Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder-Chapter 1356 - 111 : The Full Truth
*Zara*
The mysterious woman who turned to look at us looked a little wary. Her large gray eyes swept over us with an appraising look. I felt like she was somehow looking into my soul. Her choppy dark wavy hair was pinned away from her heart-shaped face.
“Hello,” she said, holding out a hand to me, which surprised me since Noah was closer to her. She barely looked at him. “My name is Eva.”
“Hello Eva,” I said, grasping her slim hand in mine. “My name is Zara. This is my mate, Noah.” I gestured to Noah, who was starting to hover protectively.
I understood why, even though I didn’t agree with my mate’s automatic reaction. The woman in front of us wasn’t extremely old, probably in her late forties, but her entire demeanor screamed that she had seen and experienced much in her lifetime. There was an air about her, and not just from the dark clothes she wore, that implied power.
“Pleased to meet you,” Noah said stiffly, suspicion heavy on his face. “I understand that you require an audience with us.”
“Yes, that’s right,” Eva replied in an airy voice, but her deep gray eyes were still on me. “More so with your mate.”
I felt Noah stiffen. He put an arm around me as we waited for the strange woman to explain.
Eva didn’t keep us waiting. “We met a long time ago, Zara, but I doubt that you remember considering you were just an infant.”
I giggled lightly, a nervous sound caused by my nerves. “I can’t say I have many memories from that time of my life.”
Eva grinned at me, causing me to only slightly relax. The small amount of calm was gone a second later when she pinned me with a serious look. “I am the witch who placed those protective sigils on your back when you were a baby. I was urged by Sasha to visit you and shed some light on your origins.”
I sucked in a sharp, shocked breath as I stumbled backward. I was grateful that Noah already had an arm around me so that I wouldn’t fall back.
Everyone in the room seemed to be looking at me now. I swallowed hard. “I’m sorry. It’s just that this is coming as a shock. I tried to contact Sasha to learn more about the markings, but nothing really came of it.”
Eva seemed to understand what I meant by that. I supposed it was possible she did. She clearly knew Sasha better than I did.
“We can talk in length soon,” Eva promised, but then her thin eyebrows furrowed with worry. “It will have to wait a little while. I sensed a strong, permeating magical residue within your territory that I would like to see immediately.”
I grimaced and shared a guilty look with Noah. “We were trying to preserve some rare Luna lilies, but then there was an accident that caused a fire. It caused a strange smoke to rise over our territory and affected many of us.”
“We entered a strange shared dream state,” Noah added, squeezing my hand for support as if begging me not to blame myself for the incident.
It was hard not to put at least some of the blame on myself.
Eva’s expression clouded as her dark gray eyes narrowed at our words. “Please take me to the site of the fire,” she requested in a hard tone that broached no argument.
We obeyed, somehow trusting the stranger. There was a powerful air about her that caused me to believe everything she was saying. We had yet to see her wield any kind of magic, but it was clear from her demeanor that she was not someone you wanted to question.
A huge lump formed in my throat as Eva, Noah, and I stood before the site of the once-grand greenhouse. Tears burned in my eyes as I thought about all the work that everyone had put in to restore the building.
Even though the fire had been several hours earlier, the smell of burned wood and metal still filled the area. The skeletal remains of the greenhouse stood starkly against the peaceful forest backdrop. The glittering transparent walls that once housed the hopeful plant life were now charred, jagged metal frames and distorted panes.
We wandered to where the entryway would have been and peered inside the burned structure and at the ashes that littered the floor in gray blanket heaps. A single tear slid down my cheek as I realized that they were the ashes of the precious Luna lilies, now lost forever.
“Hey, it’s going to be alright,” Noah murmured to me, wrapping an arm around me. He rubbed my arm through the thin jacket I wore. It took me another moment to realize that I was shivering.
I leaned into him heavily, my head suddenly feeling like it was made out of lead as I struggled to stay standing. I could feel grief slamming into me as I got a real look at the remains of my lily petals, the precious ones that I tried so desperately to preserve.
“This will only take a moment,” Eva told us, gesturing for us to step back and away from the greenhouse. I could barely move, so Noah strong-armed me, sweeping me off my feet briefly with one arm to steer me away from the charred building.
After we were several feet away, we turned back to watch as Eva closed her eyes and raised her arms up and out toward the greenhouse. She waved her hands and opened her mouth, a string of strange words flying from her thin lips. It almost sounded like she was singing, but I knew that she was chanting an incantation of some kind.
