Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder

Chapter 78 : As Soon As Possible

*Eliza*

The elder women led me away from the village into the woods a little way. I glanced back, but Jared was already out of my eyesight.

They brought me to a sacred temple. There were statues of the Moon Goddess in the doorway.

Mesmerized by the temple and the carvings, I totally forgot about Jared being far away.

“What is this place?" I gasped, placing my hand on one of the carvings.

“A holy, sacred place of the Moon Goddess," one of the elders said.

I sighed and shook my head. Well, that was obvious. I was kind of hoping for a little more than that.

Inside the temple, at the center, was a large opening in the floor. Water bubbled up from a natural spring underneath.

“You can bathe here. We have fresh clothes when you're ready."

I nodded but walked around the pool to the shrine at the head of the temple. There was a statue in the shrine that looked like it was meant to be the Moon Goddess. She had features that seemed familiar but that weren't usually associated with the Moon Goddess.

Where had I seen this woman before? It felt like a distant memory or a dream, something I should remember but couldn't quite grasp…

There was a stone placard in front of the statue. It read, “Luna of Blackfire."

“Miss Eliza," an elder called to me.

“I'm coming."

I stripped down and got into the pool. The women came in with me. They washed me and tamed my hair. Once I was dried off, they handed me a gorgeous dress, nicer than anything I'd seen or worn in a long time.

It was satin, dark emerald, and perfect for this kind of tropical night warmth.

“These tattoos," one of the elders said, running her fingers up my arm with the curse marks. Her eyes were distant and glazed over as she studied them.

“What about them?" I asked, creasing my brow.

The elder frowned and ran her thumb over my arm. “Is this a place in the Light Realm, a map?"

“A map?" I gasped.

The elder nodded. “It is familiar to me, like the lines of a map, something from the Light Realm."

All I could do was shrug.

she started brushing my hair, I turned my arm toward

my head as far as I could, without getting my hair pulled out, and saw

like a map of an area in

the key to

I wanted to get back to Jared and tell him about this new map. New hope swelled in

before. Maybe it was because I'd been looking at it upside down all this time. If I'd seen the marks in

to Jared," I said, too eager to wait

women weren't ready, though. I had to wait for them to change into

crackling away and the delicious, mouthwatering scent of roasting

My stomach growled.

like ages since I'd had a good meal. We'd just been eating quick snacks here and there while we worked on repairing

the lamb shish kabob. The meat was so tender and juicy, I couldn't stop eating. It hit my stomach so satisfyingly that

met up

shish kabob at him.

best

stray juice off

played slow, soft music at first and the village leader told

most were embellished or exaggerated, did have some roots in actual

were hunted and somehow one

was an interesting

I glanced at Jared and saw his eyes

village leader stopped talking, the musicians began playing

his daze. He smiled and tightened his arm around my shoulders. There was a new look of fierce determination in

“What's going on?"

with words. Jared pulled me against him and kissed me hard on

you?" I

this

but we were here to have a good

along with the music while the villagers danced around the

dance with me," I

the twirling figures as they moved around the fire in

and held my hands tightly. We spun around each other and got caught up in

stung as I smiled. I skipped and hopped, feeling like I was floating over the grass as I

I could just run

dance. I felt like I could just run and

Jared's. Now and then, I looked at him and saw that he was

until I thought my legs would

something to drink," I said, fanning myself

to a table with drinks on it. He grabbed a beer and handed