Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder

Chapter 115: Other Forces at Work

Maeve

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat on one of the long, marble pews in the temple of the Moon Goddess in Mirage, staring over my shoulder at the small crowd of onlookers who had gathered to witness Tempest, the new High Priestess, be ordained as the leader of the Church.

I’d only ever been to the small services held at the temple in Winter Forest, and those were few and far between, as I could rarely be bothered to sit still long enough to pay attention without fidgeting like mad.

Today was no different.

Troy had returned from Winter Forest the day before, and we were officially counting down the days until we boarded the Persephone once again to head to Avondale, which would happen within the next week.

Neither of us had wanted to go to the ceremony to see Tempest, who we had never met, become the High Priestess, but Lynus had insisted that we both attend, since it was likely Troy would be working closely with the High Elder Council for some time to come.

Better Tempest be an ally, than a stranger.

I was unsure about my feelings toward the Church after the whole Grace incident. In fact, none of us were entirely sure what had happened to Grace after the battle with Tasia.

AUDIVUL

Hanna said she hadn’t been in the cavern, but the rest of us hadn’t seen her leave through the tunnel, either. She and Carl had just disappeared, it seemed!

I stifled a yawn as the elderly priestess preaching a sermon rattled on. She looked like she was over a hundred years old, from my perspective. Even Tempest, a fair woman with thin, blonde hair and glossy green eyes, looked bored, but she had been forced to stand behind the old woman while holding a large book in one hand, and a scroll in the other.

I met Tempest’s gaze for a moment, and to my surprise, she gave me a soft, knowing smile before inhaling deeply and turning back to the crowd, blinking several times to stop the rush of fatigue threatening to put us all to sleep from overpowering her.

Troy nudged me gently as I began to nod my head, unable to keep my eyes open.

“How much longer is this going to take?” | yawned, narrowing my eyes at him.

“Tempest is going to marry Rowan and Hanna, and then it’s over,” Troy replied in a hushed whisper as a few people turned to stare in our direction.

And he was right. After a few minutes more of the elder’s monotonous speech, Tempest stepped forward. A silly hat was placed on her head, and she twirled in a circle twice and unraveled the scroll, signing her name at the bottom.

“And they think White Queens are weird,” I murmured,

slouching in the pew. “What the hell was that?”

trying not

crowd who had gathered to watch the sermon began to leave the temple, but we stayed behind with my

happy, but based on what Rowan had told me about his time in Red Lakes, I wondered what exactly had shifted between Eugene and Hanna.

temple, greeting the rest of us as they sat down on the pews. Ernest and Gemma came in

seen Pete in years. He and Kacidra were thoroughly taken with each other, and he hadn’t had a second to spare for

were at the castle, and he hadn’t even known about what happened with Tasia until several days later. It didn’t seem to bother him in the slightest. All was right in

Aaron of

a side door, both of them looking slightly sheepish and uncomfortable. Hanna was wearing a silky, cream colored dress with a rabbit fur coat, her hair pulled away from her face in

beautiful.

looked as though he’d rather be doing anything else. To the rest of the family, this was their wedding, but I knew better. Troy had told me Rowan and Hanna had eloped when they reached Mirage, before the conference, and when Hanna showed up with a ring on her finger at the Gala, Dad put

of them had wanted a

about having a big wedding to make up for the fact I had no memory of my own, and he had agreed that we should do it up right. I wondered if my parents would be opposed to us having the

hell and back a few times in his life, but he was

to look at him as Rowan and Hanna stepped in front of Tempest, and I noticed the tension leave Dad’s shoulders a fraction of an inch as Tempest began to recite the ceremonial rites that would bind Rowan and Hanna together as husband, wifes,

it?” | whispered to Mom,

toward Dad. Dad was watching the ceremony with interest, but his arms were crossed over

pew, tapping my fingers on the

was very unromantic, but I didn’t expect anything

seemed pleased to have it over with. He held Hanna’s hand as the family stood and gathered around

Tempest standing next to me, tilting her head toward an empty corner of the

parents, who were not paying attention to either me or Tempest, and

was a beautiful, but dainty, woman who was likely a few years older than Gemma, but she had a deep, whisky voice.

given name is Monica.”

I nodded in greeting, lacking the business like social graces my mother exuded. I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to greet her, having grown up outside of the Church of the Moon

“I am pleased to finally meet you. I could tell you were just as bored as

In all honesty, I’ve been doing the duties of the High Priestess for a long while. Grace had her positive attributes, of course,

can say that again,” | snorted, shaking my head.

no need for the moonstones. Those belong to the White Queens and should be housed in your temple, not ours. But I wanted

“About what?”

in age. It’s likely, unless the Goddess has other plans for me, that I will be High Priestess

rift between our two churches, but also work to eliminate the

the Church should be following the practices of the White Queens

shoulders. “And I have a feeling I won’t be for a long time, so I don’t know what I can do for