Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder

Chapter 113 : The Tunnel

Two guards came to either side of me. Before they could grasp my arms, I told them, “Don't touch me. I have legs, and I can walk on my own."

They glanced at the king, and he waved his hand, allowing the guards to respect my request. As a result, one of them nodded to me, showing me the way while the other followed behind, keeping a close watch.

I kept my head down but I constantly shifted my eyes from side to side, looking at my surroundings, memorizing my way through the palace to the dungeon.

I caught sight of several paintings on the wall that stuck out, embedding them in my mind.

When we got to an entrance leading to a tunnel going underground, the pitch black pathway had me stop for a moment. One of the guards pushed me onto the stairs.

"Hey!"

“Just keep going. You'll be where you belong soon enough,” he growled.

The staircase was long and winding. When we got to the bottom, the air was damp and musty. Thankfully, I found the walls were lined with luminous stones, giving off a dim light. Once my eyes got used to the darkness, I could see again through the faint lighting

"Straight ahead,” the guard barked at me.

I noticed there were hallways on either side, too.

The guards made me walk down the central hallway. That was easy enough to remember.

Despite my better judgment, I kept thinking about Eros. Had he told me the truth about Helen being in the dungeon? Was it all another part of his game?

He'd been deceiving us right from the start. Always lying about who he was and what he was after. I understood that he wanted his freedom. Hell, I'd been there too. I nearly killed myself with poison to win my own. But the way he went about it... I had to question myself, if it was me, would I make the same choices as him?

Honestly, I didn't know.

For someone like me and him, a slight chance for freedom meant everything.

Approaching some strangers, buying their trust, stealing from them, and giving a powerful and dangerous man even more powerful artifacts without any concern for what the king would do with them...all of that might sound worth it for me during my most desperate days.

Putting myself in Eros’ shoes, perhaps I would make the same decisions as him—if this was just between Eros and me.

However, he'd hurt Ashley. He'd taken advantage of her, his own mate, over and over again. That I couldn't understand.

Ashley's rejection hurt him greatly, I could tell. Not just physically, but also emotionally. He had to really care about her in order to look devastated by the rejection. Yet, between matebond and freedom, he chose the latter, destroying not only himself but the one and only person he was fated to.

It seemed like he was only out for himself.

So then, why would he be trying to help me find Helen just now? After all his treacherous doings, why would he care about anyone else all of a sudden?

Was this because he wanted to make it up to me, to us? If he was as selfish a person as he seemed, why could he care?

Regardless of the potential small flickers of goodness in him, I couldn't bring myself to forgive him. Everyone had to live with the consequences of their actions. What was more, if he needed to make it up to anyone, it should be Ashley, not me.

In this case, being rejected and losing his matebond was the price he paid. It was a loss he might never recover from. Part of me wanted to ask him if it was worth it. He might actually think it was. Or, he might not know the answer yet.

Shaking my head, I pushed those thoughts about Eros aside and focused on my own situation.

I'd made decisions that I had to live with. Like coming to the palace. It was for what I believed to be the right reasons, but that didn't change the fact I'd knowingly put myself and my baby in harm's way.

I would never know whether it was worth it until everything was over. I could only hope I wouldn't regret my decision.

Now that I was in the dungeon, I was fairly certain that the king wasn't going to kill me. Between being the last of my family, for the most part, and the artifact, he needed me for something. I could just feel it in my bones.

But what would happen when he got what he wanted? I'd be expendable then.

Sighing, I looked at my feet as I walked. In the distance, water dripped. I saw several cells lining the walls beside me but I couldn't hear anything from inside. Were there even prisoners in them?

I put my hand on my stomach. Was it safe for the baby to be in a cold, damp place like this? Hopefully, I wouldn't be here long.

At the end of the day, regardless of right or wrong, sometimes we had to take risks and follow our hearts. That's what I'd done the moment when I read the king's letter.

Soren's face swam in my mind suddenly. Oh, he was going to be so mad!

