Offered to the Triplet Alphas

Chapter-111. Forget me

[Xanthea]

Asher words reverberated in my mind like an eerie echo leeching into my thoughts.

My grave? What the hell does that even mean?

I am right here. Alive-

That's when it hit me, numbing my rage and fear, leaving me empty. My body went limp as the realization sunk deeper.

If my heart didn't slam against my ribs as violently as it did, I would have believed that I was truly dead.

A thought that had never crossed my mind before crashed like a wave, drowning my entire reality within seconds - was I ever truly alive?

"You mercilessly killed yourself every year on your birthday, burying your soul right here..." Asher said with a faint tremble in his voice. He pressed my palm against the cold white marble of the grave.

"Look what you've done to yourself, Xanthea... what you're still doing. You never mourned your mother. You only mourned yourself..."

Goosebumps prickled across my skin as tears welled in my eyes. Not because I was breaking, but somehow his words were making sense in a way that fixed something inside me. Something he never broke. I could feel the haze of my dark thoughts splintering as the moon glowed a little brighter.

His grip on my body turned gentler. Maybe because I had stopped resisting. I still didn't understand what he was doing or why, but it was working. It was slowly burning away my mother from me. Maybe because I finally realized what he wanted me to.

My tears dropped on the forget-me-nots as I peered at the grave.

"Do you want to know what happened to your mother's soul?" He asked grimly.

My breaths turned colder in my lungs as I took a quick gulp.

"Such information is highly confidential. I could get into a lot of trouble for breaking several laws of the universe as I share this with you, but the trouble's going to be so worth it."

He sounded almost like Ezra, his voice edging towards madness.

"Your mother's soul isn't rotting in some hell." Asher's laugh was jagged, like shards of glass. "No - hell would've been a mercy. After losing her immortality, Cadence died as a mortal, and her soul entered the karmic cycle - the cycle of life and death. She will live and die as many times as the lives she destroyed. Her every life will be uglier than the last until she's endured every drop of pain she ever caused."

His thumb brushed over my tear-stained cheek, almost tender like a blade when it cuts the skin.

"You think you can redeem her by punishing yourself?" He chuckled. "The karma is far crueler than you. That's how the universe works: anything you give others returns to you tenfold."

My breath hitched as he sank into my nape, his nose trailing along the curve of my neck.

somewhere in a mortal body, receiving the mortal punishment. Her soul will suffer not death,

with a daunting gravity, and despite his attempt to keep a neutral tone, his hatred

will suffice.

breath, I pursed

one else can, or 'should,' bear the burden of her karma. Her guilt will follow her through

I whimpered. My chest tightened, his words hitting

was a silence that haunted

part that couldn't wish such a fate on even my worst enemy. But somehow, no matter how harsh his words were or how

came to terms with the fact that my mother was gone. I finally accepted the one thing I had been denying all my life:

endless cycle of life and death. And this

consciously - deliberately - kept her alive within me for all these years

I was the only one who could reclaim my identity. From

and her memories. He wanted me to understand that what was hers could never be mine, and she could never steal what belonged

I was safe.

always wanted to be like my mother, convinced her death was my fault. I longed to live her life, to fulfill her dreams out of guilt. And so, I had buried myself in

not for revenge... why else would I've brought you here?" Asher's voice was low, dangerous. "Shouldn't you pay for your mother's sins? Shouldn't you

turning my face to the side as he kissed the corner of

ravage your pussy while you

on my body slid away. I voluntarily stayed on my four, my

I rose to my knees,

to the ground, pinning his hands beside his head as I straddled his waist,

cascaded down the side of my face as I leaned in, my face

have easily neutralized my actions, but he silently remained on the ground, contemplating me with a blank yet warm

my face, dripping

painful for me to be here, but why had it taken me so long to realize that it was probably hurting him a thousand times

hurt so deeply. His raw pain had bled into

my voice cracking because of the lump in my

locked for what felt

one thing I know about you, it's that you never do anything without a reason. And your reason... it can never be as hollow as revenge." "My reasons - if they are related to you - can

scrubbed the tears off my eyes and cheeks, refusing to let

darkroom. It was one of the most overwhelming experiences of my life; something I'll never forget. Not because I almost lost my mind there, but because it helped me find us - our memories. And

my dry

"I feel, Asher."

on his waist, lowering my head so that

feel?" he asked in a soft, calm tone, the word 'feel' drifting from his lips like

My eyes dropped to his chest. "With myself. But... at the same time... there's this feeling that... I... I... I..." "That you survived?" He completed my words, and I

a deep breath and sat up, shifting me gently onto his lap so that my

Loving her - even if she didn't deserve it - wasn't a mistake. And if you see it as one, then I'm grateful that you made that mistake because it kept you alive. It