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.

is probably somewhere in a mortal body, receiving the mortal punishment. Her soul will suffer

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

prayer can save her, Xanthea. No pain will suffice. There

I pursed

'should,' bear the burden

I whimpered. My chest tightened, his words hitting me like a physical

followed was a silence that haunted

punishment for her. But another part of me was consumed by grief - the part that couldn't wish such a fate on even my worst enemy. But somehow, no matter how harsh his words were or how deeply they cut, a strange relief washed over me, because his words

terms with the fact that my mother was gone. I finally accepted the one thing I had been denying all my life: my mother was dead, buried in this grave, and she was never coming

bound to remain trapped in the endless cycle of life and death. And

deliberately - kept her alive within me for

had allowed it. But I was the only one who could reclaim my identity. From this grave, she couldn't touch me, let alone control my mind or my

He wanted me to understand that what was hers could never be mine, and

I was safe.

my fault. I longed to live her life, to fulfill her dreams out of guilt. And so, I had

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

jaw, turning my face to the side as he kissed

have every right to fuck you over your mother's grave. For my cock to ravage your pussy while

voluntarily stayed on my four, my chest heaving as he

before he could unzip his pants, I rose to my knees, using all my strength to push him back as I

pinning his hands beside his head as I straddled

my face as I leaned in,

actions, but he silently remained

tears streamed down my face, dripping onto his and

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

understood why his harsh words hurt so deeply. His raw pain had bled into them so subtly that I doubted if he

choked, my voice cracking because of the lump in my

our eyes remained locked for what

strong," I said. "Stop hiding behind those harsh words. If there's one thing I know about you, it's that you never do anything without a reason. And

off my eyes and cheeks, refusing to let them blur my vision as I

find us - our memories. And in those memories, I met

my dry

"I feel, Asher."

his waist, lowering my head so that my hair

you feel?" he asked in a soft, calm tone, the word 'feel'

his chest. "With myself. But... at the same time... there's this feeling that... I... I... I..."

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

that you went through - wasn't wrong. Loving her - even if she didn't deserve it - wasn't a