Mated to the Alpha: Sold to the King novel Chapter 173

Chapter 173: 0173

Lorelei POV

"Good afternoon, Beta Darius," she greeted politely, and I glanced up just in time to see Darius step into the room with a thick folder in his hands.

"Is that..." I started, already moving away from the suitcase as Skye stepped aside to let him in.

"It is." He gave me a small smile as he held the folder out to me. "These are the official clearance documents granting your maid... I mean, Skye, her full and permanent freedom."

My eyes immediately lit up.

I took the folder from him and turned toward Skye, holding it up excitedly. She broke into a wide smile from where she stood, and seeing how happy she looked made my own smile grow.

At least one good thing was finally happening.

But the moment I looked back at Darius, my smile faded.

"Why are you the one bringing this to me?" I asked, and his expression changed almost immediately. His jaw tightened slightly as though he knew exactly what I was really asking.

He cleared his throat. "Kaelen is... extremely busy today, Lorelei."

"Right..." I muttered, but the irritation in my voice was impossible to hide. I dropped the folder onto the mattress behind me, the heavy thud doing a much better job of expressing my frustration than I could.

"Does he even know I’m leaving tomorrow morning?" I asked, crossing my arms tightly over my chest. "Or is he planning to keep giving me the silent treatment until I’m halfway out of the driveway?"

Darius’s gaze dropped to the floor, and the quiet sigh that escaped him immediately made my irritation flare again.

"Kaelen just... he feels an overwhelming amount of guilt about all that has happened," he said carefully. "He genuinely believes he failed you in every possible way."

I let out a humorless laugh, shaking my head. "Yet somehow, I’m the one who feels like I’m being punished."

The words came out sharper than I intended, and the sudden silence that followed made me realize just how much emotion had been building inside me.

Even Skye shifted slightly where she stood near the bed, her eyes darting between Darius and me.

Darius looked like he wanted to say something, but whatever response he had clearly wasn’t enough to make its way past his lips. Instead, he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, leaving me with nothing but the sound of my own breathing.

I swallowed hard, forcing myself to calm down before I said something I would regret.

"You know what? Forget it." I turned away from him, wrapping my arms around myself as I stared toward the window. "It doesn’t matter anyway. I’m leaving tomorrow."

The words should have made me feel relieved.

Instead, they left a strange emptiness in my chest.

Outside, the last traces of sunlight were disappearing behind the trees, painting the sky in soft shades of orange and pink before darkness slowly began to take over.

I watched it quietly for a moment before whispering, almost as if saying it aloud would somehow make it true.

"Soon enough... all of this will just be a bad dream."

That was what I told myself.

More importantly, it was what I desperately wanted to believe.

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