To ruin an Omega - Chapter 454: Iya ni wura

Chapter 454: Iya ni wura

FIA

Mother pushed herself up slowly. The movement looked painful. Those black lesions cracked and spread with each shift of her body, but she managed to sit upright against the pillows.

“Exactly that,” she said. “I know.”

My mind went blank for a second.

“Then why would you…” The words tumbled out before I could stop them. “Why would you wait for death to get you? Why would you leave me alone with those monsters?”

The questions kept coming. I could not hold them back.

“Mom, I suffered. You suffered too. Why did you not get revenge? Why did you not get out?”

My voice climbed higher. The pain in my chest threatened to split me open.

“Father was horrible to us. I knew. Even when I was younger. But I see it with frightening clarity now that I am old enough.”

I searched her face. Looking for answers. For something that made sense.

“Did you not see a bright future? Was Silvercreek the best we would have ever had?”

Tears formed in her eyes. They gathered at the corners and spilled down her cheeks, cutting clean paths through the rot that had, in part, marred her skin.

“Revenge was not on my mind.”

She reached up and wiped at her face with trembling fingers.

“My precognition and yourself… those were what led me on the path to your father.” She paused. Her breathing came labored. “I figured eventually that it was fate.”

I wanted to interrupt. To tell her fate was cruel and wrong. But she kept going.

“When I first saw you in my visions, you were this bright thing. This perfect little girl who would grow into someone extraordinary.” Her voice softened. “I saw you happy. Safe. Loved in ways I never was and never could be, and I wanted that for you. I needed that for you.”

She shifted again. The sheets rustled beneath her.

“But the path to that future looked dark. It looked treacherous. I saw pain and suffering and moments where you would want to give up entirely.”

My throat tightened.

“I could have changed things. I could have run before I ever met your father. Could have hidden away somewhere safe and raised you in peace.” She shook her head. “But every time I looked down that path, your future grew dimmer. The brightness faded. You became someone else entirely.”

Her hands pressed flat against the mattress.

“So I stayed. I married him. I endured everything he did to me because the visions showed me that this suffering had purpose.” Tears continued to stream down her face. “Every mental beating… Every cruel word… Every snide remark… Every moment of degradation… they all led to you becoming who you needed to be.”

The words gutted me.

“I learned to read the patterns in my gift. Learned which choices kept your future bright and which ones snuffed it out completely.” She looked at me then. Really looked at me. “Your father provided the darkness you would need to understand others who suffered. Silvercreek gave you the strength to survive when everything tried to break you.”

I could not breathe properly. Could not think past the roaring in my ears.

“Isabel and Hazel and their cruelty taught you to recognize evil when it wore a kind face.” Her voice dropped lower. “And my death… my death freed you to become Luna without the burden of protecting someone who could not protect herself.”

No.

The denial screamed through my mind.

“I watched your future branch and shift with every decision I made. I mapped out the consequences of every possible choice.” She swallowed hard. “And the path that led to your greatest happiness required my sacrifice.”

Her eyes closed briefly. When they opened again, they looked ancient. Weighted with knowledge no one should carry.

“I saw you standing beside an Alpha who loved you with everything in him. I saw you leading a pack with wisdom and compassion. I saw you healing others the way I never could.” Her smile came sad. “I saw you whole. Finally, truly whole.”

The tears on her cheeks kept falling.

“So I made my choice. I chose your future over my present.” She drew a shaky breath. “I used my precognition like a weapon. Every vision I had, I aimed it at you. At ensuring that when my time came, you would not just survive. You would thrive.”

Her hands trembled as she pressed them to her chest.

“The rot started slowly. I knew what it was immediately. Knew what it meant.” She looked down at the black lines crawling across her skin. “My gift demanded payment because I was never meant to exist this way. Every peek into the future cost me something. And I looked so far ahead, so many times, that eventually my body could not take it anymore.”

My stomach twisted.

“I could have stopped. Could have sealed my precognition away and lived longer.” She met my eyes. “But that meant leaving your future to chance. It meant not knowing if you would find your way to safety. To love. To the life you deserved.”

She reached toward me again. The barrier kept our hands apart.

