Mated to the Alpha: Sold to the King

Chapter 123: 0123

Lorelei POV

Slowly, I lifted my head, and only then did I realize tears had already begun slipping down my face.

My vision blurred as I looked at Darius before shifting my gaze to Kalu, who stood nearby wiping the sweat from his forehead as though the ritual had drained him just as much.

"Nothing," I whispered, my voice breaking. "I... I don’t feel anything."

Hearing that, Kalu let out a quiet sigh before folding his arms across his chest.

"As I told you before, only the cage has been opened. The one who lived inside it must still choose to walk out." His voice was calm, almost gentle this time. "For ten years she has known nothing but chains." He looked at me steadily. "Do not ask a frightened beast to greet the sun the moment her prison opens. She will come when her spirit remembers that freedom is real."

I already knew that.

He’d told me before.

But now that the suppression magic had finally been lifted, it felt like a thick fog I hadn’t even realized was hanging over my mind had suddenly disappeared.

Everything felt... clearer.

And with that clarity came something I wasn’t prepared for.

The emptiness.

It crashed into me all at once, so overwhelming it almost stole the air from my lungs.

For the first time in ten years, I could truly feel what I’d been missing.

She wasn’t just asleep.

She was gone.

Or at least... it felt that way.

The hollow space inside me ached so much it felt unbearable.

Before I even realized what I was doing, I leaned forward, buried my face against Darius’s neck, and broke into a sob.

Soon, my entire body was shaking as years of grief came pouring out all at once, my tears quickly soaking through the front of his shirt.

Darius froze, but only for a second.

His breath caught as though he hadn’t expected me to seek him out for comfort, but the hesitation didn’t last long.

The next moment, his arms wrapped securely around my waist, pulling me against his chest.

Without saying a word, he held me tighter, shielding me from everyone else in the pavilion while I cried my heart out.

*

It took me a long time to finally pull myself together, but when the tears eventually stopped, I felt a noticeable weight lift from my chest. I felt lighter, like I could finally breathe again.

Darius didn’t let go of me as he gently helped me back onto my feet. As he steadied me, I felt his chin brush against the top of my head before I heard him take a slow, quiet breath against my hair, almost as though he were breathing me in. It was a little strange, but my thoughts were still too muddled from crying to dwell on it. I convinced myself I had probably imagined it.

Keeping one arm securely around my waist, he held me close as he gave Kalu a polite bow. Kalu only responded with another casual flick of his wrist, dismissing the gesture as though it were nothing.

"How about now?" Darius asked softly.

By then, we were seated inside a quiet glass gazebo tucked away on the far eastern edge of the gardens, far from where Kalu and Nala were still packing away everything they had used for the ritual.

"How do you feel? Does it hurt anywhere?"

"I’m fine," I answered quietly, and for the first time in what felt like forever, I was telling the truth.

Even so, my hand drifted to my chest on its own, pressing against the place where the cage had once been. A long sigh slipped past my lips.

"I know it probably sounds strange after crying my eyes out... but I’m happy."

I lifted my eyes to meet his warm gray ones, and a small smile found its way onto my face.

"Thank you."

The moment those words left my mouth, Darius froze.

A faint flush crept across his cheekbones, and he quickly looked away from me, suddenly finding the floor far more interesting.

"Why are you thanking me?" he asked, an awkwardness creeping into his voice that caught me completely off guard. It felt so unlike the calm, confident Darius I knew. "I didn’t do anything."

That only made me smile.

It was strangely amusing seeing someone as calm and composed as Darius get flustered over something so simple.

"That’s not true," I said, sitting up a little straighter on the stone bench. "You told Kaelen about my wolf being suppressed. I only told you that by accident back then, but if you hadn’t brought it up to him, I probably never would’ve felt this free." My hand drifted to my chest again before I smiled softly. "Even if it takes months or years for her to finally step out of that cage, I’m happy with this much progress. And it’s because of you."

My words left Darius completely silent.

He lowered his gaze to his feet, his fingers twitching faintly against his knees as an awkward silence settled between us. For a moment, he almost looked... guilty.

Before I could dwell on it, he suddenly looked back up, a bright smile spreading across his face so quickly that it almost felt forced.

"You must be exhausted after everything that happened today," Darius said, leaning forward slightly. "How about I treat you to some ice cream? Do you like ice cream?"

The abrupt change in conversation caught me completely off guard.

"Ice cream?" I repeated quietly.

Almost instantly, a faint memory from my childhood drifted into my mind. It had been one of those rare days when I had gotten a single spoonful of melting vanilla ice cream. The taste had barely lasted a minute, but somehow I still remembered it.

A small, genuine smile tugged at my lips.

"Of course," I replied. "But does the kitchen even make that here?" I asked skeptically.

In all the months I had lived at this estate, I had never seen a single dessert served, let alone ice cream.

Darius’s smile turned mischievous.

"No."

My brows drew together.

"Then how are we supposed to get it?"

At that, the familiar wicked smirk I hadn’t seen in days returned to his face. He leaned in until only I could hear him.

"We’re just going to sneak out of the estate."

The color instantly drained from my face.

"Sneak out?" I whispered, my heart jumping into my throat as I instinctively glanced around the empty glass gazebo, half expecting Kaelen’s guards, or worse, Kaelen himself, to appear out of nowhere. "Are you crazy? What if Kaelen finds out?"

"So what if he does?" Darius replied with an easy shrug as he leaned back against the bench, looking completely unbothered. "You’re with me. The worst he’ll do is yell loud enough for the entire estate to hear."