Offered to the Triplet Alphas

Chapter-97. The relapse

[Asher]

Taken aback by her unexpected question, Raven froze in his place, his grip loosening on her.

Ezra opened his eyes wide.

"Once they are born, will my kids have the right to live? Will they live? Or will they suffer?" Her words shuddered out of her lips. Her eyes skimmed from Raven to me.

So this was her real reason for protecting the boy.

Then her eyes gazed up in the air and although she couldn't make a direct eye-contact with Ezra, he was watching her.

"They will be half of me. It's obvious they'll be weak. They might not activate their immortality genes. They might not be born with it. Will you kill them too? Can I trust you with my children's lives? Can I entrust their fate in your hand!?" Wrenching her arm from Raven's grip, she stepped back. Wiping her tears, she gathered herself and her thoughts.

Silence. A brutal, restless silence cut through the four of us.

"I'm not stupid!" she yelled, tears trailing down her eyes. "You don't want my kids to be your heirs. You need weak kids with your genes for some other reasons. Someone who can die or perhaps... someone you can kill. A sacrifice for something? Am I wrong?"

This had always been a sensitive topic among us and in that moment, none of us could muster anything but cold blankness.

"I thought so," Xanthea smiled bitterly. "That is why I'm risking it all, because I'd rather die than bear kids for you."

I licked my lips, lowering my gaze.

"No matter the place, the weak will always be at the mercy of the strong and the strong will never have strength to fend for the weak, for all they know is to assert their dominance on whoever they deem lesser than themselves. And while I know I shouldn't expect humane emotions from the demon lords, I really didn't expect this..."

"You know nothing!" Raven snapped.

"I don't care!" she roared. "If you are going to kill me, do it now and let's just get over with it!"

Ezra clenched the tremble in his fingers into a tight fist. He had handled himself far better than I had expected. Even he must have been surprised by just how much he was willing to be in control - for her. Xanthea has started to mean something important to him, and maybe that was why her words meant a lot more to him. I could sense his restraint cracking slowly.

Only if she knew the power she held over Ezra at that very moment, she wouldn't look so disappointed.

"When three most powerful alphas of the underworld are so powerless that they can't even save a child, then there really is no hope for anyone else. It will be wise for you if you end me here," she glared at Raven. "Why the hell don't you understand? You can't change anything! You can't save anyone!" Raven snarled.

"True. I can't, but you can... and you are not even trying," she retorted.

Irritation and rage zapped across Raven's face, his eyes narrowed piercing through her. It was in moments like these he didn't know what to feel or how to react, so he reacted the only way he knew - with anger. He advanced towards her only to halt as Ezra stretched his hand through the space between them, holding him at bay.

"Ezra..." Raven's face grew paler.

"It's ok. I'm ok," he said. Then he looked at Xanthea.

They stared at each other, words and thoughts slipping away, drowned by the raw flood of emotions that bound them in silence... yet it only tore them further apart. "Trust me," Ezra's voice was strained, his gaze heavy with a kind of pain that only he could endure. "Let the boy go while he still can. It will be a kindness, not cruelty." And with those words, Ezra extinguished the last dimming light in Xanthea's blank eyes. Her lips trembled as she drew in a shaky breath.

be kind to me, too. Let me go. Kill

his expression flickered - anguish broke through the hardened lines of his face. His eyes, pained and bleary, betrayed all his senses. Unable to summon words or reason, Ezra

His voice cracked, unguarded. "Please, don't make this any harder

against his chest, her hands

she whispered, her words muffled against him as her tears seeped

heart pounded excruciatingly louder. It did mean something to

young to know death." Xanthea's words came out as a soft plea. "Unlike me...

and closer to

from her, he cupped her face, his touch weak and faltering as

I make you understand... that there

steady and sure. Her voice cut

the first weak blood who activated his

Ezra's heartbeats instantly spiked. His hands fell away

words hung heavy in

he

It screamed at such a high-pitched vibration, its cry turned into a haunting whisper. 'She calls you hope. Show her what it truly means to be hope. Show her! Show

his fists, hugging his arms around himself to keep the resentful voices - the spirits of the lost weak bloods that

horror as red glowing cracks webbed

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closer to him with caution, as though

eyes snapped open, a violent crimson glow

a sudden surge of energy all around the room at an alarming rate. Raven and I exchanged a

her knees buckling under the oppressive

her just before she collapsed on the floor. Her chest heaved as she struggled

before. Maybe because I didn't see him the night he walked out of the wall as

stood before Ezra,

was wild, lost in

of

as Ezra's words cut through her. A

deafening crack as every window, every lightbulb, burst in a violent chorus of splintering glass. Shards rained down on us, tinkling

on Ezra through the glass and flames as though she were frozen

my hand, I pulled Xanthea close, sheltering her from the

force soldiers materialized around Ezra, along with the crisis healers who hurriedly raised mana barriers to

her sobs as fear, confusion,

hiccupped, her voice barely a whisper,

toward her one

felt to have slowed and

of feet and the soldier's attempt to

towards the door, opening it up. Nesryn was there with mother. They must have sensed

I mindlinked with the kids, dousing off the fire around them

and nodded before helping mother and the kids

screech of mana clashing against mana rang across the