Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder

Chapter 97 Never Had it Easy

“Warren, Theo is your brother. You’ re mad at him right now, but you won’t feel that way forever,’ I tried

to reason with him.

‘ Maggie was my twin. I have more loyalty to her than to Theo!” Warren argued, shaking his head. “Are

you refusing to help because you still care about him? How could you, after what he did?”

‘ Maggie’ s loss is devastating, but we don’ t know the whole story. Theo ran off and… it could have

been an accident…”

I hadn’t wanted to bring up my thoughts before, because Warren was so sad. Now, I had to present

them. I wanted him to consider the possibility that Theo wasn’t evil. Not because I cared about Theo

but because I didn’t want Warren to destroy himself with revenge.

“An accident? I know my dear brother too well. The Dark Prince doesn’t do anything by accident! He

kills. That’s all he’s good for,” Warren scoffed.

“Warren I reached for his arm.

He jerked away, glaring at me. “You’re really not going to help?”

I don’t want to lose you. If you go after Theo and take revenge without even giving him a chance to

explain, I will.” I bowed my head, but my words were firm.

Less than a week ago, Warren had been so worried that a lie would end our friendship. Maybe, he still

cared enough about our friendship to consider losing me a negative consequence. I’d keep reasoning

with him until I could get through.

“No, if I go after Theo, I’ll destroy him,” Warren said. “Admit it, Ciana, admit that you care more about

him than what he did to Maggie.”

Warren threw his arms out to the side, his eyes wild and ravenous. I could see now that I wouldn’t be

able to talk him down. He wasn’ t in denial anymore, he had moved on to anger. It wasn’t just anger, it

was pure fury.

“This isn’t about what I do or don’t care about your brother. I only asked you to give him a chance, and

give yourself a chance to learn the truth!”

“Truth? What other truth do I need when I saw it with my own eyes?! Ciana, you’re defending him

because you’re in love with him, aren’t you?!” Warren asked. He grabbed my arms and clamped his

hands around me like a vice.

“Ow! Warren..”

I tried to struggle away from him but he wouldn’t let me go. My arms pinched and pain shot down my

sides.

“You’re hurting me,” I ground out through gritted teeth. “Say you’ll help me!” he demanded, shaking me

slightly.

“l… I can’t,” I gasped.

Warren growled and leaned in closer. My heart pounded in my chest and I wondered what he was

going to do to me.

What would he do to force me to help him?

Before I could come to any conclusions, Warren’s lips were on mine. He pressed hard and hungrily

against my mouth.

I squirmed and tried to push him off me but Warren held me so tightly I couldn’t get away. Finally, when

he pulled back, ne breathed raggedly against my face. His eyes were wild and Jnseeing.

Did he even know what he was doing?

“If you aren’t going to help me now, you can stay here unlil you change your mind!” he snarled.

“What? You can’t force me like this!”

Warren kept holding one of my arms and he half-dragged ne through his summer home to a room in

one of the farthest vings. He kicked the door open and threw me inside.

I stumbled across the floor, catching myself against the of the bed. Whipping around, I headed back for

the door Warren pulled it closed and I heard the lock click. With a Irowl, I pounded my fists against the

door.

“Warren, let me out!” I shouted.

“Just say you’ Il help me. Then you can come out!” he oared.

“Warren, listen to me… You have to calm down first. You Ion’t know what you’re doing! There must be a

reason why

‘heo—”

I heard him laugh on the other side.

‘Even now, you’re still defending him, Ciana! You said we’ re friends. Am I really your friend?!” “Of

course you are!” “Then why won’t you help me?” ‘I will help you to find the truth! Open the door.

Warren, you can’t do this to me!” “Ciana, I don’t want to, but you left me no choice!” I heard his

footsteps getting farther and farther away. Sighing, I stopped pounding. It was no use injuring myself

just to get his attention. I rubbed my arms where he had squeezed me so hard. Warren was acting

crazy. I was worried about what he would do, and not just to me. Walking to the bed, I sat on the edge

and looked around the room. It wasn’t a luxurious room and the mattress was a little stiff. At least, it

had an en-suite bathroom. It wasn’t a prison cell or dungeon, though. The bed was large, there was a

bookshelf, towels in the bathroom, and cozy lighting. Unfortunately, none of that made me feel any less

like a prisoner. Istood there for a few moments to let my head cool down when I heard a soft wind

rattling the glass in the window. Some fresh air would help. As I pushed the window open, a window

box of roses

Near greeted me. I picked one up, and said to it, “What should I do now?” It was big and colorful, then I

noticed right away that it didn’t have any thorns. Not only this one, but all the rest of them in the window

box. Somehow, I remembered in the Moonlit Crystal world, I was assigned to pick roses, and my hands

were hurt… somehow it ended up with Theo destroying the entire garden, I drew my thoughts back and

re-studied the one in my hand. I’d never heard of roses without thorns before. It was nice to play with

pretty roses that couldn’t cut me and make me bleed. “Miss Ciana, may I come in?”

