Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder

Chapter 96 : Wasted

*Jared*

I stared at Aries. How dare he interrupt my wedding!

Growling, I clenched my fists.

Eliza grabbed my arm. “Careful. He has the diadem in his vaults. We need to get in there and get it."

I nodded slowly and relaxed my fists. As much as I wanted to throw him out, it wasn't worth making a scene. Eliza

was right, we did need to be on good terms with Aries until we could get into his vault.

“Congratulations, Jared and Eliza. I've got the perfect idea for your honeymoon." Aries smirked and drained his

champagne glass.

Eliza and I quickly sent the guests away, making excuses that Aries came with important news.

I realized that Aries had brought his entire army with him. They were spread out throughout the village. I got the

sense that they would not hesitate to make trouble if Eliza and I didn't play along.

But I wouldn't leave my pack vulnerable.

I reached out to Archer and my warriors with the mindlink.

'Make sure the village is safe. Keep an eye on his soldiers. If anything comes up, handle it discreetly.'

'Why not just throw him out?'

'We still need him… as much as I hate to admit it. He has the diadem, an important artifact to help break the curse.

We need to work with him long enough to get it.'

'Alright, I'll keep the others in line.'

'Report back to me if any of them stir up trouble. Eliza and I are going to talk to Aries, privately.'

I motioned Aries to follow us and we went into the library. I shut the door so we wouldn't be interrupted. I shot a

quick glance at Eliza, she nodded.

We both knew we had to handle this carefully.

“What do you want from us?" I asked sternly.

It would be too suspicious if Eliza and I jumped right in and agreed with him.

“I told you, I'm here to celebrate and take you on your honeymoon." Aries grinned slyly.

“And what is your idea for our honeymoon?" Eliza crossed her arms.

“Why, it is time to journey to the palace. It is time for you to take your place on the throne." He nodded to me.

I looked at Eliza. She shrugged.

Sighing, I tapped my fingers against a desk. There was a map laid out on the desk. It was a map to the capital.

“How do you plan to go about this? Are you going to leave your soldiers here to keep my people in line in order to

gain our cooperation?"

Aries scoffed and waved dismissively at me. “No. We're going to need my soldiers in this fight. First, we need to stop

off at my mansion and make the final preparations. Then we will head straight for the capitol."

“I'd like a word with my wife, alone," I insisted, pointing to the door.

“Yes, of course."

Aries backed out of the room. Silently, I cursed him for ruining the happiness I should have felt about calling Eliza

my wife for the first time.

As soon as Aries was gone, a smile spread across her face. She looped her arms around herself.

“You know, I really liked hearing you call me your wife." She bit her lower lip.

Chuckling, I held a hand out to her. She came right to me and I pulled her into my arms.

“What are you thinking about all of this?"

“We have to get into Aries's vault. Jared… the vault is at his mansion. If he thinks we are going along with him, he

might agree to let me in there."

“And if he already plans to take us to his mansion…"

“Exactly. This could be our one and only chance. If he finds out he has something we want before we get it…" she

glanced around like she thought someone was listening to us and she dropped her voice to a low whisper. “We have

to do this."

“Agreed." I kissed her forehead.

She sighed and frowned slightly.

“What is it?" I hooked my finger under her chin and lifted her gorgeous eyes to mine.

“I didn't think this was how we'd be spending our wedding night."

“Oh, don't worry, I will make up for that later, over and over again." I kissed her sweetly on the lips.

Eliza moaned and melted into my kiss.

***

*Eliza*

Jared left the village in the care of Archer and others he trusted. We traveled with Aries and his army back to Aries's

mansion.

I had my backpack on. Snuggly inside, we had the Cryptex hidden in the safety, waterproof box that we'd gotten for

it. It was safe and hidden, wrapped in some of our clothes.

And of course, I had the pendant around my neck. Once we got the Diadem, we'd have everything we'd need to

break the curse.

“And to celebrate the two of you, I will be hosting a ball in your honor," Aries was saying.

I'd tuned out a lot of what he said until he started talking about throwing parties for us.

“That sounds great…"

I tried to stay out of the conversations as much as possible. Jared was good at the political stuff and I was more

focused on getting all the pieces we needed to break the curse.

Traveling again wasn't easy for me. I was still tired a lot and the shadow of my curse stirred angrily, hungrily,

whenever I started to feel tired.

When we got to Aries' mansion, he immediately wanted to start making plans to storm the capitol.

