved a breath, and

reached for my tea, catching my mom's eye.

“The midwife is coming tomorrow," Mom said with a smile. “She has a birth to attend to today."

“She's been rather busy the past week," Grandma added with a sigh, her mouth curving into a proud

smile. “If I'd been told that Winter Forest would be as it is now, I wouldn't have believed it. The pack has

come so far in forty years."

“Have any of you been to Egoren?" I asked.

Grandma shrugged one shoulder as she dropped a sugar cube into her coffee and stirred. “Your

grandfather has, several years ago now, after Soren came back with his daughter, Ciana."

“What is it like?"

“He said it's rather beautiful, lush and green–a temperate climate, much like eastern Findali. Forested.

But, I haven't been there myself." Grandma brought her coffee to her lips, giving me a smile. “He said–"

“The book showed me how I will die."

Maeve's voice broke through the conversation like a heated blade. I dropped my fork, and Mom spilled

her coffee across the white tablecloth as the three of us stared at Maeve. A single tear rolled down her

cheek. She reached up and wiped it away, sniffing as she shook her head and tucked her hands in her

lap. “I'm fine–"

“Maeve," Mom said with nothing but tenderness and concern in her voice.

“It won't be soon," Maeve said, a choked laugh escaping her throat. “Troy and I, we go–we go

together."

Grandma's eyes were clouded with tears as Maeve met her gaze. Maeve gave a sad shrug, tilting her

head to side as though trying to physically brush away the image in her mind.

I thought back on the conversation I'd had with Xander and Charlie on the beach. It felt like so long ago

now. We'd talked about the rumor that my grandma was immortal, which had seemed so incredibly far

fetched at the time. But looking at my grandma now, I wondered if it was a possibility. The pain that

lingered behind her eyes was palpable, like she was looking deep within her daughter's soul and

seeing just how fragile it was, and how fleeting Maeve's life would be compared to her own.

I wanted to ask. I wanted it all laid out on the table and open for honest discussion, but I knew now was

not the time.

“How?" Grandma asked, a sudden sternness to her voice that made me pause my musing and look

right at her.

My mom shifted her weight in the chair, her mouth opening to protest my grandma's inquiry. Knowing

your own death… that was deeply personal. I couldn't imagine what harboring that knowledge felt like.

“In our bed," sas all she said, reaching for her coffee and draining it in one swallow.

Mom ran her tongue along the inside of her lower lip, her eyes shifting from Grandma to Maeve.

Grandma held Maeve's gaze, and for a moment, I thought they might have been mind-linking.

Grandma sighed heavily, a flash of frustration sweeping behind her eyes as she stood and pushed in

her chair, motioning to me.

“Meet me in the temple, Lena. There's a lot you need to know and to learn."

I sunk into my chair and toyed with a piece of bacon as Grandma left the dining hall. Mom sucked on

her lower lip, watching Grandma as she left the room and started up the stairs, out of hearing range.

“I don't think… I don't think it was painful," Maeve said in a near whisper, sucking in her breath. “But

something felt off about it."

“We don't have to talk about it now, Maeve," Mom replied hastily, catching the edge of grief in Maeve's

tone.

“They said it was a gift," Maeve choked through a sob. “What a f*****g awful gift–"

Mom was out of her chair in an instant kneeling before Maeve with her arms wrapped around her

stomach. I felt tears welling in my own eyes. I had known they were close, but my mom could feel

every jagged edge of pain washing over Maeve at that moment.

I don't think I'd been as close to anyone, other than Xander, as Maeve and my mom were close to each

other. I felt like I was intruding and slowly set my fork down near my plate.

I rose from my chair, totally unnoticed by them as I left the room and hurried upstairs. Grandma was

talking to a maid in the hallway, and she turned to me as I approached.

“We can walk to the temple together," I said, coming to a stop on the second floor landing.

***

“All of the women Maeve mentioned have powers that go beyond the limitations of our kind," Grandma

explained as we walked through the old village of Winter Forest, which was on the outskirts of the city

that had spread out beyond it. Grandma's arm was looped in mine as we walked, but not because she

needed assistance. She was strong and lean, and looked several decades younger than she actually

was. I felt like she was assisting me instead.

The temple of the White Queens was a beautiful cultural landmark overlooking the inlet. In the summer

it was covered in thickets of white roses, but now it was glazed with ice from being so close to the

water, its walls of white and silver granite shimmering in the sunlight.

I'd been here several times over the course of my life. It was a gathering place for those who

worshipped the Moon Goddess in what was considered “the old ways," which the Church of The Moon

Goddess, which was the more prevalent religion outside of Winter Forest, considered pagan and

mystical.

Grandma sometimes held services for the worshippers, but she mostly left that to the temple

attendants and priestesses who lived and worked around the temple, which had grown greatly in size

over the past decade or so.

It had been destroyed once, shattered in chunks of granite when Tasia blasted through what Mom and

Grandma called the “spirit realm" and tore the place to shreds.

The temple was empty when we entered. Rows and rows of wooden pews led to the altar, where a

great statute of the Moon Goddess was erected. A pendant hung around her neck, three moonstones

in its center–the three stones Grandma had combined to save Maeve's life when she was giving birth

to my cousins.

Grandma waved her arms in a circle, smiling. “I come here when I want some peace," she said with a

grin, then sighed, a pang of sadness flushing the color from her cheeks.

“Are you immortal?" I asked without meaning to.

Grandma huffed a breath, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. “Well, no one has tried to kill me in a

long time, so I don't actually know. Our healing blood prevents us from falling ill like other people, so…

it's difficult for me to know for sure. That's the rumor."

“But it's true that Grandpa is refusing help–"

“You're grandpa is a grouchy old man, and has been one since the day I met him. He's stubborn."

“But you can't die… you can't die without each other?"

“I believe so, yes. As mates… fated mates, we are tethered, shared souls. But the moonlight lily may

have played into that idea. That spell is… the most powerful I've come across."

I ran my fingers over the top of one of the pews, tapping my fingernails against the wood.

I could tell that she wanted to talk about Maeve as much as I did, but neither of us were willing to say a

word about it.

“I want you to show me what you can do," Grandma said after a few moments of contemplative silence.

I swallowed as I nodded, breathing shallowly as I ran my finger across the seat of the pew and made a

patch of clover grow straight from the wood. I looked up, raising a hand toward the domed ceiling as a

spray of flowering vines snaked themselves across the mural covering the ceiling.

“What else?"

I balled my hand into a fist, then opened it, showing her the sphere of pure light that I sent up toward

the ceiling, letting it pop and shower over us like confetti.

“What else?"

“I could destroy this place," I said in a whisper, locking my gaze on hers.

She nodded in understanding. Maybe she could see the memories in my mind of how I used my

powers on Slate, burning the flesh from his face. Maybe she could see how I'd sent a blast of light and

fire through the Vampire King's castle.

“I can open portals to other realms," I said in conclusion.

She eyed me closely, then gave me a tight nod.

“I opened a portal from the realm of the vampires to our own, twice. I'm afraid one of the portals is still

open. I don't know how to close it. I don't know… I don't know how I did it the first time."

“Show me," she whispered.