Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder

Chapter 61 : Loosen Up, White Queen

*Xander*

Fire was burning behind Lena's eyes, and it wasn't the reflection of the sunset turning her pale gray irises a fiery red, no. Poor Charlie. He looked utterly confused at her sudden wrath. She looked exquisite in her blood red gown, but with her cheeks and eyes flaming, she looked more like a demon born from ash and embers than a regal princess.

“Lena, let's just take a step back–" I tried to say, but her gaze flicked to me, her mouth pulling at the corners to form a tight line.

“What the hell are you talking about, Charlie?" she snapped.

Charlie arched his brow, shifting his weight as he opened and closed his mouth like a fish. “Mom isn't going to be a White Queen–"

“But she is a White Queen!"

Lena looked incredibly young at the moment. She was ready to start stomping her foot, her fists clenched and trembling at her sides. I painfully realized, for the first time, what she was up against, and why she'd been fighting tooth and nail against her family for her entire life.

None of this was up to her. This was her blood, the very air that she breathed.

“Not like… not like you are–" Charlie said in a low warning tone, his eyes flicking to me, then back to her. He tilted his head in her direction, trying to physically get his point across.

“Because of her powers?" I asked, crossing my hands over my chest.

Lena sniffed indignantly, swallowing hard with her jaw set, and flexed. Charlie eyed me up and down, then gave me a single tight nod.

“So you know?"

“A bit," I answered. “What exactly does this mean for her? She's being crowned–"

“I have no idea how any of this works," Charlie bit out before Lena could cut in, holding his hand out to silence her. “I just know our grandpa isn't in the best of health and is refusing help from everyone. Our grandma wants to step back from her duties and spend what time she has left with him, you know."

“Is it really that serious?" Lena said, her voice breaking.

Charlie only shrugged, looking into the depths of his bottle of beer.

“I was under the impression he couldn't die, you know, from what our moms told us," she said.

“What?" I said, shaking my head as if I had sand stuck in my ear. “I'm sorry, I don't think I heard you correctly–"

“You did," Lena replied, her words sharpened like a blade. “Welcome to the fantasy that is our family, Xander."

Charlie smirked, not making eye contact with either of us.

“I really don't understand what you meant by that," I pressed, my mind reeling. “Can you, uh–"

“It doesn't matter, Xander. Why do you even care?" Lena snapped.

Charlie glared at her. “Chill out, Lena. Don't take this out on him!"

“Don't tell me to chill out!"

I watched as Charlie and Lena began to hurl insults, their faces growing redder and redder as fury rustled the sand between them. At first, I didn't see much of a resemblance between Lena and her family members. But seeing her and Charlie go toe to toe, well… the similarities weren't physical, that was for sure. But the Gray family temper was obviously prolific.

“I need–Lena, hey! HEY!" I barked, raising my voice above the sound of their argument.

They turned to me, each breathing heavily. I saw it then, the shape of their eyes. They were the same, but Charlie's were a deep, steel gray.

My heart squeezed as I turned my gaze to Lena, seeing her as what she truly was–a Goddess, born into a tight-knit, loving family, but she hadn't been able to escape the blatant fact that she was different. Her eyes were such a pale gray, catching every color around her. Her hair was white and straight, her facial features still striking, but they didn't hold weight to the unique beauty of her mother, and her aunt, and her grandmother.

Lena was different. She always had been, and she always would be.

And it was ripping her to pieces.

No wonder she'd spent the past three years pretending to be just… normal.

“What happens now?" I asked, looking between them. “And are you saying your grandfather is… immortal?"

Charlie and Lena looked at me, then at each other, and laughed. Some of the tension left my shoulders as they continued to laugh, their eyes wide with mirth.

“Goddess, I hope not," Charlie sputtered. I glared at him, tapping my fingers on my thigh while I waited for them to compose themselves.

“They share a soul, from what I understand," Lena said, wiping a few tears from her cheeks. “He went rogue, a long time ago now. It… it damages the soul, you know, strips it from your body. Grandma used a flower called the Moonlight Lily to bring him back, but in order to do that she had to use her blood, giving him her life force. They're connected now. If they die… well, it'll be together, no matter how long he lets himself suffer."

I blinked a few times. It wasn't totally unbelievable, not after the magic berries and crystals and all of that in my own realm.

“I didn't realize a White Queen could step down from her post. I thought it was something they were until their deaths."

“The last few White Queens died young, from what we know, up until my grandmother," Charlie said with a shrug. “Lena was born for this–"

“I wasn't born for this," she whispered, and I could hear the pain laced through her voice as she spoke. She was hugging herself as if she was cold. I wanted to reach out and take her into my arms, but I knew she'd flinch away from me.

“You're the f*cking Moon Goddess reincarnate, Lena," Charlie pressed, and hearing him speaking the words hit me like a freight train. I'd known, of course, that her differences meant something unearthly and divine. Her untested powers weren't just rare; they were totally unheard of.

And she'd known this, all her life.

“But if I'm not, and everyone's been wrong–"

“You are," Charlie and I said in unison.

Silence fell between the three of us, broken only by a drunken chuckle from Oliver, who was still asleep behind us.

The golden hour had passed, and a violet shadow crept over the beach, sending a blue-black haze over the group of us. In the soft purple light, Charlie was simply enveloped in darkness, his features blurred.

But this was Lena's best light. Her eyes didn't darken–they glowed, the flakes of blue around her irises giving depth to her opal-like gaze, like two moons nestled against a blanket of stars.

Her skin glittered, and the wine-red dress took on a purple hue, a cloak of night.

Night–that was when she was at her best. I could see who, and what, she was clearly now.

What the hell had I been thinking by leaving my mark on her?

“When does Grandma plan on stepping down from her throne?" Lena asked after a moment.

I watched her, her eyes fixed on Charlie, every line and curve of her face strained.

Charlie puffed his cheeks, then blew out his breath, shaking his head slowly from side to side.

“Was no one going to tell me?" she continued, her voice catching in her throat.

“I didn't know you hadn't been told, okay?" Charlie replied. He looked uncomfortable, and he glanced up at the narrow set of stairs leading back up to the bluff where that palace sat atop it, the twinkling lights of the garden just visible through the thick belt of palms.

I ran my tongue along the inside of my bottom lip, then sighed and extended my hand to Lena.

“Let's go back up to the reception–"

“I'm not feeling well," she said without looking at either of us, her eyes fixed on the cloudless, twilight sky over the water.

“Then I'll take you to your room," I said as calmly as possible, flexing my hand and urging her to take it.

She stared out at the water for a moment longer before she met my eye, tears lining her lashes. She took my hand, and I lightly squeezed her fingers. Her face softened at my touch, and that bond between us quivered. Charlie cleared his throat, tipping his beer toward us in farewell.

“I'm gonna stay with him, for a while at least," he said, tilting his head toward Oliver, who was now grinning like an i***t in his drunken stupor.

I touched Lena's hand in the crook of my arm and we were off, walking side by side down the beach.

It would have been exceedingly romantic had it not been for the crushing weight of birthrights and unwanted responsibilities pressing down on our shoulders.

“It's going to be okay," I said to her.