Page 109 of Fated

“Mom, this is Areya,” he said, his voice full of warmth. “She is very important to me, and she saved my life.”

Her face softened as she smiled at me through her tears. “Areya. What a beautiful name.”

I offered her a shy smile in return.

“My name is Nadia,” she continued, her voice tender as she sniffled, placing a gentle hand on my arm. “Thank you for saving my son.”

Before I could respond, Xanth cleared his throat. “All right, Mom, I know we are all beyond relieved to see Sebastian, but time is not on our side. We need to catch up on the last sixteen years and figure out how we’re going to handle everything.”

Nadia nodded, her eyes shifting between Ash and me. Despite the tears still streaming down her face, she gave us one more smile before quietly taking her seat.

Ash and I returned to our seats as Xanth began to speak, his tone serious.

“The last time we were all together, we had just received grim news from King Edwin of Astern. One of his servants had witnessed the murder of his eldest son. King Edwin had been ledto believe he had a sixth child named Agidius, secretly mothered by Cynthia, the Queen of Ellington, the Dark Kingdom. Edwin believed Agidius was responsible for the deaths of his other children in pursuit of the heir power. King Edwin called on Ambrosia for aid in finding Cynthia, who was believed to be hiding among his people in her shapeshifter form.

“Our own King Sebastian, along with princess Reize and high commander Calyx, immediately left for Astern. Shortly after, we received word from Madam Pearl of Cresinthia that a new curse had been released, similar to the one plaguing the Dark Kingdom, but worse. This one was designed to steal the memories of the cursed. We had learned that Sebastian had fought the curse long enough to relay a message to Madam Pearl.”

Xanth looked around, then continued. “She told us Cynthia admitted to murdering Edwin’s late wife, hiding her body, and impersonating her long enough to give birth to a son—Agidius. King Sebastian’s last order came through Madam Pearl to activate the blood wards, sealing us all in Astern. Since then, we have been in the dark about the ongoings of the outside world.”

Xanth turned to Ash. “Now, Sebastian will fill us in on where he’s been for the last sixteen years and on any news he has regarding Astern.”

Ash stood up, his voice steady as he began, “I ordered the activation of the blood wards to protect the citizens of Ambrosia from the spread of the curse, and I had Pearl send a warning to the King of Titan to raise his wards as well. King Edwin’s suspicions regarding Cynthia were, in fact, true.

“I succeeded in finding Cynthia in the form of the very servant who had come forward with news of witnessing Agidius and Cynthia murder Prince Arthur. She had revealed herself deliberately, setting a trap to lure me to Astern. After I capturedher, she knew Agidius was about to release the curse, so she confessed her plan—one she had set in motion many years ago.

“We all know the story of the Dark Kingdom—how Cynthia had been fated to the first King of Ellington, how she murdered him before they had any heirs, and how, being fated, she received the heir power. We had believed our original kings had trapped her and her kingdom behind a wall, but she revealed to me that she had never been trapped. Instead, she had portals hidden all over Gardonia that she used to come and go as she pleased.”

The room was heavy with tension as Ash continued. “She let three thousand years pass to allow the heir powers in our world to grow and mature through the generations. King Edwin and I were the only two people who knew of a portal existing in Astern, leading to a human world. But Cynthia informed me she had portals open to seven exclusively human worlds. Over the years, she used these worlds as blood farms, taking just enough people from each one to maintain her control over her kingdom, without ever threatening the population of these worlds.

“After killing King Edwin’s wife, Ansel, Cynthia used her transformative magic to impersonate her and become pregnant with Agidius. She returned to Ellington to raise him, and twenty-two years later, they both returned to Astern. Using her abilities, she aided Agidius in systematically killing off every heir of King Edwin in a matter of days, leaving only the king and his middle son, Cam. She wanted Agidius to inherit the heir power of Astern.

“As you know, that power comes with a gift, allowing the bearer to transfer a king’s heir power if both parties are willing, and if both parties have settled. That’s where the upgrade to Cynthia’s curse came into play. While I was under the curse, I had no memory of my past life; nothing mattered exceptfor serving Agidius, my sire. Had the curse spread to Titan, as Cynthia had planned, King Aldo and I would have willingly handed over our powers.

“Cynthia’s plan was to eventually transfer her own heir power to Agidius, allowing him to hold every heir power in our world. He would have become strong enough to conquer any world, in any galaxy. This new curse spread rapidly, carried through the air in a magical mist.

“But her plan for the curse to affect all of Gardonia was halted when Titan and Ambrosia activated the blood wards, effectively sealing out the cursed mist.

“Had she succeeded, every divine on this planet would have become cursed, transforming them into Agidius’ loyal, blood-fed army. Humans, unaffected by the curse, would have been quickly wiped out by the cursed ones—or ‘rippers’ as they are called now.

“While under the curse, I was aware of the executions of two individuals. I now realize they were King Edwin and his middle son, Prince Cam. With their death, the heir power would have gone directly to Agidius, the last remaining heir. But something changed, for reasons I still don’t fully understand. Instead of following through with his plan to take my heir power, Agidius had me spend the last sixteen years searching for Areya, Edwin’s only other living descendant and last known healer, aside from Agidius himself. His focus on finding her became his obsession, her capture before she settled becoming his top priority.”

Ash paused a moment, his gaze softening as it rested on me.

“I succeeded in finding her. Areya is an incredibly powerful healer. Before she even settled, she was able to restore enough of my memories to break the sire bond between Agidius and me. Together, Areya and I escaped to Cresinthia, where we’ve spent the last week seeking answers.”

Ash’s voice grew more emotional as he spoke the next words.

“Even with my fragmented memories, Areya pulled me out of the darkness. She made me want to search for the truth, to fight for the life I had forgotten.”

Every pair of eyes in the room seemed to be on me, but I kept my focus on Ash. He turned back to the rest of the room, continuing, “After Areya settled, she used the full force of her power to break my curse, fully restoring me to my former self. Now that she’s here in Ambrosia, our goal is to have our brilliant team of scientists and doctors work together to create a cure from her blood—something we could potentially mass distribute to the cursed ones.

“I am concerned though …” Ash’s expression darkened slightly. “We don’t know why Areya is vital to Agidius. She can cure a ripper, yes, but not on a grand scale. This shouldn’t have been a threat to Cynthia and Agidius’ plan. She only recently settled, so she wasn’t even a contender for the heir power until now. Had Agidius not sought her out, she could have lived her entire life in the human world, unaware of Gardonia. What we also don’t know is how Agidius even knew where to look for Areya—or why he taskedmewith finding her, risking the very heir power he sought. We do know that Areya is the daughter of King Edwin’s late daughter, Everleigh, and that someone purposely hid her in the human world, whose portal resides in Astern.

“I suspect King Edwin himself was involved in hiding Areya unless there was someone else who knew about that portal.”

He paused, glancing around the room, his gaze hardening with determination. “What I do know is that Agidius will stop at nothing to get his hands on her—and I will never allow that to happen.”

Ash turned to Tessa. “Tessa, I need you to track down thelocation of Calyx’s bike as soon as possible and get the exact coordinates to me.”

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