Chapter 277

Chapter 277
CASSANDRA
The horrible sight before my eyes was the worst nightmare I’d ever seen, yet no matter how hard I pinched myself, it wasn’t going away.
*
As the fire covered Asher’s body, his skin began to peel down. Soon, the black burnt skin became ashes, and then the ashes disappeared entirely and blew down the corridor.
“No!” I screamed out of anger and sorrow. “No, no, no!”
My lungs ached as I cried out, but I couldn’t stop. Tears spilled down my face like a river, and my vision started to break out with spots as I shook.
No one was going to take Asher away from me.
This couldn’t be happening.
My skin began to burn again, and I realized the flames were engulfing me as well, but I didn’t care. There was nothing I could see but fire, endless, unstoppable fire. The screams and cries soon faded away, and as the flames danced around me, I realized that Ronald, Helene, and the other guests were gone too.
But somehow, despite my trauma and all that I’d endured at the hands of fire, my fear disappeared.
Without Asher, there was no point in going on. I wasn’t afraid anymore. I would accept my demise knowing that I did all I could in this lifetime.
But just as I resolved to close my eyes and accept my unavoidable and imminent death, a figure became clear in the inferno. They were standing not too far away from me, and when they walked forward, their features became more clear.
It was Emmett Keller.
“You’re finally here,” he remarked as the flames flicked around us. “I’ve been waiting for you for so long?
“Waiting for me?” I blurted out before I even had the chance to understand what was happening. “Why were you waiting for me, Emmett?”
His eyes remained fixed on mine and then he smiled calmly at me.
“I owe you an explanation,” he said.
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“What explanation?” I wondered as my eyebrows creased together. “Emmett, what’s happening?”
“I’ll tell you everything,” he assured me as my mind began to panic. “I just need you to come here.”
I glanced around us at the fire that was still blazing on and hesitated for a second before I complied. Once I was close enough, Emmett caught my hand, and suddenly, the burning sensation that had consumed my body vanished, and moments later, the flames vanished as well.
Once the fire was gone, I realized our surroundings had changed, and we were back in our home in Wild Crawler. Our house looked exactly the same as it had in the old days when Emmett and I were married.
“Is this… an illusion?” I wondered as I stared around.
“You can call it an illusion,” Emmett replied, and when I turned to face him, I realized he was wearing the usual flannel shirt and jeans combination he used to wear. “Or you can call it the trick of a sorcerer.”
“But you’re dead,” I pointed out. “How can you play tricks now?”
“I may be dead, but a sorcerer can do a lot of things,” he said, and then he gestured toward the kitchen table. “Why don’t you sit down?”
I was baffled but couldn’t allow myself to sit at the same table we’d shared dinner at for so many years.
“I… I can’t,” I said. “I don’t have time, Emmett. I have to save Asher and look for Finnick-”
“Asher and Finnick are alright,” Emmett interrupted me gently, but I shook my head.
“How can you be sure?” I asked suspiciously as I eyed the front door. “How do you know they’re okay, Emmett?”
“I know quite a few things,” he said vaguely, and then he gestured to the table again. “I’ll explain them all to you.”
I stared at him suspiciously. None of this made sense.
“You won’t be able to get back to them anyway if I don’t allow it,” Emmett sighed. “Come now, take a seat and I’ll tell you what’s going on.”
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I frowned but complied anyway. I sat down and glared at Emmett as I settled into my usual chair at the head of the table.
“This will be our last talk,” Emmett remarked after a moment of hesitation. “I thought it would be a bit more friendly-”
“How dare you say that after what you did,” I cut him off angrily.
“I didn’t have a choice,” he said calmly. “Things weren’t always under control. I’m sorry for that.”
“You took my wolf soul from me,” I reminded him angrily. “And now you think a simple apology will make up for it-”
“I understand your anger,
but I’m not sorry for what I did,” Emmett interrupted me sharply. “I’m sorry that I overestimated myself and my ability.”
“What do you mean?” I demanded as I stared at him in confusion.
My former husband sighed and then spoke.
“Everything started with Asher’s father,” he explained. “Or more precisely, with his regret about his wife’s death.”
“The old queen?” I wondered.
Emmett nodded. “That’s the reason why the king started to search for sorcerers in the first place. He wanted to bring Selene Collins back to life.”
I blinked at him in surprise.
“After searching for a long time, he finally noticed Dark Abyss,” Emmett continued. “He made an agreement with my father, the greatest sorcerer at the time. My father was going to help him bring back Selene’s soul and the old king would reinstate sorcerers and rebuild the academy.”
“Ewonmiams,” I muttered, and Emmett nodded.
“Yes,” he confirmed. “Unfortunately, my father’s research didn’t go very well. He found out that if one wanted to bring back someone’s soul, they needed to find a vessel who shared the person’s blood.”
“And the vessel was Asher,” I realized.
Emmett nodded again. “My father had been too confident and too eager. He
wanted to revive the name of sorcerers and restore them to their former glory. But
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after the king had his son take the concoction, my father realized he had failed. He couldn’t link Asher to Selene’s soul. At the same time, he discovered something new. He realized he was able to control the little boy’s behavior at his will.”
“Asher’s,” I mumbled as I began to absorb this new information.
“My father was afraid that the king would be angry and decide to kill us,” Emmett continued. “So he had a horrible idea. Could he use Asher to kill the king?”
My jaw dropped.
Had he really just said that?
“Why would he think that?” I demanded.
“If the king was dead, we would not only be safe but Ewonmiams could be restored,” Emmett replied calmly. “So, he conspired with the Beta, Oliver Moses. However, Oliver was never a good ally. He saw the potential of sorcery and wanted my father to manufacture an army for him. Their secret alliance was noticed by Darrin Felix.”
At the mention of my father’s name, I felt a tightness in my heart.
“Darrin Felix was a man of righteousness,” Emmett continued. “He had grown up with the belief that sorcery was evil and terrible. He urged the king to capture and execute my father.”
He paused and his eyes softened.
“I believe you’ve already heard the rest of the story,” he said. “My father escaped and the king hunted him down. My father had to ask for help from Yurene’s king, Kaleb’s father. Kaleb’s father was more sophisticated and regal. He made my father believe that Yurene would provide safety and protection for our family. But it turned out that he wasn’t a good man either. So, my father coaxed him to drink that concoction.”
As the puzzle pieces began to fit together, I shook my head slowly and then frowned.
“If that’s true, Asher would have died long ago,” I pointed out. “Why had Kaleb’s father deteriorated so quickly and Asher hadn’t?”
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