Offered to the Triplet Alphas

Chapter-103. Responsibilities

[Xanthea]

All the information about the generational curses in my mother's knowledge and memories flooded my mind.

My eyes leafed through the pages of the books and diaries.

"Generational curses feed on the existence of the affected immortal. The stronger the immortal it consumes, the more malignant and deadlier it gets." I thought out loud. "Spreading through the bloodline, it spares no direct legitimate lineage..."

I looked at Asher, no longer plagued by questions, but haunted by the answers and an unsettling realization.

'Your demon husbands are going down very soon, and I'll make sure it happens faster.' Nikolai's threat wasn't empty.

Did he know about the demon lord's curse?

"Your pack knows about your curse?" I asked hesitantly.

Asher shook his head.

"No. Only a few people know about it - our family and a handful of celestials," he said gravely. "But the celestials have planned to use mortals to catalyze the curse and end us sooner. And the mortal they've chosen to execute their plan is your brother, Nikolai."

I widened my eyes, shaking my head. "No... why him?"

"I don't know... yet..." he said.

"No. No. No!" I looked around the fog frantically. "There has to be more. I need more of her memories. After everything she did, she can't do this to you! To Ezra! No!"

I reached out, my fingers trembling as I tried to touch the clouds, desperately searching for fragments of memories that could guide me - anything to show me the path to cure the curse. But no matter how hard I clawed at the haze, there was nothing. Just an endless expanse of white, blank fog that swallowed every flicker of hope.

"There has to be more..."

Asher's hands held mine in a firm yet achingly gentle grip as he lowered them.

"Xanthea," he said, his voice low, almost pleading. "Stop."

"No!" I thrashed against his grip, but he didn't let go. His thumbs slowly caressed my knuckles to calm me.

"This is the end of her memories for you," he murmured, leaning closer until I could feel the heat of his breath against my skin.

"It can't be!" My voice broke as I shook my head, tears blurring my vision. "S-she can't do this! She can't-" I gritted my teeth, hatred and anger flowing in my veins like venom. "I need more - I have to fix this!"

"Xanthea..." His tone softened, and he stepped closer, closing the space between us. "We'll fix this... together."

I took back my hands from him. "How can you be so calm? Why are you so gentle with me when I don't even deserve it?"

"I will not allow you to hate yourself." Asher's tone turned grim as he glared at the self-loathing and guilt that disgusted me from within.

Asher contemplated me, his eyes gleaming with emotions I failed to fathom amidst my own.

I frowned, lowering my gaze, my heart pounding painfully as waves of shame and confusion crashed over me.

"Don't you?" I asked, holding his gaze.

Asher lowered his head, a strange mixture of a sigh and a smile playing on his lips.

He gave me enough time to settle myself down before he changed the subject.

creation, whom she feared so intensely, she chose an indirect method, which was sure to work," he said. Staying out of my mind was the best thing I could do for the sake of my

a lot more malignant when it passed down to us. A curse that remained hidden for years and even

there when she cursed my father," Asher said, and a million new questions assaulted my

Why was Asher there?

he until

all those questions aside, I asked the one that had occupied my mind the most. "Is-is there

your mother's knowledge and now her memories...

I couldn't tell if he genuinely

I blinked

answer, but I didn't want to put it into words. Clenching my clammy palms into fists,

we can avoid its spread by..." my throat closed up, but I pushed through

gaze locked onto mine with an intensity that made the

the one that's

into my palm, biting into my skin as I tightened my

you, my wife, choose what's less painful for you. Do you know why?" he

to bite back

trembling as I looked into his eyes through my misty gaze. "You need strong heirs for the

silence pressing down on me like

ever since the Infernal Realm came into existence," Asher said, his gaze falling to his hand as if

a shadow of tension

our blood, keeping evil in check. And I provide it with just enough

met mine, sharp

Alpha. And a pack without an Alpha turns rogue. In Hell, a rogue pack doesn't just mean disorder. It means disorder on a scale that can

of his words hung between

thoughts staggering on the edge

narrowing as if he could

was exhaustion or something darker. But for the first

he tries to sit on it, the throne nearly tears him apart - even with me present." His words slowed as he drew in a deep breath. "I can't imagine what will happen

to hell, everything would

I dreaded clawed their way out of me. "The only way left... is to block the curse. Offspring from

paused, the next words slipping

"O-our kids..."

- for denial, for reassurance, for anything that might undo

a horrifying

like an excruciating knot in my chest, so heavy I

children... only to lose them to

my throat, but I choked it down, my hands trembling as they

be born to die..."

"Yes..." he said.

churn violently, a wave of nausea rising in

destroy it?" I questioned him,

"Just like your mother created you, only to be destroyed by us, for us.

gaze, clenching my

so you wouldn't turn out the way she did. She thought raising you in an atmosphere of hatred would humble you. Maybe that's why she conceived you from an affair with your

gritted my teeth, quickly wiping off my tears,

believed you didn't deserve love simply because you were her daughter. In trying to heal her victims, she created her biggest victim - you. She probably only realized this when she understood motherhood. I hope she resented herself, repented day and night for forgiveness and peace in her final days,

tears burning in my

what you want to do to our kids?"

with us, it'll end with them," he said matter-of-factly, his tone devoid of the gravity his words

still doesn't solve anything,"

they wouldn't feed the curse, they wouldn't

shudder. It was as though he spoke of a mere strategy, not the lives