Offered to the Triplet Alphas

Chapter- 98. Inheritance

[Xanthea]

'May you find my guilt at the right time and may it save you from your own. May you find answers to all your questions in my memories and I hope you hate me a little less.'

A woman's voice echoed in the back of my mind, weaving through the symphony of shattering glass when my eyes locked with Ezra's through the mist of showering shards and embers.

We were both frozen in time at that moment. And as the wave of an unfamiliar guilt crashed upon me, I knew we'd never be the same again.

The pain in Ezra's eyes blurred everything around me, leaving only the soft whispers of a woman singing in my mind.

Her voice floated like a lullaby, perhaps meant to soothe the child she cradled and caressed in her womb. But instead of gentle words to lull the baby to sleep, her song was forged from heartless, jagged words, each syllable a blade that pierced the child awake - splintering a life that wasn't even born yet.

'Thea, my poor child. You will carry the burden of my existence, inherit every shadow and scar I've left behind. Born from my guilt, my sins, my deepest regrets - you shall be my redemption. You shall be their cure, but there shall be no cure for the accursed fate your mother leaves you with. Forgive me, Thea... my baby...'

The words and the voice kept repeating in my head, but I failed to comprehend anything that was happening within me. At least, not until the chaos vanished, and I regained my consciousness to Asher's whisper. 'Don't worry, wife... I want you to feel this guilt because it's going to get worse.'

It did. The foreign guilt got heavier with every breath, crushing my heart. I didn't know the origin of the guilt or why I felt it so profoundly. All I knew was it belonged to my mother, but now it was mine.

'You have owned your mother's dreams, now it's time for you to own her guilt too...'

A restless, unexplained anxiety bubbled through me at Asher's words. He knew. Not just the guilt, but also my mother.

'You will never become like your mother. I will make sure you don't. But it's a burden you must bear for us. In your heart, in your soul, in your womb.'

How did he know my mother? No, what did she do? What should I do now?

'You have played your part exceptionally well so far, wife. So for now, go to sleep...'

For a second, there was nothing. I was nowhere and then the next; I found myself falling as though someone had pushed me off a cliff. I plunged into a free fall, helpless, plummeting through the thorny branches of the trees that cracked and stabbed through my skin. Pain. There was an unyielding pain.

But before I could grasp what was happening, I was falling through a narrow, suffocating tunnel. The tunnel was alive with memories that closed in from all directions as the light above me faded into darkness.

The openness vanished, and the tunnel squeezed tighter and tighter, pulling me deeper into the abyss, where there was no sound but the echo of my own frantic breaths.

There was no direction, just the feeling of endless falling, deeper and deeper, into something I couldn't escape. The further I fell, the colder the air grew, and my skin prickled with a chill that sank deep into my bones.

Shadows shifted, forming jagged, unyielding shapes, like memories of things I couldn't quite grasp but felt in my soul, each one waiting to drag me further down. They pressed closer, darker, threatening to crush me under the weight of their presence.

eyes were watching me, following as I fell. Something pounced out of the

if dipped in venom, spreading a feverish burn that sent waves of nausea

my hands and legs to fight them, but one after the

desperation, tearing, gnawing, each bite like daggers

was dreaming,

a grave of my mother's memories in the middle of nowhere. Some of

couldn't understand. I was suffocating, but I knew that even death wouldn't come to save me here. It

might never

my throat, but it was stifled down into hundreds of bubbles as I found myself drowning in a pitch black swamp being attacked, eaten and chewed apart; the only prey

the water. I stretched out my hands out of the water, hoping someone took it and pulled

it, the crushing weight slowly melted away from my soul. The black water peeled away as if repelled by his touch. I squinted

me, glowing with an intensity that cast long, dancing shadows over the tunnel

overcoat that billowed behind him as he unfurled his wings and flew me higher into my consciousness, pulling me out of the

the divine light radiating from

widened, heart pounding with raw fear. A chill ran down my spine as I glimpsed the silhouette of a towering figure

wave of light pulsed through

onto the white mist, which surprisingly held my weight. The glowing white hand

absorbing the lingering stains of dark memories that had tainted my soul. There were no wounds on my body, but the

the full experience. You won't find the next

trembling, I lifted my gaze to his face, and instantly, I was drawn into a trance that felt timeless - an eternity leading to this moment. Consumed

his skin glowing as though illuminating from within. His golden orbs held the brilliance of the sun. His wings rose behind him, vast and shimmering. Each feather spun from pure frost, that sparkled with every

him was electrified with an energy that felt both alien and deeply familiar, a presence so

broken breaths hitched as I

want to be here. Please take me out of here," I broke into sobs,

embraced me in his

with you. Maybe because you are her daughter. But some people don't change until the very end..." Asher's voice was

wake me up," I

mother's experiments have always been. The only way to get out of them was to complete them. She wants you

shook my head, tears streaming down my eyes

glimpse was enough to carve it into my memory forever. The horrors I had already witnessed sent shivers through my body, and just the

was all a lie, but deep down, I knew it was the truth

and I wanted him to keep looking at me, so that I could

It can't be real. I don't want it to

lifted his hand, caressing my

said dreams