Did I do the right thing, telling him about where I was going and why? At least, I was honest. I hoped that would be enough for him to forgive me, given time.

“Here you are, your new home," a guard said. He grabbed my arm and pushed me into the nearest cell.

I flew against the back wall, the bars clanging closed behind me. I shuddered as I heard the lock click in place.

The guards walked away, laughing as they went. I was left alone in the dimly lit prison

Now wasn't the time to think about Soren. Once we were back together, he could be as mad as he wanted and I could figure out how to make amends then.

As soon as I couldn't hear the guards anymore, I sat cross-legged on the floor and put my hands on my knees. Taking deep breaths in through the nose and letting them out through the mouth, I concentrated on finding Helen.

Whenever I saw her, it was in a dream or meditation.

In the past couple of months, the witch power had grown in my body. I could feel it. Sometimes, it was an urge to chant out spells, and sometimes it was an instinct telling me what to do. At this moment, I just had a feeling that Helen was nearby, and I might be able to find her as long as I try hard enough.

In through the nose, out through the mouth...

I didn't know how long it had been. One hour, maybe two. It felt like forever. The more anxious I was to drift away, the harder it was for me to enter the dream realm or meditation.

Suddenly, I felt a little flutter in my stomach. It was as if the baby could feel my anxiety and it was trying to comfort me. A smile climbed up my face.

I whispered, “It's okay, little one. Mama is doing all right, but you're right, I shouldn't be this unsettled. It doesn't help the situation.”

My hand rubbed my belly gently, assuring the small life inside that we would figure this out together. I was no longer cold and lonely. The little one in me gave me strength, as well as peace of mind.

For the first time in hours, I was able to relax and focused on my breathing and my breathing only. Slowly, the dampness of the air and the noises made by the guard seemed to fade away. My mind drifted.

When I opened my eyes again, I was expecting to be in the same forest I'd always seen Helen. But I found myself standing in front of a long, dark tunnel. It was the first time I'd seen this place in a dream but I knew it well—this was the tunnel right under the royal palace and I'd just walked through it to get to this cell!

Creasing my brow, I stared at the gaping hole of the tunnel. For a moment, I couldn't tell whether I was really in a vision or still in the dungeon.

I decided it had to be a vision because I wasn't in my locked cell anymore. Everything around me was perfectly quiet. There was no dripping water, laughing guards or even my own breathing

The lights were gone too. This tunnel was completely dark and empty.

A shiver ran through me and I couldn't help but think that something horrible waited for me at the end of the path. My self-preservation warned me that I should not go in there.

Yet, I'd already come this far. There was no way I could go back now.

Taking a deep breath, I headed into the pitch black. Shadows consumed me and I followed the one long, dark passageway. Now and then it shifted slightly to the left and right but mostly it was straight.

But it was too straight, because sometimes, I even walked through a few walls.

I couldn't see anything. My feet stumbled along the coarse, uneven ground. It felt like the walls were breathing around me, like I was walking into the mouth of some large beast.

Even though I couldn't see, there was something in my chest guiding me. It pulled me along. However, the deeper I got, the more my knees trembled. All the hair on my arms and the back of my neck stood on end.

Finally, a small glow came from the end of the tunnel. I hurried toward it, holding my breath. There was a thin red light on the ground. After getting close, I realized that it was coming from the crack under a door.

What was a random door doing in a dark dungeon? It seemed to be locked. My legs carried me over to it. However, when I reached for it, my heart skipped a beat because the lock clicked open without me even touching it.

The gentle sound of metal seemed extremely loud in the deadly quiet dungeon, and I worried someone might hear or worse, I might have woken a great beast dozing on the other side. Trembling, my hand reached the door knob again.

My vision led me here for a reason...

Logically, there was no reason I shouldn't go into the room in front of me, but my instinct screamed that I'd better stay away.

I hesitated and almost took a step back, but I held steady in place and stopped myself from escaping. Helen was close, I could feel it. She might be right there behind the door, I couldn't give up now.

I closed my eyes for a brief moment, took a deep cleansing breath, and then pushed the door open.