Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder novel Chapter 173

Chapter 173 The Sacred Altar
**Ethan’s POV
I wasn’t sure if this was just a ploy that she and Georgia had to get me to let her free, or if she genuinely wanted to visit her mother and then come with me. However, the pleading look in her eyes, especially when she mentioned going to get our baby, had me thinking seriously about it.
The question was whether I could keep her with me if I visited her homeland. Her people desperately wanted her to stay there, and I couldn’t blame them.
She was their queen, after all, and she was powerful. I’d seen her power with my own eyes and felt it when she healed the cut on my chest with her blood.
How could I just hand her over, though? What if it meant that we would never be together again? That I’d never see her, or my son, again?
Yet, when Rosalie asked me to please let her go, I found myself saying, “Fine. We can go to your mother’s grave. But we cannot stay, long, and we will not be going anywhere near the palace.”
I didn’t want her people to have the opportunity to lock me up, or worse, to take her away from me.
Rosalie’s eyes widened, and then she grabbed my arm and asked in disbelief. “Really?!”
Then she seemed to be a bit embarrassed, and she pulled back her hand. “Thank you, Ethan! I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you’re going to take me there.”
I felt my rogue heart melt a bit at her words and her touch. I waited for her to lean back, and I said, “You’re welcome, Rosalie.” I didn’ t press her for more affection, though. I knew that she didn’t want anything physically from me at the moment. She was just happy to be going to see our son-as was l.
“Prepare to leave first thing in the morning,” I told her. “I’ll have Georgia send word to that Gordon or Jordon guy exactly what it is / will agree to.”
“Commander Landon,” she corrected. I nodded at her and went out of the tent to see about preparing the rest of the camp for my departure.
“Ethan!” Georgia burst into my tent soon after I sent her the message. “You agreed?!” She was way too excited.
Unpleased with her reaction, I narrowed my eyes. “I’m second guessing my decision now because of you.”
Georgia immediately zipped her lips with her hand, shook her head and stayed quiet.
I didn’t want to go over it with her alone, so I gestured for her to follow me, and I gathered together several other people who would need to know my plans, including Talon, Vicky, Paul, Richard, and some of my other leaders.
“Tomorrow morning, I will be escorting Rosalie north to visit her mother’s grave.” At my words, Vicky gasped, and I had to wait for her to calm down in order to continue.
“Georgia, I need you to send word to your contacts of my intentions. I don’t want to see more than ten warriors from them. Also, make sure to tell them that any attempt to take Rosalie will be seen as an act of war. Do you understand?” Georgia nodded firmly.
“Richard and Samuel, I will be leaving you both in charge while I’m gone. I want you to be sure that the rogues from the south do not manage to get in and take any of our territory. You can have as many men as necessary at the ready until I get back. Get them into a good defensive position so that if we are attacked, they can hold onto what we have, but I don’t intend for our forces to try to take any more territory while I am away.”
“Understood, Alpha,” they said, and I tried not to comment on the false title.
“Talon, Vicky, Paul, and Georgia, you will be coming with me. Talon, I want you to put together a detail of ten to escon us. Leave enough good fighters for Richard, but Rosalie’s protection is of utmost importance.”
Talon nodded at my words, but he didn’t speak. It seemed that he wanted to say something, but he chose to keep his silenge instead,
I spent the next few hours making sure that everyone was ready for my departure. Then, I went to my tent and tried to get some rest. Sleep was hard to come by, and I spent most of the night tassing and tuming.
In the morning, at first light, Georgia came in with a message. “They agree to your terms,” she told me, holding out the message she’d gotten from her contacts.
I read it over and saw that the leaders of the north agreed that they wouldn’t try to take Rosalie from me. They also agreed to meet us at a temple with Rowan so that he could be reunited with his mother. I nodded. “Good.”
“When would you like to leave?” she asked me.
“As soon as possible.” I couldn’t wait for Rosalie to stay with me willingly and our son to come back to us, although deep down, I wasn’t that confident about what the trip would turn into,
The bottomline was, I couldn’t refuse Rosalie, because this was her wish. As long as she was willing to be with me, I’d do whatever she wanted me to do.