“Moreover, I was never looking at a future for myself.”

The admission hit like a physical blow.

“Grim as it is, I knew I would not live a long life.” Her voice came matter-of-fact. Clinical even. “My precognition could not be locked. Not really. Not when it kept showing me visions whether I wanted them or not.”

She tilted her head slightly.

“So I focused it on something useful. I focused it on… on you.”

“What?”

The word came out strangled.

“Without Valentine’s pills, without being able to control when the visions came…” She trailed off and then started again. “I looked into your future. I made every step to ensure that when the time came, when I perished, even if you did have to suffer, your happiness would be guaranteed.”

My world tilted.

“I had to ensure you ended up happy.” She smiled. It looked gentle despite everything. “By Cian’s side.”

My eyes widened.

“You know…” Breath caught in my throat. “You saw… You… Oh goddess… You never said a thing.”

“Why would I?”

The question came simple and direct.

“All I have to do is give it a minute, and you will find a way to feel guilty for my willing sacrifice.”

The words landed. They sank into my chest and wrapped around my heart like barbed wire.

I lingered on what she said. Let it truly process.

She used her gifts to see my future. She pushed herself to look further and further ahead, knowing it would kill her. The rot did not come from Valentine’s experiments alone. It came from her burning herself out to ensure I would be happy.

Pain lanced through me. Sharp and vicious.

“It was me.”

The realization broke something inside my chest.

“You died because of me.”

Tears came in rounds. They poured down my face faster than I could wipe them away.

“See?”

Her voice came softly. Almost amused.

I almost retched. My stomach heaved, but nothing came up. I pressed my hand to my mouth and fought for control. Fought to keep myself together when every part of me wanted to fall apart.

When I finally managed to breathe again, the words burst out.

“You have to stop, Mother. You have to stop!”

My voice cracked on the last word.

“No.”

The words were so wickedly simple, yet firm and final.

“I have made peace with this.” She settled back against the pillows. “You came here for answers, most likely, and you have gotten them.”

She looked at me with those knowing eyes.

“I had to make a path for either Lysander or Cian.” She paused. “And when I looked into both boys’ futures, I realized you would be much safer with Cian.”

“You knew about Lysander.”

It was not a question.

“You should not linger in the past anymore.” She shifted slightly. “You are blessed. I could tell from before you were even born.”

Her gaze moved over me. Taking in everything.

“And now you are Luna to a strong pack, with an Alpha who would die for you.”

She sighed. The sound came heavy.

“You do have to stop him from starting a senseless war with Lily of the Valley to protect you, though.” Her lips curved slightly. “Provisions have long been made for that. Lysander will do all the work for you. The least you can do is thank him when he gets the job done.”

“You planned everything.”

The words came out hollow.

“You were my baby.” Her expression softened completely. “Of course. What mother would not do that?”

She looked down at her stomach and then at mine.

“There is nothing you would not do for your twins.”

I followed her gaze. My hand moved to press against my abdomen. Tears formed fresh and hot.

“I am sorry I did not tell you goodbye before.”

Her voice pulled my attention back.

“But how lucky we are as healers to have multiple second chances.”

She smiled at me. It was real, and it was warm, and goddess was it full of love.

“Goodbye, Fia. I love you, and I wish you nothing but happiness, baby.”

“Wait.”

Panic seized me. The picture in front of me started to bleed. Colors ran together like wet paint left in the rain.

“I still have so much to say.”

My mother’s form blurred at the edges.

“Perhaps another time.”

Her voice grew distant.

“No, please…”

But she faded. The room faded. Everything dissolved into darkness.

I woke up in a cold sweat.

My chest heaved. My heart hammered against my ribs so hard I thought it might break through. The sheets tangled around my legs, damp and clinging.

“Luna? Are you alright?”

An Omega stood near my bed. Her face creased with concern. She reached toward me, hesitant.

All I could really do was cry.

The sobs tore out of me. They shook my entire body. I curled into myself and pressed my face into the pillow, trying to muffle the sounds. But they kept coming. Wave after wave of grief and guilt and love all twisted together until I could not tell where one ended and another began.