Page 49 of Fated

“It also wiped their memories, erasing who they once had been. And Ambrosia’s king, being the most powerful, resisted the curse the longest, being able to contact me before the curse claimed him completely. He told me what he had learned—how he had found and captured Cynthia, how she’d admitted everything: the murder of Ansel, the birth of Agidius, and her ultimate goal—Agidius seizing the heir power from all four kingdoms.”

Ash and I exchanged confused glances.

“Remember how I told you the King of Astern could act as a conduit, transferring energy between objects?”

“Yes,” we both replied.

“With that ability, the King of Astern technically has the power to steal the heir power of other kingdoms. A king had tried a similar thing about a thousand years ago but failed since trying to forcibly take another divine’s power killed the subject. However, more recently, another king of Astern discovered he could choose his own heir, by transferring his power.

“Other kings have been known to call upon the King of Astern to transfer their power, choosing exactly which of their heirs would receive it. The transfer worked as long as the giver andreceiver were both willing. Something else Cynthia confessed was that she was the very servant who had come forward to reveal her own presence in Astern.

“Yes, it was she who had planted the idea in Edwin’s mind to bring in the King of Ambrosia.

Wherever Agidius had been hiding while his mother was interrogated, he released the ripper curse and bound it to himself. This version of the curse—spread rapidly through a mist and by wiping the memories of its victims—eliminated the possibility of love creating a new resistance.

“Right before the King of Ambrosia succumbed to the curse, with his memory fading, he ordered me to inform his kingdom and the Kingdom of Titan to raise their blood wards. These would act as a protection similar to the original ward around Ellington. Once activated, they would keep anyone or anything from entering or exiting the kingdom and could only be disabled by the blood of the king himself. Since that day, we have lived down here with no word from the world above. When the wards went up in Titan and Ambrosia, Cresinthia was also cut off from them. Every day, we send scouts like Mira to the Astern tunnel, and others to the tunnels leading to Ambrosia and Titan, hoping for news. But it has been silent. Until, that is, you two arrived.

“We could only fear the worst, that Agidius, having claimed the heir power of Astern, had been given his mother’s heir power of Ellington and that the King of Ambrosia had also given up his power to Agidius—willingly under the curse. If this were true, Agidius would be the greatest threat not only to our world, but also to every other, especially with the knowledge that his mother possesses a world walker.”

Her words hung in the air, and the three of us sat in silence for a few long minutes.

Ash finally broke the silence. “Is the King of Ambrosia my father?”

Madam Pearl hesitated, clearly considering her words carefully.

“Your relationship with your father is … Well, let us say it is complicated. I think it’s best you discover the truth yourself by retaining your memories.”

I shifted in my seat. “You said the world was counting on Ash and me?”

Madam Pearl nodded. “Yes, the fact you are a healer gives us hope, Areya. If you were willing, we could study your blood and try to find a cure, then mass distribute the cure to as many as possible, using Cresinthia for safe passage. And if Sebastian were cured and returned to full power, he may be the only one capable of delivering the cure unnoticed.

“With his memories restored, I suspect he may know how to break through Ambrosia’s wards, and we could use the great minds of Ambrosia’s scientists, working on the cure.”

I took a deep breath. “Of course, I would be willing to give you my blood, but what I don’t understand is how am I a healer, exactly? If Agidius killed every healer, where did I come from and how did I end up in a human world?”

Madam Pearl considered me. “Do you have any idea what your birth mother’s name was?”

“Everleigh; her name was Everleigh.”

Madam Pearl looked at me with a deep sadness in her eyes. “Everleigh was the name of the King’s beloved daughter.”

My breath caught in my throat, and the room seemed to spin.

“So, Agidius murdered my mother?”

My voice wavered, barely above a whisper. The realization of it all came crashing over me like a tidal wave. I had known mybirth mother was dead, but knowing Agidius—my own uncle—had been the one to kill her opened a fresh wound in my heart.

I fought to keep the tears at bay, biting down hard on the emotion threatening to spill over. Agidius, the man I already despised for what he had done to Ash, was now more than an enemy.

He was the monster responsible for tearing apart my family, for destroying my entire life before I’d ever had a chance to know it. I had been born a princess of Astern, with a loving mother, a caring grandfather, and uncles. But Agidius and Cynthia had destroyed that world, leaving me with nothing but fragmented pieces of a past I’d never had the chance to live.

Blinking away the tears, one slipped and made its way down my cheek. I quickly wiped it away but not before realizing Ash was watching me.

“You settle in two days,” Ash said quietly.

I looked up at him.

“I want you to cure me.”

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