Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder-Chapter 1566 - 8 : Little Girl No More

*Kryzen*

A white ceiling greeted me when my eyes opened next.

I blinked once, then twice, trying to clear the blurriness from around my vision before I squinted, trying to recall what happened before I fell unconscious but came up empty. I shifted slightly beneath the thin blankets that covered me, noting immediately that my whole body ached and I felt heavy as if there was a huge weight on top of me.

I gritted my teeth against the uncomfortable sensations and slowly pushed myself up, glancing around at the dimly lit room I was in.

My eyes widened when they landed on Briella, sitting quietly by my bedside.

As soon as I took in her bright green eyes and light training clothes, memories of our little sparring match flooded my mind. I felt my lips tighten as I recalled how I had baited her over and over while she struck me with her tiny fists. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

I was mortified as I realized that I had fainted like a wimp. Embarrassment flooded me like a wave. All I could do was stare at her, trying to mask my true emotions as she focused on me, noticing for the first time that I was awake.

It was difficult to keep my carefully crafted facade on as I gazed at my childhood rival. As her eyes focused on me, her mouth formed a thin line and she curled her fingers into fists on her lap. She lowered her chin slightly, causing her hair to fall on either side of her face, the dark waves like wisps of shadows.

We didn’t speak for a long moment as if we were sizing each other up. I couldn’t tell what was going through her mind. She didn’t seem relieved or happy that I was now conscious. She seemed a bit wary like she had been dreading the second I opened my eyes.

I felt a smirk tilt the corner of my mouth despite the obvious tension between us. “Is something wrong, Black?”

I could tell she heard me, even though my voice was thick from sleep. Her eyes rounded slightly. I watched her lip curl slightly away from her teeth. “I just don’t get you at all.”

While I didn’t doubt her words, I was still kind of surprised by them. She sounded frustrated almost like she wanted to understand me. “I could easily say the same thing about you,” I finally said, sitting up further and settling my back against the headboard so I could face her fully. I looked around and confirmed that I was in a healing room. “How bad am I?”

She narrowed her eyes in confusion. “How bad?”

I barely suppressed a chuckle at the way her face crumpled. “Did the healers say how bad off I am?” I clarified. I flexed my muscles, wincing slightly at how tight they felt. Aside from the heaviness, I didn’t feel that bad.

Understanding flitted across Briella’s face. She shrugged a little nonchalantly. “You’ll live,” she said flatly. “It sounds like I was right after all and you shouldn’t have been pushing yourself as much as you did.”

I raised one eyebrow. “I believe it was your brother who suggested that I refrain from sparring with you,” I pointed out.

Briella wasn’t affected by my argument. “I knew that you probably shouldn’t, but I also meant what I said that it wasn’t my responsibility to try and stop you from making your own bone-headed decisions.”

Both my eyebrows rose this time. “What bone-headed decision?” I asked, trying to keep my tone polite. “Are you referring to the one I made to challenge you to a friendly match?”

Briella scoffed a bit at my choice of words. “Yes,” she said simply. “It was foolish of you. You should know by now to pay attention to your body. It’s one of the most basic things you learn when beginning to learn self-defense and different fighting techniques.”

She didn’t need to tell me that. I was well aware of that fact since I had years of tactical training. I was a little frustrated with myself since I had sensed that I was slowing down while we sparred, but I would sooner die than admit that to Briella. She would only use that to ridicule me further.

Instead of showing my embarrassment, I just chuckled and scoffed a bit. “You were also well aware of the fact that I had just jumped realms and your brother even warned us both that I shouldn’t spar. And yet, you continued to beat on me relentlessly as if I was at my full strength.”

Briella also tried to keep her tone polite and controlled, but the corner of her mouth twitched with frustration. “It’s because you kept trying to get under my skin,” she snapped, seeming unable to help herself. She muttered under her breath, “Just like you always used to when we were kids.”

I tried not to react to her words, even though there was some truth to them. I wasn’t entirely sure how things between us started out so rocky. She was just this annoying little girl who I felt didn’t know her place. Maybe a part of me had wanted to bother her so that she knew I wasn’t going to bend to her wants like so many others seemed to.

It was becoming abundantly clear to me that she wasn’t that little girl I had once known. I tried to remember the last time I had seen Briella. She must have been about sixteen back then, still a child. That would have made me nineteen or twenty, very much coming into myself and much more concerned with focusing on my training than anything else.

