All Chapters of SOLD TO THE ALPHA KING: Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

Rider's POV“She is at the healer’s wing,” I said, and even as the words left my mouth I realized I had not decided to speak them.Declan turned his head slightly. Raven did not move at all. Bailey was standing in front of me in the corridor, and all three of them were looking at me like I had just made a decision that would not be reversible.Bailey’s eyes stayed locked on mine.“How did you know to ask that,” she said.“I do not know,” I answered immediately, because that was the truth. “It came out before I could filter it.”I felt something in my chest tighten in a way that did not match any situation I had trained myself for. Not threat. Not strategy. Not negotiation. It was something without structure, and I did not like not having structure.Bailey did not speak for a moment after that. She just kept watching me, like she was deciding whether I deserved the answer she was about to give.Then she said, “Three.” I crossed the distance between us and pulled her into me before I f

Bailey's POV  “I did not think you would sit so comfortably in this room,” I said, and my voice came out steadier than I expected it to. Lia looked at me when I spoke, attentive like she had been waiting for me to speak first at some point, and that already told me she was not here to be passive. “I have been in rooms like this before,” she said simply, and then she leaned back just slightly in her chair like she was settling into something familiar. Rider was sitting opposite her, not relaxed but controlled, and Declan was to my side watching everything without interrupting, and Raven stayed quiet but I could feel his attention moving between all of us like he was tracking every small s

Raven's POV I made it to the library in under three minutes, my legs burning with an urgency I hadn't felt since the border skirmishes last season. The heavy oak door swung open, revealing a tableau that froze my breath. Bailey sat hunched at the massive central table, the ancient, tarnished silver seal clutched in her hand. Her fingers, usually so steady, trembled noticeably. Across the room, near the closed entrance, stood Leila, her hands clasped so tightly together her knuckles were white. It was the stance she always took when fear gnawed at her, trying desperately to project calm, failing miserably. My eyes snapped first to the seal, then to Bailey’s pale face. “Alright,” I said, my voice deliberately even, masking the tremor in my own gut. “Bailey, put that down. Now. Slowly.”

Bailey's POV He told me over eggs, the kind Leila made every morning now. She’d claimed the kitchen as her domain and nobody, not even the palace staff, had dared to argue. I watched her methodically crack an egg against the side of the pan, the yolk a perfect, sunny orb, and wondered how much longer this domestic tableau could possibly last. Rider didn’t look at me as he spoke, his gaze fixed on the plate of bacon in the center of the table.“Four words.” He pushed a small, folded piece of parchment across the polished wood. “Found tucked into a floorboard in the east wing.”My fork clinked against the ceramic plate. I picked up the parchment, my fingers tracing the aged, slightly rough texture. The words, written in a stark, unfamiliar script, seemed to leap out at me: *I remember the mourning flower.*Beneath it, a crude but clearly delineated map. Not of the palace grounds, not of the surrounding city. My breath hitched. It was a map of my bedroom, specifically the space between

Bailey's POV  I had been in Rider’s room for four nights when the nausea started. It always came before dawn, a sickening lurch deep in my gut that made my tongue feel thick. I moved quietly, pushing myself out of the warm bed and padding across the plush carpet to the bathroom. I kept the light off, finding my way by the faint glow filtering in from the palace grounds, and tried to be quick, to be silent. I didn’t want to wake him. Back in bed, snuggled into the blankets, I would try to fall back asleep before he stirred, before he could know. I managed it for two days. On the third morning, Rider was already awake. I closed the bathroom door, my stomach still roiling, and saw him sitting up in bed. His dark hair was a mess, his shoulders hunched, and he was watching the bathroom door with an expression I couldn't q