I jumped to my feet and ran to the door, ready to try and escape Warren. The doorknob turned, and in

came an older woman with graying-silvery hair and wrinkles at the corners of her eyes.

She had a motherly smile, warm cheeks, and gnarled hands.

Immediately, I stepped back. I wasn’t about to knock an old woman out of the way, even if I was being

kept on house arrest.

“I’m Aurora,” she introduced herself. “I was Warren and Maggie’s nanny when they were younger.”

“H-hi,” I said, waving awkwardly.

“Are you comfortable? Is there anything I can get for

you?” she asked, shutting and locking the door behind her. So, she was a nice, caring old lady, but she

still had orders from Warren not to let me out. I walked back toward the bed and slumped down on the

edge of it. “I’m okay.” “You seem down, dear, what can I do for you?” Aurora asked, coming over to me.

She sat on the bed next to me and covered my hand with one of her boney, knobby ones. m not sure

how long I’m supposed to be here,” I said, shrugging. I didn’t want to say mean things about Warren,

especially to the woman that had helped raise him. BeSides, Warren was still grieving his sister’s

death. I didn’ t want to vilify him. “Are you in a rush to leave? Warren would take that hard,” Aurora

said, her smile fading slightly. “Would he?” I asked, more to myself. After everything he said, I wasn’t so

sure. “He would. He likes you a lot. I can tell. This afternoon, he asked the staff to fix up this place. He

even told us to strip the thorns from the roses so you wouldn’ t get hurt,” she explained. “That’ s… that

was kind of him,” I admitted, glancing toward the roses again. “I always looked after Maggie and

Warren. It’ s such a shame. Those poor kids. They… they never had it easy,” she said, shaking her

head.

I got the feeling that Aurora didn’t have many people to talk to. She was taking care of Warren’s house

and he was mostly living at the palace. She probably got lonely. “What do you mean by that? They are

royalty,” I said, arching an eyebrow. ‘King Sebastian was never a sympathetic or genuine man. Lady

Odelia, Maggie and Warren’ s mother, was the king’ s lover. He kept her and promised to make her his

Luna. She loved him deeply. But before they wed, King Sebastian brought another woman to the

castle.’

Wait, this story wasn’t going the direction I thought it would go, was it?

‘Even though Lady Odelia had been taking on the responsibilities as King Sebastian’s Luna, he

eventually chose to marry the other woman, and their son, Justin, became the crown prince. Poor Lady

Odelia was cast aside,” she sighed.

“That’s…”

I was at a loss for words. Not only did I know about the story, I’d lived it in the Moonlit Crystal world.

My eyes widened. Even in my wildest dream, I had not expected what we went through to be the past

of Maggie and Warren’s mother! She was the last one to use the crystal, and her wish was to have

King Sebastian marry her.

So the person that Sophia had played must have been the late Queen Regina.

Overwhelmed by the information, I took a breath and tried my best to connect the dots.

Justin, the oldest son of King Sebastian, was the crown prince before he was sentenced to death due

to treason, and I’d met his young son, Alexander.

I shook my head. Sebastian was truly cruel, even to his family members.

“Despite King Sebastian marrying Queen Regina, the queen was still jealous of my lady and her long

relationship with the king. Also, because the king did not send Lady Odelia away, but instead, made her

into a loyal lady, the queen thought he still had feelings for her. As a result, Queen Regina lashed out

her jealousy and resentment on Lady Odelia.”

My hands covered my mouth. Lady Odelia suffered too much.

“Over the years, Odelia grew depressed and closed off. Combined with her grief over losing the love of

her life, she couldn’t take the mental torture and she… she got very sick and never recovered,” Aurora

continued, pulling me from my thoughts.

I then realized something very important.

She never got her wish. Instead, she tried to get back at the king by having an affair with her guard. But

if she’d slept with someone else, her two children… Warren and Maggie… who was their real father?

I shook my head vigorously and threw that thought away as fast as possible. I wasn’t going to go there.

“With an absent, cruel father, and a sick, distant mother, it is lucky that Maggie and Warren turned out

as well as they did. They were both so kind and gentle,” Aurora went on.

“They did luck out,” I agreed a little absently.

“Unfortunately, King Sebastian always ignored the two of them. No matter how wonderful they were,

the king didn’t care. Warren was sick once, and he didn’t come to visit. Maggie and I looked after him.

We were the only ones that ever did.”

“Luckily, you were here for them.”

“I’m here for them, but it’s not the same.” Aurora sighed. “The only positive thing was, they had each

other until.

“Until now. He’s lost the only family he could count on,” I filled in the blanks.

Aurora nodded somberly.

“Will you help take care of him now? Warren is all alone, and I am too old. He cares about you so

much. Can you be there for him?”

She looked at me with wide, pleqding eyes.

“I’ll be his friend if he lets me,” I assured her with all my heart.

“No, dear. He needs more than that. He needs someone to love him and care for him. I think you’d fall

in love with him the mo e you get to know him.”

I jumped off the bed.

“Can you give him a chance and date him?” she clarified.

I stared at her for a moment, and slowly shook my head.

“I’m sorry, but that I cannot do!”