Briella’s frustration had grown. She jumped up from her chair, looking like she wanted to leave the room in a huff but thought better of it. She just glared at me as I continued to look at her. She was very much a woman now, with curves in all the right places and full lips that were accentuated as she stood there yelling at me.

I looked her straight in the eye. “We are not those children anymore.”

Briella’s eyes widened as she digested my words. I held her gaze. After a long moment, she looked away from me at a loss for words. I ducked my head slightly, trying to read the strange expression on her face. Her eyes still held that familiar hatred toward me that had been there since the day we met as little kids, but there was something else there as well.

It was an emotion that I couldn’t place.

“Mr. Stormfall?”

Briella and I both jumped as a woman with snowy white hair entered. She wore light brown robes with golden patterns embroidered onto the hem and sleeves. She gave us both a confused look at the obvious tension in the room but recovered quickly, pulling out a small notepad from the pocket of her robe.

“Hello,” I said. I almost said good morning but realized I didn’t know what time it was. I glanced at the window quickly and guessed that it was probably close to sunset.

The woman smiled, little wrinkles appearing around her eyes and mouth as she did so. She looked to be in her fifties, maybe early sixties. “How are you feeling? It seems you are still experiencing the effects of jumping realms. Any dizziness or nausea?”

I swallowed and considered that before shaking my head. “I’m just sore, but I don’t think that’s from realm jumping,” I answered, daring to glance at Briella briefly. Her jaw dropped. I tried not to smirk at the innuendo. I focused back on the healer. “Other than that, I’m just tired.”

The woman nodded in understanding. “We’ve run some tests while you were asleep and administered some of our more potent potions to help you gain your strength back, the same ones you had when first arriving. Perhaps refrain from any... strenuous physical activity for a day or two. After that, you should be at full strength.”

I could no longer contain my smirk as she glanced at Briella while saying, “physical activity.” Briella blanched openly, her jaw dropping as she stared between me and the healer in horror, realizing what she thought had occurred between us.

“He’s not... I mean, we’re not...” Briella sputtered.

The healer raised an amused eyebrow but waited for Briella to finish.

“Thank you,” I said quickly. “Am I free to go?”

The healer nodded and left the room, casting one more amused glance at Briella before leaving us alone.

“You are insufferable,” Briella bit out before turning on her heel and leaving the room. I stood up and slipped my boots on, which I found next to the bed, and followed her out the door. I could tell she knew I was following, but she didn’t look back. She continued through the hall and out the front door, nodding stiffly to a few healers on her way out.

I found myself following after her without having made the conscious decision to do so.

“Wait.”

I didn’t even yell the word, but Briella froze where she was, on the steps of the healing center. Her back was stiff with tension. I stopped beside her.

“You were worried about me,” I said. It wasn’t a question.

She scoffed. I could see her cheeks had a hint of pink on them. “I just wanted to make sure I didn’t actually kill you,” she said, rolling her eyes likely to hide her embarrassment.

I raised an eyebrow. “Would you have cared if you had?” I asked, trying to hide my surprise at her answer.

Had she actually been worried about me?

“I’m not a murderer,” she said quietly.

I had meant it as a joke, but it seemed to hit some sore spot. I chose my next words carefully. “You were right,” I said, “about the people of this valley. I haven’t been here for very long, but I can tell that they are peaceful and harmonious.”

Briella turned to look up at me in surprise, her eyes rounding.

I kept going now that I had her full attention. “The illness that is showing in the plants and animals here could very well start affecting the community as well,” I warned her. “I know because it happened in Celestial City. I just came from there, and the streets were completely empty.”

Briella’s eyes widened in shock and horror. She sucked in a sharp breath before narrowing her eyes at me. “Tell me everything you know.”

“Not much,” I admitted. “Grandma Eva was living there for a while before it hit. She had to use her shielding abilities to make it out safely. It’s deadly. She mentioned a dark energy surrounding it. This is no ordinary plague.”

Briella nodded before continuing down the steps and heading into the city.

I followed after her. “Where are you going?” I asked.

“We need to talk to my brother,” she said, not bothering to look at me. I nearly tripped at the word “we.” “And then we’ll have to talk to Mathias, the head priest.”