“Eliza, Jared, if you want to take a moment to freshen up, you can meet me in my study and we can discuss the

details," he said after showing us to our room.

“We'll be right down." Jared nodded.

“Actually…"

Jared and Aries raised their eyebrows at me.

I laughed nervously and rubbed my covered, tattooed arm.

“Aries, would you mind if I went down into your vault again?" I bit my lower lip and looked at him as innocently as

possible.

“You want to get into my vault?" he creased his brow.

I glanced at Jared. He rolled his eyes, telling me that I should have been a little more discreet.

“Well, I only got to see a fraction of it last time. You have so many artifacts down there I could literally spend days

combing through all that stuff and studying it."

Jared chuckled. “Once an archeologist, always an archeologist."

Aries sighed and shrugged. “Well, if that's really how you want to spend your time."

I nodded. “I trust you and Jared to come up with the details of this plan. Honestly, I'd be much happier playing with

the artifacts in your vault."

“You're a peculiar woman, Eliza," Aries muttered.

“Hey. If it makes my wife happy, then I say you should let her do it. What's the saying… happy wife, happy life?"

Jared grinned.

He glanced sideways at me and winked.

I would have rolled my eyes if Aries wasn't watching us so closely.

Suddenly, Aries broke out in laughter. He clutched his chest as his laugh rumbled through him.

“Exactly. This could be our one and only chance. If he finds out he has something we want before we get it…" she

glanced around like she thought someone was listening to us and she dropped her voice to a low whisper. “We have

to do this."

“You've got that right. Alright, Eliza, you are more than welcome to play in the vault, to your heart's content."

“You've got that right. Alright, Eliza, you are more than welcome to play in the vault, to your heart's content."

“I appreciate that. But you know… if I find anything I want to bring with me to study in more depth, do you have a

problem with that?"

Again, I gave Aries the most innocent look I could muster. So far, he didn't appear suspicious of me and I was being

as delicate as possible presenting him with these tidbits.

Aries sighed and shrugged.

“Well, seeing as you are going to be my Queen soon, I won't deny you a few pleasures." Aries waved dismissively at

me. “Come on, I'll let you in."

Jared and I followed Aries to the vault. He opened the door. I tried to go in but Jared grabbed my hand. He pulled

me back and kissed me on the lips.

I leaned against him, melting into his kiss.

“Geez, the two of you aren't going to be apart that long." Aries scoffed.

Jared smirked at him. “I did say this was our honeymoon."

Aries rolled his eyes. “Just… meet me in my study." He stalked off, shaking his head at us.

“How far are we really going to go with this?" I whispered.

“Once we have the diadem, we won't need to tag along anymore and we can make our escape. I'll keep Aries busy

as long as possible. How long do you need?"

I shrugged. “I know what it looks like and I roughly remember where it is in the vault. I'm not leaving the vault until I

have it."

“Alright, we'll meet up again later. Be safe."

“You too."

Jared kissed me quickly on the lips. I whined as he left me at the vault, wishing our kiss could have lasted just a little

bit longer.

It didn't take me long to find the diadem. It was right where I'd seen it last, surrounded by the same gaudy relics as

before. I shook my head.

Aries probably didn't even remember half the stuff he had in here. He'd never know what I took or what was

missing.

Even if he did find out, I doubted he'd know why I took the diadem at all. It wasn't like it was known to be some

powerful artifact.

I tucked the diadem in my backpack with the Cryptex, making sure to wrap it up protectively. I needed to grab a

few more things so that if Aries wanted to see what I took, I could show him those things and keep the Diadem

safely in my backpack, hidden.

As much as I didn't like him, Aries did have a vast collection.

I ran my hands over some old ceramic pots with rare paintings on them and some scrolls from different temples.

Unfortunately, his collection was wasted on him.

He had no idea how valuable half this stuff was and he obviously wasn't holding onto it in order to preserve it or

keep it safe. He probably just had these things out of pure greed.

I bet that if I asked him point blank about the diadem, he wouldn't even know he had it!

Well, I didn't plan on doing that.

Smiling to myself, I grabbed a few scrolls and tucked them into my backpack. I wanted to get a few of the more

extravagant looking items, too, to throw him off if he did ask what I took.

There was a small ceramic vase with a unique glaze on it that I put in my bag and a few nice necklaces.

“That should be enough to throw him off," I muttered to myself, closing my backpack. “Now… We just need to

figure out how to get these things to Mila…"