To ruin an Omega Nov Chapter 453: Past, Present, Future

Chapter 453: Past, Present, Future

FIA

Cian guided

up the stairs. His arm stayed firm around my waist, taking most of my weight as my legs threatened to give out beneath . The exhaustion hit harder now that Aldric was gone. All the adrenaline that had kept

upright drained away, leaving

hollow and shaking.

We reached my bedroom. The door swung open under his hand, and he led

inside. The familiar space wrapped around

like a blanket. Safe, given it was mine.

He lowered

onto the bed with careful movents. I sank into the mattress, my body lting against the sheets.

"You look like shit right now."

I managed a weak laugh. Trust Cian to be blunt even now. He was not wrong, though. I was still covered in dried blood, soot, and worse.

"But you clearly need the rest more." He straightened and moved toward the door. "I will leave you be."

My hand shot out. I caught his wrist before he could step away.

"There is sothing I want to tell you."

He stopped and looked down at where my fingers wrapped around his arm.

"I do not need to know."

The words ca gently. Understanding. He moved back toward the bed and sat on the edge, close enough that I could feel his warmth.

"Whenever you are ready, you can tell ." His free hand covered mine. "No matter what it is, it changes nothing between us. I want you to know that much."

"I know."

I did know. It did not matter that I felt it in the bond. But what mattered more was in the way he looked at , in every action he had taken since we t.

"But I do want to tell you."

Silence stretched between us. He waited. Patient. His thumb traced small circles against the back of my hand.

"About Alpha Dimitri?"

I nodded. The na alone made my throat tight.

"He is technically..." I stopped and then started again. "Well. Not technically. He is actually my grandfather."

Cian went very still. I felt his shock pulse through the bond.

"How?"

One word. It was a simple word. But loaded with confusion.

I took a breath and let it out slowly.

"My grandmother was an Oga there. Before Dimitri’s wife, Pauline sold her to Madeline’s father for experints."

The words ca easier than I expected. Maybe because I had already said so of it to Dimitri. Maybe because holding it inside hurt more than letting it out.

"Pauline believed that my grandmother threatened her position." I stared at our joined hands. "Perhaps she was right to do so. My grandmother was with child and she... and she..."

The words stuck in my throat.

"Gave birth to my mother."

Cian’s grip tightened around my hand. He wanted to steady

badly. Keep

grounded.

"Valentine was obsessed with the idea of bringing back the healers from the age of legend. He experinted on both of them." My voice cracked. "Sohow, my mother did manage to escape. She started her life by my father’s side."

"Fleshcraft."

The word hung in the air between us. Heavy and just as damning.

I looked up at him, eting his eyes.

"I am not—"

"I do not care if you were made from fleshcraft."

His voice ca fierce, cutting

off in absolute.

He needed

to hear and know that it changed nothing. I knew he would hold

tight. But hearing him say the words, it just hit different.

"I do not care if your existence is a sin and breaks the tenets of supernatural society. I will stand by your side and love you."

The declaration hit

square in the chest. Tears burned behind my eyes.

"Why would you even think that could change anything between us?"

"I knew it could not."

The admission ca quietly.

"I just hate that those were my origins. I hate that my mother held this much and she could not share or get revenge for all she faced."

My hands curled into fists against the sheets.

"She was right in front of a daughter of the woman who did that to us. She was further tornted and killed by that woman."

The rage built in my chest. Hot and all-consuming.

"Knowing that Pauline is now dead is not even enough for ."

Cian stayed silent. He let

speak... Let

pour out everything I had been holding back.

"When I heard that, all that stayed was the hunger that Isabel still breathes."

My voice dropped lower and went darker.

"If Hazel could not perish, why can’t she?"

The question ca out savage.

Bitter.

"To be honest, I have so dark thoughts of getting my own vengeance."

I looked at him then. I thoroughly searched his face for horror. For disgust. For any sign that he saw

as a monster.

"Am I a monster for thinking like that?"

"No."

The answer ca without hesitation.

"I have worse."