Noah’s arm tightened around my shoulders as the ashes in the greenhouse glowed a brilliant golden color. It was almost as bright as the early morning sun. I squinted as I was momentarily blinded.
As my eyes adjusted, screams rang out. Noah and I whirled toward the awful sound.
“Do not be alarmed,” Eva soothed us, her calm voice a strange contrast to the terrified shrieks. “It is only your pack members, startled from suddenly being awoken from their realistic dreams.”
Noah and I were only slightly calmed by that. The three of us hurried back to Drogomor mansion, eager to check on Noah’s parents after the strange interactions we had with them last.
I watched Eva as we hurried down the path leading back into the city. She was such a mysterious woman. Her gray eyes were focused and bright, and her short hair was wispy and seemed to float with its own magic around her head. Shock nearly made me dizzy as I digested what wonder had occurred. Eva dragged our dream-ensnared pack members out of their frightening unconscious state. She had broken the spell we were all too powerless to free ourselves from. She was beautiful and powerful. I longed to be like that.
Right as the grand Drogomor mansion came into view, Alpha Issac, Luna Estella, and the rest of the mansion’s occupants emerged, looking confused and disoriented from their collective vivid dreams.
“Mother, Father, are you alright?” Noah asked, tugging me up to his parents.
“I believe so,” Luna Estella said, blinking owlishly in the dim moonlight.
“What happened, son?” Alpha Issac asked, looking at Noah, then to me, and then finally to Eva. Seeing the witch caused his dark eyebrows to rise toward his hairline.
“This is Eva,” I told the Alpha and Luna, gesturing to our savior. “It appears that we were under some kind of spell caused by the Luna lilies. She saved us all.”
Both Noah’s parents blinked and seemed to shake themselves out of their stupors before straightening. “Then we owe you much,” Alpha Issac said to Eva.
“Nonsense,” Eva said, but she smiled kindly at Noah’s parents. “I was pleased to help. I have known Zara since she was an infant.”
“Still, thanks are in order,” Noah’s father said firmly. “How can we repay your kindness?”
“I have dispelled the hallucinatory magic that permeated through your land,” Eva said in a loud voice, which was surprising considering her petite frame. “There is still something extremely urgent that needs to be done immediately. The site needs to be fully purified to prevent any possible mutations or aftereffects that could be caused by the mystical lily ashes.”
Alpha Issac’s expression turned dark as the severity of the situation finally snapped him fully out of his stupor. He turned to a couple of guards. “Well, you heard her. Collect the best healers and see that the site is thoroughly purified.”
After collecting directions from me, the guards wisely left to do as the Alpha ordered. I watched the burly men go and finally felt myself relaxing slightly, knowing that the site would be taken care of soon.
The surreal nightmare was hopefully almost over.
It took a little longer for things to settle down. Alpha Issac and Luna Estella arranged for some healers to make some rounds to ensure that the rest of the pack members were doing fine after the ordeal and that everyone was actually out of the nightmarish dream state. The Alpha and Luna went into the mansion to write out some reports and to see to some other matters related to the strange incident.
“You are more than welcome to stay here at the mansion,” Noah said to Eva.
“Thank you,” Eva said. Once again, she wasn’t looking at him. She was looking at me.
I shifted slightly under her penetrating gaze. “Thank you for saving our entire pack,” I told her.
Eva smiled slightly and nodded in acknowledgment. “Now we can return to my original reason for seeking you out,” she said.
Noah came up behind me and grasped my hand, squeezing it for support.
This was what I wanted my whole life. I wanted the opportunity to find out where I came from. I just wanted to find out anything about my mysterious origin. The key to the answer was now staring me straight in the face with wide gray eyes that seemed to see into my soul.
So why was I so scared?
“I’ve come to finally reveal to you the buried secrets about your shadowed past that the protective sigils on your back have long concealed,” Eva said.
I braced myself, my heart pounding in my chest.
Eva watched my face carefully. “May I ask what you know of your birth parents?”
I blinked at the question. “Next to nothing,” I finally admitted haltingly.
Eva sighed. “It’s time that you learned the truth of where you came from and why you had to be hidden away as an infant.”
“Hidden away?” I gasped in shock.
Eva nodded. “Yes, it was for your protection. To give you the full truth, we’ll need to travel to an island cave with a scrying pool. That is the only way for you to see everything for yourself.”
