Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder

Chapter 35: No Time to Write Wrongs

Maeve

I went back to my room. Troy’s room, after dinner to find it spotless. The mess I had made was righted, and I noticed as I opened the drawers in the bedside tables that he had placed everything back inside, including the wadded-up papers and random rocks. I smiled to myself as I shut the drawers, looking around before thinking better of going to bed right away, and decided to visit the infirmary instead.

Cleo wasn’t there, but I found Myla still sprawled out in the bed in the center of the room, her eyes shut and mouth slightly open as she lingered in a deep, ceaseless sleep. I touched her face, then her hair, murmuring a silent prayer over her as she slumbered.

“She’ll wake up from it,” said Keaton.

I nearly jumped out of my skin, turning to find him leaning against the doorway with his arms crossed over his chest. “You scared me,” ! said, blood hammering in my ears.

“Sorry, I didn’t think anyone would be down here. Cleo’s found a friend in Meran, I’m afraid. Both talkers, those two.”

“I didn’t realize you were on a first-name basis with Cleo-”

“Well, she’s my mate’s mother. I suppose that allows for some kind of intimacy.”

The blood drained from my face as I looked up at him, then back down at Myla. “What did you just say?”

“My mate,” he said matter-of-factly, taking a single step into the room and looking down at Myla.

“No, she-”

*Why don’t we step outside for a minute, Maeve? I think the two of us have some things to talk about.” He turned on his heel and walked out of the infirmary with me close behind him, my mind reeling at his revelation.

Myla’s mate? Him? A pirate?

I suddenly remembered the strange look on his face when Myla was brought aboard the ship, how he had gone to her immediately. struggling to maintain his composure as she laid limp in the stretcher.

Crazier things have happened, I thought dismally, thinking of how shocked I had been when I found out Gemma and Ernest were mates.

Oh, Gemma. I wished she was here. She would be thrilled for Myla. And she would definitely have scolded me for being anything but happy for her.

I buried my grief, following Keaton up the many staircases until we reached the main deck.

“You’re too hard on him, you know.” Keaton was leaning on the rail, looking out over the water. His shirt was billowing in the soft breeze as the waves beat against the sides of the boat, the sails overhead pulling us further into the open water.

“He must have explained what he did to me,” I said shortly, leaning on the rail in a similar fashion, my hair still knotted in a bun on the top of my head. I was thankful for it; I didn’t like the wind whipping my hair into a tangled frenzy.

“He did. You have to realize, though, that he was expecting to find you there in Drogomor.”

“Wasn’t that the whole point? Pretending to be my breeder to gain access to the castle?”

Keaton looked at me for a long moment, then looked away, sighing. “He said you wouldn’t understand.”

understanding you.” i tapped my fingernails on the railing. growing impatient. I had already tried to ask about his mate bond with Myla, but he had quickly changed the subject, the pain of her injury and state of

time, Maeve. If he had known what was going to happen, he wouldn’t have set foot on Valoria,

means nothing to

real peach. I can see why Troy likes you.”

doesn’t know me, not anymore. That Maeve

13:46

Chapter

Time to Write

rather ominous.” He pushed against the

And I didn’t know Troy at all, really. He

being anything other than himself, I assure you.” He chuckled then

אווה ווה או הוריזונה

What do you mean?”

percent Troy. I’ve met Aaron, the little prick. He’s worthless. Had he been the one with you in Valeria, well, you’d have been the one

when we met as children. Perhaps Keaton was right and I would’ve been trying to

have you

me anything of substance about his friend. He shrugged, pursing his lips. “Troy joined our band when he

Your band?”

by band I mean just a group of orphans who ran amok on Avondale. Beach Rats, we were called. They’re everywhere in the Isles. No pack to claim them, no homes to go back to. Troy didn’t say a word to any of us for an entire year after we picked him up. He just followed us around, sleeping down the

quietly, totally shocked and suddenly heartbroken for Troy. I remembered the portrait of the woman in his journal, the woman whose face was blurred like it had come from a distant, fragmented memory. Does he remember

ask him, but he’ll probably tell you what he told me. He doesn’t remember his mother, he thinks she may have died around the time he was born. His father, or at least the man he called dad, left him on Avondale when

my Goddess, that’s awful.” i felt sick to my stomach at how I had been treating Troy all of

his hand in dismissal. “He doesn’t like to talk about it. Don’t tell him

I won’t, I promise.”

beautiful kid, and I mean really beautiful, with those weird eyes of his and his thick hair. We used him as bait, with permission of course, to lore old ladies away from their purses at those fancy beach-front restaurants under the guise of not being able to find his mommy, and all that. We made

piracy began?” Something about this felt vaguely

get us off Avondale. More

I don’t follow —

what are you, twenty? Well, the islands of Papeno and Suntra were the new ports of trade during the Reconstruction, and we ran goods for merchants on our cruiser for years. One of those runs was how we found the Persephone. She was beached on an island south of Suntra, rotting in the sun for Goddess knows how long We worked like dogs until we had enough coin to have her towed to Suntra and

my head around the idea of three little boys growing up alone for so long, accomplishing so much on their

wanted nothing more than to stand at the helm with that damn compass in his hands Robbie is our strongman, although he

then7″ I asked, trying not to laugh as he gazed at

*The pretty face, obviously”

Troy and Robbie are too good. Every band of pirates needs a bad

that’s why you’re the captain,

“Someone’s gotta do it

Time to

a moment, looking out over the

young?” I asked, tucking