Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder

Chapter 63 : All This Way for Nothing

*Sasha*

I avoided Lucas’s suggestion that I was pregnant. It wasn’t that I didn’t think it was possible. I just had other things

that were more important to focus on right now, like getting the second orb.

It took a few days for me to regain my strength.

Every morning, Lucas came in to feed me my breakfast. Most days, I could keep it down, but now and then it would

try to come back up.

“I’m worried about you, Sasha.”

“I’m fine, Lucas. We need to focus on getting in that temple and getting the second orb.”

He sighed and set my empty dishes aside. “Well, you did eat your entire breakfast today.”

I grinned and nodded. “So, can we go?”

Lucas frowned. “Not yet. Cara’s guides are scouting the area. It looks like the most recent rockslide cut off the

entrance to the temple. They’re looking for a way to get inside that isn’t dangerous.”

“I’d like to take a look. I’m feeling a lot stronger today, and getting some fresh air would be nice.” I put on my

sweetest, most tempting smile.

Lucas smiled back and took my hand. “You’ve been through a lot, Sasha. You fell off a cliff, were drugged and

kidnapped, then we got stuck in that storm and you’ve been so sick. Are you sure you’re up for exploring?”

“Yes! I can’t stay in this tent or in this cot one more day!” I threw my head back, groaning.

Lucas chuckled.

“Alright, alright. But we’re not doing any rock climbing or bouldering or anything like that.”

“Okay.”

I blew Lucas a kiss as he left.

Most of my aches and pains had subsided, and I wasn’t feeling feverish or nauseous anymore. I was still a little

unsteady on my feet, wobbling a bit as I got dressed. I wasn’t about to tell Lucas that and miss out on my chance to

get outside.

I threw the tent flaps open and stretched my arms up, breathing in the fresh air.

“Ah, that’s the stuff.”

Lucas rolled his eyes at me. “Want to get a closer look at the temple?” He held out his hand.

I grabbed his hand and he led me down the path from our camp into the valley.

Lucas’s men and the guides were already in the valley. They were shifting rocks around and climbing over the top

of them.

Three of them had their shirts off, and I could see their bodies glistening with sweat.

“How long have they been at it?” I asked.

“A few days now.”

“And they still haven’t found a way in?”

“Nothing viable. The main entrance is completely sealed off. There were some rocks under that window, but it is a

sheer drop on the other side.” Lucas pointed. “Besides, the rocks are unstable and could trigger another rockslide

with all the debris around the temple.”

“Hmm….”

I wandered away from Lucas. He tried to keep hold of my hand but I slipped from his grasp easily.

“Sasha, be careful!”

“Just let me have a look at it. The temple is very similar in architecture to what we imagined the one at the library

site looked like before it was covered.”

I walked up to the temple and studied one of the walls that was still intact.

The temple had three towers in various states of crumbling and destruction. Rocks stuck out of the other walls and

temple debris was scattered all around them.

Looking at the temple, I felt a sudden wave of deja vu.

“Whoa.” Staggering back, I put my fingers on my temples.

“What’s wrong?” Lucas was at my side in a second, his hand on my shoulder.

“I’m fine. I just feel… like I’ve seen this place in a dream or something.” I shrugged and returned to studying the

temple.

“I’ve walked around this thing a dozen times. We’ve searched every nook and cranny for a way in.”

I glanced over my shoulder at Lucas. His head bowed, he looked so sensitive and vulnerable like he was admitting

defeat. My heart swelled and I wanted to take him in my arms and comfort him.

“What if I told you that you missed a spot?” I asked.

Lucas looked up and arched an eyebrow at me.

“Over here.” I beckoned him with a nod and walked up to the temple wall.

Underneath the wall, there was a large crevasse in the ground. It was probably made from a big rockslide in the

past, but the opening was clear. I could smell fresh air coming from the crevasse, which meant that it was open-

ended, probably inside the temple.

“It’s just a big crack in the ground.”

“Smell the air, silly. It’s fresh. It doesn’t smell earthy at all. This crevasse opens up somewhere else, and I’m betting

it is inside the temple.”

Lucas narrowed his eyes at me. “You can’t know that. We don’t know what the condition of the passageway is like.

It could be blocked.”

“Sure, but it is probably easier to clear than these monster boulders stacked around the temple.”

“I’m not too keen on you attempting to throw yourself down another hole in the ground,” Lucas growled.

“We have to get into the temple, Lucas. This is the best bet. If it’s a dead end or something, then we’ll come back

up and keep looking.”

