Mum, I need to know about Lucius… did you…?” I paused for a second as I tried to push past my fears and swallow them down like the lump caught in my throat.
“Did you know he had a wife and a…” I paused again, unable to say it this time, and the second I saw my mother’s face fall, was when I had my answer.
“It's not what you think it is, Fae,” she said softly, as I wiped the tears from under my eyes that I couldn't have stopped from falling if I tried.
“Oh, honey.”
“I know it's irrational, but I feel like he trusts you more than he trusts me.”
“That’s not true, Faith. I'm not sure why Lucius kept it from you, only now that I know his past… honestly, it's so painful I could barely stop myself from crying just listening to it. But, Fae, you have to know, I only found out about his past moments before I was pulled through that portal.”
“What?!” I cried out in shock, astonished by what she just said.
“It's true, and the only reason he told us was because he had no choice. He knew he had made a mistake the moment he went to see his father. He discovered that it was in the Temple of the Tree of Souls that Matthias was waiting for you.” I covered my mouth with my hand and sucked in a quick breath.
“Oh, my Gods, does that mean Clay, Caspian?”
“They survived, yes,” my mum told me smiling.
“Thank the Gods!” I muttered into my hand, now closing my eyes a second as I let that knowledge take hold.
“And… Ruto?” At this my mom shook her head, the pain easy to see in her eyes, telling me that no, he hadn't survived. I felt the heartache in that, yet deep down I’d known there had been no coming back from what he’d endured.
After this, my mom explained the things I didn’t know from the point of Lucius getting word to them via Dariush. She also explained to me why it was she felt as if they had the power to control her. When her and my father had only recently first got together years ago, she had been staying in Afterlife and heard the cries of the girl desperately begging for help. It drew her down into my father’s dungeon and she had found the witch posing as a mortal girl trapped in a cell. My mum, being the kind hearted soul she was, became easily convinced and tried to help her. This ended up being a mistake as we now knew the girl had cast a spell on her without her even knowing it. One that would lie dormant in the mortal part of her soul, until such time it was needed, today being that day.
But the moment that the spell had been called to the front of her mind, was when years of dreams of the future assaulted her all at once, making her mind feel as if it would explode. It was then that she realised that the spell cast had something to do with being able to see glimpses of the future, and realising this had manipulated the choices my mother had made that all led to her own prophecy.
Of course, her telling me this, made me realise that same prophecy led to Lucius releasing Matthias’ power to the Tree of Souls, starting the infection to slowly take hold of its roots. Years later, the first of the rogues became infected not long after I opened the box, making me wonder if doing so didn’t somehow speed it up?
My mother also explained everything that Lucius had told her, that had to do with both his past and that of how Matthias came to be. She explained her own reasons behind keeping the knowledge that I was Lucius’ Chosen One, was because Pythia, the Oracle, had asked her to do this. She told my mum that it was fate, that if Lucius and I got together too soon, that it could mean that our own prophecy would be in danger. She also admitted how much she regretted not being there for me when she knew that Lucius had broken my heart. She felt helpless and understandably so, because the Fates had made it so that she couldn't help me.
But this led on to what she believed was all fated, and that the box had always been destined to bring us together. Lucius told her that