Within half an hour, everyone was ready to go. I was nervous about having Rosalie leave the solace of our camp, but it was too late now to change my mind. We shifted, carrying changes of clothes in backpacks on our backs, along with some other necessities, like food and clean water. It would take us a couple days to get to the location of our destination if we ran straight through. I wasn’t sure whether or not Rosalie would be able to do that, though, since she wasn’t used to being in her wolf form. …
She looked beautiful, her snow-white fur glistening in the early morning sun. She ran along beside me, Talon on her other side, and · together our group headed north. I was excited to see my son, and I continued to remind myself to treat Rosalie’s people nicely. Otherwise, we could have a battle on our hands.
We only stopped for a little while, to eat and drink. This was the first time Rosalie ran this long in her wolf form, but surprisingly, she was able to keep up really well.
By early afternoon, we’d reached our destination. We shifted into our human forms and got dressed before we approached the temple. Out to the side, there was a large cemetery, with several impressive mausoleums. I wondered if her mother might be buried in one of these.
The temple itself wasn’t as big as I thought it would be, however, it also wasn’t small. From the outside, it didn’t seem too extraordinary
It was a stone building with symbols of the Moon Goddess etched into wood decorating the outside. I figured it would be the same on the inside, with lots of symbols for the deity we all worshiped.
We didn’t even get inside before Rosalie spotted her baby. Seraphine, the midwife, was holding him. Rosalie took off running for Rowan, and I did my best to walk behind her and not run after her.
As soon as Rowan saw her, he stretched out his arms, kicking and blubbering. She took him into her arms and held him close, and he laughed and pulled her hair. It seemed that he hurt her hair a little, and she slightly frowned, but then both of them started giggling
I let out a small grunt-1 stared at Rowan. He needed to learn to respect her mother at all times. How dare he pull her hair!
Rosalie heard me, and she was obviously confused by my displeasure.
| caught up to her but kept my distance. It was clear that there was hostility in the air, and I needed to stay back so as to keep from making the situation worse.
“We are so glad to see that you are well, Your Majesty!” an older woman said, stepping over to greet her.
“Thank you, Cerina,” she said as the woman hugged her. “It’s good to see you as well.”
She exchanged a look with Rosalie, and I could tell she was wary towards me. Rosalie assured her, “Don’t worry, I have the Rogue King’s word. He won’t hurt anyone.”
The woman named Cerina wasn’t quite convinced, but she bowed to Rosalie and gestured for me and my group to follow them into the temple
1 glanced around, and they kept their word. There were only ten guards besides Cerina, Seraphine, Landon, and Rowan.
Inside of the temple, a wall of solid rock stood around the altar. The way that it gleamed in the light of the burning candles on the altar, I thought it had to be solid marble. The faces of several women were carved in the stone, and it was clear by the outline of large sliding drawers that these were their tombs.
“This is your mother’s final resting place,” Cerina said to Rosalie. “All of the queens are buried here. The first queen is buried in the earth below the temple, and her power filters up through the ground, collecting the strength from the others, and protecting our lands.”
Cerina continued, “We keep candles lit at the altar at all times to pay homage to them.”
The altar was a wooden table with a red, velvet cloth draped over it. The engravings in the wood were intricate, and it looked like a very special craftsman must’ve made this altar a very long time ago.
Behind the altar, there was a statue of the Moon Goddess. While most of the marble was a gray color, her hair was flowing white, which I thought was interesting. It reminded me of the nickname, “The White Queen,” and I wondered about that statement.
Rosalie would look beautiful no matter what color her hair was, but I preferred her brownish-red locks to the brilliant white displayed on the statue of the Moon Goddess, whose outstretched hands seemed to be blessing whomever stood before her.
Rosalie had tears in her eyes as she paused to place her hand on the carving of her mother’s face. Rowan continued to jabber, and Rosalie jostled him up and down to keep him happy.
I stayed back to give her space, out of respect, but it was clear that Rosalie was having a moment. She bowed her head and closed her eyes, saying a little prayer for her mother, I supposed.
I didn’t rush her, because this is why we were here. However, it seemed to take forever.
I waited as patiently as I could, but soon decided we could go now
I was just about to remind Rosalie of that when she turned to this Cerina woman and whispered something.
Even though I couldn’t hear them, I got the impression it was something I wasn’t going to like.