Lucas begrudgingly agreed. We called the others and got some lanterns before heading underground.

The crevasse was large enough to walk through, standing straight up. The lanterns showed that the walls were solid

and the entire tunnel was a strong structure.

“Based on the angle of these curves, I’m willing to bet this tunnel is sturdier than the entire temple.” I ran my hand

along the curved wall.

“You know, you can leave work behind sometimes.” Lucas shook his head endearingly at me.

The passage wasn’t very long but the opening on the other side was incredibly narrow. I poked my head through

and looked around quickly.

“Yes, it opens up into the temple. But I don’t think we can squeeze through.” I crammed myself into the opening

and got one arm through before I couldn’t push my body anymore. The crack was too tight.

Lucas pulled me out. “We’ve got tools to widen it.”

Lucas’s men came forward with pick axes. While they carefully chipped away at the rock to widen the opening,

Lucas made me sit and have another snack.

Now that I was out of the tent and moving around, I felt a lot better and a lot stronger, but he was so cute when he

worried about me.

I glanced up at him as I munched on my trail mix.

His deep eyes were focused on the work, but I saw the tenseness to the muscles in his neck and arms. He was

ready to jump to my defense at any moment, for any reason.

I sighed happily and smiled to myself.

“We’re in!”

I jumped up and followed the others through the opening into the temple.

Gasping, I froze and spun my head around on my neck. Inside, the temple was huge. It didn’t look so massive from

the outside with all those boulders around.

A few pebbles fell from a pile of rocks above, clattering to the tile floor.

“Everyone, be careful. One wrong move and all those rocks could tumble down on us,” Lucas warned.

We went through the main entrance of the temple. Lucas commented that it looked almost identical to the one

under the library.

I saw several paintings and small statues of the White Queen and Moon Goddess.

My heart hammered in my chest and the same deja vu I had from earlier returned. I approached one of the statues

and stared into her marble eyes.

“What are you trying to tell me?” I whispered.

“Sasha, come this way. If I’m right, there should be an identical White Queen statue to the one at the other temple.

That’s where I found the orb.”

I pulled myself away from the marble statue and followed Lucas and the others.

We went down a level into the catacombs.

I saw something etched on the walls.

“Can I have a lantern?”

One of Cara’s guides came over and held the lantern up to the wall.

There were all kinds of symbols and pictographs carved and painted into the stone. I traced them with my pointer

finger.

“This is all so… familiar,” I muttered.

“Like a dream?” Lucas echoed my thoughts from the surface.

I nodded. “Yeah. But I don’t know. It’s more than a dream. I feel like I’ve actually been here before. I feel like I’ve

seen these symbols and touched them just like this.”

I ran my finger over the symbol again.

“Can you read them?” he asked.

“No.” I sighed and shook my head. “It’s like a tickle in the back of my mind. I know there is a memory there, but I

can’t access it.”

“The statue isn’t much further. We can grab the orb and worry about deciphering those symbols later.”

We went through the catacombs, Lucas leading us to the massive statue of the White Queen deep in the bowels of

the catacombs.

She stood there, her arm outstretched. Everything about her was just as Lucas had described her to me. The

carving of the statue was beyond exquisite.

It was like standing at the feet of the Goddess.

I gasped and instinctively fell to one knee, bowing to her essence.

She commanded so much respect and love, yet there was a sweet tenderness on her face as well.

“Incredible… this statue is… identical to the one from the Dark Realm,” Lucas mumbled.

I studied every detail and wondered how it was possible to create two statues that were nearly identical like that.

“All except for one thing.” I stood up and pointed to her open palm. “There’s no orb.”

“That can’t be!” Lucas ran to the statue's hand and looked. He frowned and creased his brow.

“I can’t believe it is missing! We came all this way for nothing.” My strength evaporated suddenly, and I plopped

down on the ground.

It was too much….

We’d gone through too much to get here, and all for nothing.

“Wait, the last orb fell off the statue. It could have been knocked loose by a rock slide.” Lucas went behind the

statue and started looking around.

I sighed and shook my head, a sinking feeling filling me up. He could look all he wanted, but I just knew it wasn’t

there.

“It has to be here somewhere. Cara said no one has been inside for decades. Where could it have gone?” Lucas’s

ramblings sounded so far away.

I saw him out of the corner of my eye, searching high and low around the statue. He ordered the others to look

around too.

The guides and his men split up and started searching the catacombs. I heard them talking to each other but I

couldn’t hear what they were saying.

I wrapped my arms around myself and shook my head.

“All this way for nothing,” I whispered.