Reclaimed By My Alpha (Natalia and Andrei) novel Chapter 403

His stare was just as blank as the others. There was nothing left in him, no ghost of the infant that had been there mere moments before. He was the Winter King’s perfect warrior, empty and blank, a mere machine to carry out orders he would never understand.

When Damon was finished, he turned to me, grinning. “Well?” he asked. “What do you think?”

I wanted to retch, but somehow, I managed to keep the bile down. “It’s… beautiful.” I forced the words out, forced them to sound believable.

Damon’s smile stretched further. “When would you like to do this to the twins?”

I forced myself not to stagger backwards. “I… Soon,” I managed, somehow. “It’s… It’s so beautiful. I want them to be perfect like that. But…” Damon’s eyes narrowed, and I quickly said, “They’re already six. Their minds wouldn’t be so easily formed. They’ll hold onto their memories, their personalities…”

“Which is precisely why Max will become a general,” Damon clarified. “And one day, Jane will produce more children for the rubies. These are very high positions in my court, you know.”

My throat tightened. His court. Right. His fucking court of viscera and broken bones and empty flesh.

I forced a smile. “That sounds wonderful, and it would be an honor. But you know me, Damon; I’m sentimental. I want a little more time with them as children. I’m still their mother, after all, and besides–Max is still a little sick from the Luna’s Curse. If you age him now, he’ll be weak.”

Damon or rather, the monster wearing his face–stared at me, and for a long moment, I feared he could tell I was bluffing. That I was stalling for time, hoping that Andrei would come before the same thing that had just happened to that poor infant would happen to my children.

But to my surprise, Damon nodded. “Very well. I’ll give you one day.”

One day didn’t feel like enough, but it was better than nothing. Andrei would come before then. He had to.

The form in the case moved then, drawing our attention. The man stood slowly, languidly. Damon beamed up at him and pressed his palm to the glass. The man stared at his hand, then did the same, leaving behind a bloody handprint.

I swallowed hard. Curious, I asked, “You said you have a ruby for everything.”

“Yes?” Damon replied, not tearing his gaze away from his creation.

“Let’s say the aging process isn’t entirely successful with one of your… children. Let’s say they grow wrong. Can you reverse it?”

“Reverse it?” Damon snorted and pulled his hand away from the glass. Several people in black robes with hoods. were approaching, holding what looked like cleaning supplies–mops and sponges and soap to clean up the blood so he could have the perfection he so badly wanted. As they approached, I noticed that several of them were hunched. Crippled. Limping. And they all had that same vacant look in their eyes.

“I would never undo my hard work,” Damon laughed, reaching for one of the people as they passed. He yanked the hood back, revealing an old, decrepit man–mostly bald with stringy hairs hanging around his gaunt face, neck twisted at an odd angle, no teeth.

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Chapter 403

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I felt the bile rise again as the man waddled away and joined the others. They opened a back panel of the case and stepped inside, beginning to scrub at the blood. The soldier within merely stared at them blankly, even when they lifted his limbs and roughly scrubbed his skin and all of his private parts.

Suddenly, Damon looped his arm around my shoulder and guided me away. “So,” he said, a gleeful gleam in his eyes now, “you’ve had a long journey, and you haven’t eaten or rested; if you’re going to go through with this, you’ll need your strength.”

I couldn’t answer. I kept glancing over my shoulder, but the case was out of sight. I could only hear the workers scrubbing now, the sounds of their mops squelching through blood echoing in the cavernous space.

Damon led me out of the chamber, where two guards in dark uniforms were waiting for me. They were cradling the twins in their arms. Thank the Goddess, they appeared unharmed.

“You will be shown to your suite now,” Damon said, releasing me. “Tonight, we’ll talk about our next steps over dinner.”

I wanted to run, screaming for help. But help would not come. All I could do was play the role he had chosen for me, and hope that Andrei would come before tomorrow. Before my children were turned into… that.

So I forced a smile and said, “It would be my pleasure.”

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