Page 48 of Fated

Ash stopped her. “You just mentioned a sire bond. Has anyone ever broken that bond?”

Madam Pearl nodded slowly, a knowing look in her eyes. “Yes, the curse had a weakness. Though Cynthia managed to turn her people into monsters, they never forgot who they were—or who they loved. Through the strength of love, some found the willpower to resist her control.”

Ash only nodded and Madam Pearl continued.

“Our emissary from Ellington brought us news of the curse just days before Cynthia released it. Through her test subjects, Cynthia discovered a healer could cure the curse. Our goal was to use that information to find a way to mass produce a cure, but before we had a chance to act, she released the curse. It was like a virus—airborne, infecting anyone it touched.

“We alerted the other kingdoms, and the three ruling kings of that time came together and created an extraordinarily powerful ward. This magical wall surrounded the entirety of Ellington, sealing the people and the curse inside. Only the combined blood of the three kings could break the ward. The King of Titan forged thick forests and grew treacherous mountainsaround Ellington, and eventually, most forgot about the cursed kingdom.

“The passageway from Cresinthia was shut down permanently, and for nearly three thousand years, no one has known what became of the cursed people, and if they still survive.”

I shuddered at the idea of the cursed kingdom left to fester in isolation for centuries, but something else was weighing heavily on me. It was the idea that human worlds, like my own, were nothing more than blood banks for some evil queen to control her people.

“Do all divine view humans so poorly? I have been around humans my entire life. The mother who raised me, and my friends, they were all human, and they were good. They certainly didn’t deserve to be treated as nothing more than walking blood bags.”

I couldn’t help the anger seeping into my words.

Madam Pearl’s expression softened. “Yes, dear, you will find today that most divine treat humans with equality and respect, but change came slowly for the humans of Gardonia. After the establishment of the four kingdoms, the divine harbored resentment toward humans for nearly destroying our world. In retaliation, the divine rose to power, and humans were treated as little more than slaves for centuries. But change did come. Only three hundred years ago, the King of Ambrosia came to me—”

“Ash’s kingdom?” I interrupted.

She nodded. “Yes, the King of Ambrosia came to me with a bold plan. He was going to make a stand against the other kingdoms. He vowed to offer safe refuge to any human seeking asylum in Ambrosia. He asked for my support, understandinghow essential Cresinthia was to the other kingdoms, not only for trade, but also for the wealth of knowledge we possessed.

“With the full support of Cresinthia behind him, the King of Ambrosia threatened the other kingdoms with war and the permanent loss of access to Cresinthia.

“Reluctantly, they agreed to end human slavery and soon after, most humans migrated to Ambrosia, where they were granted full and equal citizenship. If you would believe it, the intellect of all those humans gathered in one place combined with divine magic led to Ambrosia becoming the most powerful of all the kingdoms.”

A sense of relief washed over me at her words.

It was comforting to know that not everyone in Gardonia shared the same disregard for human life as Ash did, and as Calyx and the Queen of Ellington had.

Although Ash … He was from Ambrosia, the kingdom that had ended slavery. Surely Ash—the Ash before the curse—must have cared at least a little about humans too.

Ash’s voice pulled me back to the conversation at hand. “How did Astern get cursed, and if Ambrosia is my home, how did I end up in Astern?”

Madam Pearl continued. “The King of Astern, Edwin, was a good man, a just ruler. He had five children with his wife Ansel—four sons and one daughter. The king loved them dearly, but a few months after their youngest daughter was born, Ansel disappeared. Edwin searched relentlessly for her for years until one day, her remains were found in a hidden passageway beneath the castle; she had been murdered. But Edwin’s horror didn’t end there.

“Sixteen years ago, Edwin’s grown children began dying in a span of days. Each one—a potential heir—had been murdered. A castle servant came forward. She had been quietly going abouther duties, stocking a linen closet when she witnessed something she couldn’t quite explain. Edwin’s eldest sons, Prince Arthur, and his brother Prince Cam, entered the room without noticing the servant. She heard something heavy fall, and when she looked, she saw Cam standing over Arthur’s unconscious body with a stone figurine in his hand.

“But what shocked her most was what happened next. Cam’s body shifted, transforming into a black-haired woman. The woman casually pulled a tiny mouse out of her pocket, using magic to turn the creature into a dark-haired man. The black-haired woman laughed before turning to the man, addressing him as Agidius. She told him that once he killed his last brother, all that would stand between him and the heir power was his father, Edwin. Edwin knew nothing of a son named Agidius, but he did know that only one person in Gardonia could shape-shift.”

“Cynthia, the witch turned Queen of Ellington,” I whispered.

Madam Pearl nodded gravely. “Yes, Cynthia had murdered Edwin’s wife years ago and taken her form, becoming pregnant with the king’s sixth child, Agidius. She then disappeared to raise him in secret. Once Agidius was old enough, Cynthia returned with him to help him murder his brothers and father, all in an effort to gain the heir power of Astern.

“How did Cynthia break through the ward around Ellington?” I asked.

Madam Pearl sighed as she shook her head. “We don’t know.”

I nodded, signaling for her to continue.

“After losing nearly all his children, King Edwin called upon the King of Ambrosia for help. Ambrosia’s king would be able to use his power and search the minds of the people close to Edwin, identifying the imposter among them. So, the King ofAmbrosia, along with a few of his most trusted, all possessing useful abilities, headed to Astern to aid King Edwin.”

“That’s how Ash ended up in Ambrosia—he possessed mind control abilities,” I said.

Madam Pearl nodded and continued again.

“The King of Ambrosia’s arrival in Astern was one of the last things we heard from the world above. Shortly after, the ripper curse was unleashed once again, but this time, it was far more insidious. The curse had been altered; it didn’t just turn its victims into rippers.

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