60 – Voyage Through The Realm Of Memory and Time
I closed the book that I had been reading and put it down. I raised my head to watch my brother play near tone as she slept. Once in a while, he would glance at her to see if she was watching him play. He thought he could get her attention and get her to wake up. I looked out the window; the sun had long since set and now I could hear the crickets. Abel’s caretaker would soon come looking for him. He had not bathed yet, nor had dinner, but he did not look like he wanted to leave the infirmary just yet, I sighed deeply before getting on my feet and making my way towards him and
lone.
I took a good look at lone: her color had come back completely, and she was looking more and more alive. I still felt that twinge of guilt at her current condition. From touching me alone, she was turned into this… It made me wonder what she encountered when she had actually tried to look
into me.
My mind was filled with new questions as well, like who was Alaric? And why had her mother looked so guilty when lone had first fallen unconscious, like she had had something to do with it? I had an inkling that lone would not have tried seeing into me, especially without my permission, if she had not been prompted or even forced. It was just out of character for her to do something like that.
She had told me in tears what her ability was doing to her. She was very genuine when she was telling me. It looked like it had torn her apart. She had been forced, but I would not also be throwing accusations until Ione was back and safe. She would be the one to tell the story. She would wake up; I had to believe that. Believing anything other than there was hope was unfathomable. She did not deserve this, definitely not her. Her kind soul deserved to truly be happy, and I had yet to see that happen.
I had regrets too. The dysfunction in her family and their very apparent apathy or dislike of her had to stop. For the first time, I felt like, as the Luna and as Cassian’s wife, I should have stood up for her. But it had taken her getting hurt for me to realize what I should have done. I would not repeat the mistake, I promised myself. I had promised her that I would have her back even if no one did. I had to make true on my promise.
“Come on, Abel,” I urged, taking his hand. “Let’s get you ready for bed.”
He looked up at me, then at Ione. He was torn. He did not want to leave her alone.
My heart ached as I crouched down to his level to look squarely into his brown eyes. “Darling, she will be alright.” I gestured at the Delta who was sleeping in a corner. “Someone will be here when she needs help. You don’t have to worry,” I assured.
He took one look at her again before nodding. I carried him up into my arms and came back to Ione’s side and placed a kiss on her brow. I hoped that she felt it and knew that she was loved and missed.
Then my heart sank as I realized something. I reached my hand towards her, hoping that I was wrong. It had to be false. It was not true, but when my hand came in contact with her brow again, she was no longer warm; she was getting cold again. Her lips were becoming pale and cracked, and her skin was turning white. Like she was in snow.
“What are you doing to my child?” Someone from the doorway asked before stomping over to me.
Cassian’s mother shoved me aside and, at the sight of Ione, let out a blood–curdling scream. “She was warm!” she yelled, before turning eyes full of accusation on me. “What have you done?” she demanded.
The Delta in the corner jolted awake and rushed over to Ione’s side, her eyes wide. “How…” she gasped. “What happened, Luna?” she asked, aghast.
“Don’t you know that she is a murderer?” Cassian’s mother accused, her tone acidic and filled with hatred. “How black is your soul that my daughter got sucked into it?”
Guards had been awakened and they filled into the room, Landon leading them. “What is going on?” he asked, rushing over to Ione’s side. He paled instantly. “She was warm,” he said, his expression shocked.
Cassian’s mother pointed at me, her eyes blazing. “It was the maggot witch!” she screamed. “She hurt my daughter and now she is trying to kill her with her poisonous kiss. She does not want the whole world to know of the atrocities that she had kept hidden under her innocent face.” She spat.
The whole room had their eyes on me. Even Landon looked more confused and disheartened than anything. He simply looked at Ione, unable to fathom what had just happened.
Zahila also made an appearance, running straight to her mother–in–law’s side. Without even knowing what had happened, she began to glare. “What has our murdering Luna done now?” she asked, her tone scornful.
“She tried to kill our Ione,” Cassian’s mother mumbled, fake tears falling. “She is trying to hide her true nature. She does not want lone to survive
and tell us what she saw.”
Zahila gasped dramatically, clutching her chest. “How could you? After everything that she did for you?”
Cassian’s mother suddenly began to sob as all eyes remained glued on me. The eyes of all who were witnesses to the scene were not filled with malice towards me; they all looked confused and frustrated at Ione’s sudden change in condition.
I was disgusted that the mother who barely came to see her was trying to look like a heartbroken mother who was accusing the person she believed was trying to harm her child. But I knew it was all a ploy to put me in a bad light. To think that this woman…
“Get the Alphal” Cassian’s mother turned to Landon and ordered. He turned his gaze to me, but I stared straight at the two women who knew nothing other than to wreak havoc.
Landon hesitantly began to move towards the exit.
“Stop,” I ordered, my voice level. I did not shout, but Landon halted immediately. The whole room went quiet. “No one is getting the Alpha.”
Cassian’s mother’s eyes flashed with anger. “Who are you to-”
Setting
21:05
60 Voyage Through The Realm Of Memory and Time
“You disgust me,” I spat, cutting her off. “You only care about your daughter when it benefits your agenda. You have never once thought about her feelings or what she needs. You use her as a pawn in your schemes, and now you stand here accusing me of harming her?”
Cassian’s mother glared at me, her face twisted with rage. “You know nothing about being a mother. You could never understand the lengths a mother would go to protect her child. Perhaps that’s why the goddess took yours away. She knew you were unworthy of motherhood.”
Her words hit me like a physical blow. My heart clenched, and for a moment, I felt like I couldn’t breathe. The loss of my child was a wound that had never fully healed, and hearing it thrown in my face like this was almost too much to bear. But I couldn’t give her the satisfaction of seeing me break. I took a deep breath, forcing myself to stay calm.
