Chapter 46: The Echoes of the Past

The garden was eerily quiet as Ivy sat on the stone bench, her thoughts swirling. The chill of the night air wrapped around her, but it was nothing compared to the gnawing feeling in her chest. Asher’s name echoed in her mind, his voice rising from the depths of memories she hadn’t asked for. His final words, whispered like a warning, clung to her.

"Tell them I’m not dead. Tell them Asher lied."

Who had he been speaking to?

Why was she hearing this now?

Ivy couldn’t shake the feeling that the universe was unravelling—threads of fate, of time, were being pulled and twisted in ways they weren’t supposed to. And she, the woman caught between two realities, felt helpless to stop it.

The wind howled as if it, too, was trying to communicate something—a warning.

A shadow moved in the corner of her vision. Ivy’s heart skipped a beat. She turned, expecting to see Killian, but it wasn’t him. Instead, a figure in the distance stepped from the shadows, tall and cloaked in midnight black. The moonlight made it impossible to make out their features, but Ivy could feel the weight of their presence. The air around her crackled with energy, dark and heavy.

“Who’s there?” Ivy called, her voice trembling.

The figure didn’t respond, but a deep chuckle echoed in the night.

“I didn’t think I’d find you so easily.”

Ivy’s pulse quickened. She stood up, her body on alert. “Show yourself!”

The figure took a step forward, and as the moonlight illuminated their face, Ivy gasped.

It was Asher. But different. His eyes were darker and colder, as though he had crossed into another realm entirely.

“What are you doing here?” Ivy demanded, stepping back. “You’re—”

“Not the man you thought you knew?” Asher interrupted, his voice smooth like velvet, but tainted with something sinister. “No, Ivy. I’m not that man. Not anymore.”

Ivy’s mind raced. The memories of their past, the love they once shared, flashed before her. But this—this wasn’t the Asher she had known.

“Asher, what happened to you?” Ivy asked, her voice a whisper.

Asher’s lips curled into a cruel smile. “I died. And now I’ve come back with answers. The truth about everything. About you. About us.”

He stepped closer, and Ivy instinctively took a step back.

“No, you’re wrong,” she whispered. “You’re dead. I—"

“You think I’m dead,” Asher said, his tone mocking. “But the truth is far more complicated than that, Ivy. I was never truly gone. And neither was she.”

Ivy’s heart skipped. “Who? Who are you talking about?”

Asher’s eyes glinted with a strange intensity. “The other Ivy. The one you tried to bury. She was always a part of you. A part of me.”

Ivy felt the weight of his words settle like a stone in her chest. The other Ivy. The one who had returned, a shadow of herself, a fractured mirror.

“Stop playing games with me, Asher,” she spat. “You’re lying. You have to be.”

But the smirk on his face only deepened.

“Ivy, you’ve been living a lie. I know you’ve felt it—the pull. The unease. You’ve always been torn between two realities. Because you’re not whole. Not yet. And the one who was supposed to help you… well, she failed. I didn’t.”

The words hit her like a wave.

She remembered the Womb of Echoes. The forbidden place where time and space are bent and twisted. The place where she had thought she had sealed everything away.

But no.

The cracks had never been fully mended.

The presence that had claimed Ivy’s body was a part of a bigger, darker truth. A truth that went beyond the supernatural.

The truth about her own blood.

“You—” Ivy started, but her voice faltered. “You knew all this time?”

Asher nodded slowly. “I didn’t know everything. But I knew enough. And I tried to protect you. I tried to stop you from uncovering it. But now… now you have to face it.”

Ivy’s mind swirled with confusion. “Face what?”

“The truth about your parents,” Asher said darkly. “The truth about your heritage.”

A cold chill ran down Ivy’s spine.

“My parents?” she asked in disbelief. “What are you talking about? They—”

“They lied to you,” Asher interrupted. “They lied to you about everything.”

Ivy’s breath caught in her throat. She couldn’t breathe. “No. My parents would never—”

Asher’s eyes darkened. “You’ve always known, Ivy. Deep down, you’ve felt it. They didn’t just abandon you for no reason. You’re part of something bigger—something older.”

Her hands trembled as she grasped the ground beneath her, trying to steady herself. “Stop,” she whispered. “Please, stop. This isn’t real.”

Asher took a step closer, his voice lowering to a whisper. “It’s all real, Ivy. And if you don’t face it, everything you know, everything you love, will crumble. The dark forces that your parents tried to shield you from are coming for you. And no one, not even Killian, will be able to protect you.”

The words hit Ivy like a tidal wave.

Her parents hadn’t just kept secrets from her—they had protected her from something monstrous. Something that was tied to her very bloodline.

“I don’t understand,” Ivy whispered, her voice cracking. “What are you saying?”

Asher’s gaze softened for a moment, as though he were reminiscing on something lost. “I tried to protect you. I tried to keep you safe. But now, Ivy… now you need to understand. There’s a reason you’re connected to the Womb of Echoes. There’s a reason you have powers that you can’t control.”

Ivy’s pulse raced. “What do you mean?”

Asher took a deep breath, his expression darkening. “You’re not just a normal woman. You’re the heir to the cursed bloodline of the Arkanis—a lineage of sorcerers who wield forbidden magic.”

Ivy recoiled, her heart hammering. “No… that can’t be true. I’m just—I’m just me. I’m just Ivy.”

Asher’s eyes darkened with intensity. “You don’t get it, do you? Your parents were the last to bear the curse. They hid you from it, kept you away from your true power. But it’s in you, Ivy. The darkness is in you.”

“No,” Ivy whispered, shaking her head. “No. I can’t—”

“You can, Ivy. You already are. And now, it’s time for you to choose. Will you embrace the legacy of the Arkanis, or will you let it consume you?”

Ivy stumbled back, her hands pressed to her temples as if trying to block out his words. She couldn’t breathe. The weight of her heritage, her identity, crushed her.

“And Killian?” she gasped. “What about him?”

“As long as he’s tied to you,” Asher said darkly, “he’ll never be free. The curse will follow him too.”

Ivy’s world tilted.

Her body swayed, her mind swirling with revelations that couldn’t possibly be real, yet felt undeniable.

And then, just as she thought she might collapse under the weight of it all, a figure stepped out from the shadows behind Asher.

A woman.

Her presence was unmistakable.

Ivy’s heart stopped.

The woman stepped into the moonlight, her features coming into focus.

It was her mother.

But not her mother.

This woman looked like the Ivy she used to be. The one she had been before.

“Ivy,” the woman said softly. “You’re not alone. You’ve never been.”