The Alpha's Unwanted Bride novel Chapter 686

Chapter 686: An awakening

I jolted awake so suddenly that my heart slammed violently against my ribs.

My hands flew to my chest instinctively, fingers pressing hard as if to make sure it was still there still beating.

My breath came fast and shallow, and for a moment I just sat there, staring into the dimness, trying to remember where I was.

I swallowed hard.

Then slowly, I lifted a trembling hand and wiped my face.

I was drenched in sweat.

My hair clung damply to my temples, my nightdress sticking uncomfortably to my skin. My entire body felt overheated and cold at the same time, as though I had been running for miles and yet frozen in place.

Seeing my mother.

Hearing her voice.

Standing before my father in a world that wasn’t my own.

Portaling without even meaning to.

Something I had never even known existed.

It all crashed into me at once.

I closed my eyes briefly and exhaled through my nose.

My dreams weren’t dreams anymore.

They were visions.

There was no denying it now.

If I had dreamt of my father, seen him before ever meeting him if I had recognized him instantly in an entirely different world, then that was confirmation enough. My mind hadn’t invented him. My soul had known him.

And if that was true...

Then I was going to see my mother again.

The realization both baffled and fascinated me, twisting my insides with awe and fear all at once.

Slowly, I turned my head toward the window.

Night had fully fallen.

Soft glowing lights dotted the city beyond the glass, lanterns and crystal lamps illuminating winding streets and curved rooftops. The distant lands looked even more beautiful at night peaceful, alive, impossibly serene.

I must have slept far longer than I thought.

The pack below shimmered like something out of a storybook, and for a moment I simply stared, my chest tightening.

This place felt real in a way my old world never had.

And then the truth hit me again.

My mother.

Scarlett.

The missing princess.

The daughter King Roland and Queen Rose had been searching for their entire lives.

I clenched my fists tightly in the sheets.

How had she lived?

What had they let her endure?

They had lost her and instead of searching with love, they had allowed time to swallow her existence.

Especially the King.

The Queen whom I had grown to love and believed to love me.

Only to find out she was the grand daughter she had been so obsessed to find.

And then... they had done the same to me. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

My jaw tightened as anger flared hot and sharp.

I thought of the cell.

The cold stone.

The way I had been accused without hesitation, thrown aside as expendable while Auburn, the imposter, had stood where she never belonged.

I thought of Queen Rose, who had looked at me with false concern, only to sentence me to death in a blink. The disappointment in my chest twisted into something bitter and painful.

The King.

My supposed grandfather.

The man I had caught betraying his own wife with her sister.

The man who had never once hidden his hatred for me.

Fate had been cruel enough to make them my grandparents.

The irony burned.

I chewed on my bottom lip, rage simmering dangerously close to the surface.

I wanted nothing to do with them.

Nothing.

They had abandoned my mother.

They had abandoned me.

Their throne meant nothing to me.

Their crown meant nothing.

Their blood meant nothing.

Not after the way they had treated me.

Not after everything.

They would harm my child.

I knew it.

And I would never allow that.

Maybe this place, this world, was the peace I needed.

A fresh start.

Just me and my baby.

Away from all of them.

Including Xaden.

The thought of him came unbidden, soft and painful.

The last night.

The warmth.

The way his hands had held me like I was something precious.

The night this child had been conceived.

Heat crept into my cheeks and I turned my face away, shaking my head.

No.

I couldn’t think about him.

I wouldn’t.

He was my past.

No matter how much I loved him, loving him had nearly destroyed me.

And my child?

Xaden would always have enemies.

Always.

There would always be someone watching, plotting, waiting.

Someone ready to hurt us.

Kidnap us.

Use us.

I couldn’t live like that.

This was better.

This was safer.

This was the choice a mother made.

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