“You may think that your words can hurt me, but they can’t,” I said quietly, my voice steady despite the pain. “I know what it means to have a parent who is a monster. I had one. And I can recognize a monster when I see one. You may hide behind your title and your fake tears, but I see you for what you are. A manipulative, heartless woman who uses her own children for her twisted games.”
Cassian’s mother looked as if she might explode with fury, but before she could say anything, I continued. “You think you’re protecting lone? By abandoning her, by ignoring her pain, by only showing up when it serves your purpose? That’s not love. That’s not what a mother does. A mother stands by her child through everything, not just when it’s convenient.”
Her face turned an even deeper shade of red, and I could see the anger boiling over. “You have no right to speak to me like that!”
“And you have no right to use your daughter like a tool,” I shot back. “Ione deserves better than this. She deserves better than you.”
“You think you’re some kind of savior?” she sneered. “You’re nothing but a murderer hiding behind a title you don’t deserve.”
“I’m someone who genuinely cares about Ione’s well–being,” I retorted. “Unlike you, I don’t need to use her to advance my own agenda.”
Cassian’s mother opened her mouth to retort, but I cut her off again. “You’re right, I’m not a mother. But I know what it means to care for someone unconditionally. I know what it means to fight for someone because you love them, not because you need them for your schemes.”
“You think you know everything, don’t you?” she hissed. “You know nothing about the sacrifices I’ve made for my children.”
“Your sacrifices?” I scoffed. “You mean the way you sacrifice their happiness for your own gain? The way you manipulate and control them? That’s not love, that’s selfishness.”
Her eyes blazed with fury, and for a moment, I thought she might strike me. But instead, she turned to the guards. “Get her out of here!” she ordered. “She doesn’t belong here!”
The guards hesitated, looking between us, unsure of what to do. They looked at me as if asking for a command. They were not on her side, but she hadn’t realized that yet.
She looked at them, aghast. “You cannot be serious. You are taking a stranger’s side? This is treason.” She glared at them.
“They will not touch me,” I told her, my voice cold. “I’m not leaving. Ione needs me, and I won’t let you use your power to push me away.”
Cassian’s mother looked ready to explode, but before she could say anything, Cassian himself walked into the room. His eyes took in the scene, and he immediately moved to Ione’s side, his face a mask of concern.
“What happened?” he asked, his voice tight with worry.
“She was warm,” I said, my voice shaking slightly. “But now… now she’s cold again.”
Cassian’s eyes darkened, and he turned to his mother. “What did you do?”
His mother recoiled, her face pale. “I did nothing! It was her!” She pointed at me, her voice shrill. “She is the one who did this!”
Cassian’s gaze shifted to me, but I stood my ground. “I am trying to save her, Cassian. I would never hurt Ione.”
He looked at me for a long moment, then nodded. “I could never think you would do that,” he said quietly. “I just need you to tell me what happened.”
And I did just that and I revealed something else that I had noticed. “It smelled like something when I first realized that she had gone cold again.”
“What was that?” he asked.
“Snow,” I replied. Snow to me had that crisp, clean smell with an earthy undertone, and that had been what I had detected.
“Snow?” he asked, confused.
“It would explain why she goes from warm to cold,” I said, my words tumbling out. I made my way back to where I had been sitting before to pick up the book that I had been reading. One that I had discovered in the royal archives.
“This is a text on seers like lone,” I opened to a page. “It says that seeing entails communing with the goddess as she makes the seer travel through the soul and memories of the one to be seen. That is how she really sees.”
Cassian’s mother scoffed.
But Cassian continued to listen intently. “So she travels?”
I nodded. “She leaves her body behind in order to see, but the external factors of the memories should not affect her, unless…”
“She is stuck.”
I nodded. “She is now subjected to the factors of the realm and memories. If it snows, she gets cold; and if it gets warm in the realm during her traveling, she gets warm here as well. That was why I could detect the smell of snow. It is snowing where she is.”
“Um,” Cassian mused.
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Setting
21:05
60- Voyage Through The Realm Of Memory and Time
“Don’t tell me you believe her outlandish lies. What does she know about seeing?” Cassian’s mother snapped.
“A lot, it would seem,” a familiar voice said from the doorway.
I turned to find three Zeta elders making their way towards me. My heart sank; the leader, the man who always had nothing good to say, was in
front.
“Elders…” Cassian’s mother stammered. “What… brings…”
“I did.” Cassian answered. He acknowledged their presence with a slight nod, and they did the same, mirroring him. Then he turned to me, nodding as well. I blinked in surprise before doing the same.
He glanced at the book in my hand. “May I?” he asked. Putting out his hand, I placed it in his hand.
“Voyage through Realms of Memory and Time,” he mused with a sigh. “My grandmother wrote this.”
I gasped. “She was a seer?”
He nodded before glancing at Ione. “She was the first, and Ione is the second. That is why there is so little on the topic of seeing. I am surprised that you could even find the text.” He sounded almost… impressed.
My back still ached from searching for it through the dusty archives.
“Yes, it is true that she is trapped in the other realm, like a traveler trapped in a strange kingdom. You have figured that much out, Luna.”
I tried not to let my surprise show when he called me Luna. “What can be done?”
“Someone has to go as well and get her back,” he revealed.
Hello guys, Lilac here.
I wanted to ask if you like how the story is going, concentrating a bit on Ione and her past. Or would you prefer for me to go back to writing about Iris and Cassian and focus on their love story? Please comment and tell me so that I can ensure that you are not too bored.
61 Love That Aches