His arms wrapped around

as he pulled

against his chest. I collapsed into him, and the tears finally ca. They poured out of

in great heaving sobs that shook my entire body. Everything I had held back, everything I had pushed down, broke free all at once.

Cian held

through it. His hand stroked my hair while I cried into his shirt. He said nothing. He just held

and let

fall apart, knowing he would help put

back together.

"Everything will be alright."

His voice rumbled against my ear.

"With ti."

I wanted to believe him. I tried... I tried to let his certainty sink into my bones and ease the ache that had taken up permanent residence in my chest.

Eventually, the tears slowed. Then stopped. I pulled back and wiped at my face with shaking hands.

"I am tired. I want to rest."

"Yeah."

He stood and helped

settle properly into the bed. He even pulled the covers up over .

"I will get an Oga to attend to you."

I nodded against the pillow. My eyes already felt heavy.

"I am missing my phone too."

"I will get it to you." He moved toward the door. "Have so rest."

"Cian?"

He stopped and then looked back.

"Thank you."

He smiled. It was small but genuine.

"Always."

The door closed behind him with a soft click. I let my eyes fall shut. The exhaustion dragged

down fast, pulled

under before I could fight it.

Sleep took .

***

I woke up sitting in a chair.

The wrongness hit

imdiately. This was not my bed. Not my room. I blinked, trying to orient myself, and my eyes landed on the sickbed in front of .

My mother lay there. The black root-like lesions covered most of her visible skin. They crawled across her face, down her neck, spreading like cracks in glass. The rot had reached its final stages.

But she smiled at .

"Hello, Fia."

My breath caught in my throat. Tears ford instantly, blurring my vision.

"Hello... Mum."

Was this a dream? Or one of those monts where I traveled back through ti again? The distinction suddenly felt crucial. Important.

I was going to try to reach for her to see if that barrier was present when her words cut off my train of thought effectively.

"Which year are you from?"

The question made my mind stutter to a halt.

"What?"

She chuckled. The sound ca weak but warm.

"You are from the future visiting the past, are you not?"

I stared at her and tried to process what she was saying. It was a confirmation to what I wanted to know.

"So this is not just a dream."

"I am afraid not."

Reality crashed into

then and there. I knew this mont. Recognized it with sharp, painful clarity.

This was monts before I ca in with the cure. Before I healed her. Before Isabel suffocated her with a pillow while I was away, leading

to believe for the longest ti that I had failed her... That I had not saved her.

Selene... This was a gift from the goddess... I could change the past.

The realization sent electricity through my veins. My hands gripped the armrests of the chair in a manner that would have been hard enough to make my knuckles go white. Though nothing happened as the barrier separated

from this space and reality in all the ways that mattered.

"There is sothing I need to tell you, Mom."

She shifted slightly against the pillows. Her eyes stayed on my face. She looked so patient as she waited.

"Do tell."

Where did I even start? How did I warn her about everything that was coming without overwhelming her? Without making her last monts filled with terror instead of peace?

I leaned forward. Closed the distance between us.

"Isabel is going to kill you."

The words ca out blunt. Stark. No way to soften them.

My mother’s expression did not change. She watched

with those knowing eyes, and sothing in her gaze told

she was not surprised.

"When you leave after healing ?"

I nodded.

"She will co in with a pillow. She will suffocate you." My voice cracked. "I found you too late, and I was so dumb that I did not realize that it was not the rot that took you. That you would never have been weak enough to leave

without saying goodbye. By the ti I ca back, you were already gone."

"I see."

I hated that those were two words, and they seed calm and accepting.

It almost felt as if she did not understand the gravity of what I was putting out.

"That is not all."

I could not stop now. The words poured out of .

"Isabel is Pauline’s daughter. Pauline, Dimitri’s wife. The woman who sold your mother to Valentine. Maybe you do know that." I watched her carefully. "But I am certain you do not. So know it now."

My mother’s eyes closed briefly. When they opened again, I saw pain there. Deep and old and familiar.

"Of course I know that, Fia. I can see the future."

Her hand moved across the sheets. Reaching for mine. I would have taken it without hesitation. To feel her paper-white thin skin again. But... that barrier held us both back.

"What do you an... You know..."