My Mother Is Still Alive
1728 Words
“Run.”
My mother's voice came from beneath the floor.
Then something screamed my name.
“Elena!”
The building shook.
Cracks spread across the walls.
Lucian grabbed my arm.
“We're leaving.”
I pulled away.
“That was my mother.”
“It sounded like her.”
“I know her voice.”
“You were six when she died.”
“I know what I heard!”
Another howl rose from below.
Then another.
Metal doors slammed open somewhere underground.
Silas laughed.
Lucian tightened his grip around his throat.
“What did you do?”
Silas smiled through the blood on his lips.
“We preserved history.”
Luna went pale.
“You told me they were dead.”
“Most are.”
“Most?”
A crash shook the room.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
Mara grabbed Vanessa.
“We need to move.”
I stared at the cracked floor.
“Not without knowing what's down there.”
Adrian stepped beside me.
“Elena, he's trying to keep you here.”
I looked at him.
The contract.
His signature.
My unborn child.
My anger returned instantly.
“You don't get to tell me what to do.”
Pain crossed his face.
“I know.”
For once, he didn't argue.
Lucian shoved Silas against the wall.
“What's below us?”
Silas looked at me.
“Answers.”
“Wrong answer.”
Lucian's eyes turned black.
Silas laughed.
“Kill me and you'll never know whether Selene Ardyn died twenty-two years ago.”
My heart stopped.
Lucian froze.
That was enough.
“You're not sure,” I whispered.
Lucian looked at me.
“You told me you were there when she died.”
“I was.”
“Did you see her body?”
Silence.
“Lucian.”
“No.”
The word shattered something inside me.
“You never saw her body?”
“The building was burning. I saw Selene wounded. Daniel took one child. Marcus was fighting Council wolves. Then the roof collapsed.”
“And you told me she died?”
“I believed she did.”
“You believed?”
“Elena—”
A woman's scream rose from underground.
My blood turned cold.
“ELENA!”
Mom.
I ran toward the cracked floor.
Lucian caught me around the waist.
“Let me go!”
“No.”
“She could be alive!”
“Or something down there knows exactly which voice will make you follow it.”
I stopped fighting.
That possibility terrified me.
Silas smiled.
“Very good, Your Majesty.”
I looked at him.
“What is down there?”
“Project Remnant.”
Luna's face changed.
“No.”
“You know it?” I asked.
She nodded slowly.
“I heard guards mention it when I was young.”
“What was it?”
“They tried to reproduce rare bloodline abilities.”
Silas corrected her.
“Preserve.”
“You tortured people,” Luna snapped.
“Progress requires sacrifice.”
She lunged for him.
I grabbed her.
“No.”
“He deserves to die.”
“Yes.”
Silas's smile faded.
“But not until he talks.”
I stepped closer.
“Was my mother part of Project Remnant?”
He studied me.
“Selene was its foundation.”
My stomach twisted.
“What does that mean?”
“Her blood survived longer outside the body than any Ardyn specimen we'd studied.”
Specimen.
I wanted to tear his throat out.
“So you copied her?”
“We tried.”
“Those things downstairs…”
“Some received her blood.”
My hope collapsed.
The voice might not be her.
It could be someone carrying pieces of her.
Something created to sound like her.
I hated that possibility.
Then Silas said, “But one subject required no transfusion.”
Lucian's grip tightened.
“Who?”
Silas smiled.
“Come downstairs and find out.”
A crash came from the hallway.
Luna spun around.
“They're coming.”
Three pale creatures crawled through the doorway.
They had human bodies but moved like wolves.
Silver veins glowed beneath their skin.
One looked at me.
“Daughter.”
My blood froze.
Lucian attacked.
He shifted mid-leap.
His black wolf smashed into the first creature.
Mara attacked the second.
The third came for me.
I raised my hand.
“STOP!”
Silver power struck it.
The creature froze.
Its body shook.
Then it dropped to its knees.
“Mother,” it whispered.
I stared at it.
“What did you call me?”
Its head jerked upward.
Its eyes were silver.
Not white.
Silver.
Like mine.
“Mother.”
“No.”
It reached toward my stomach.
Adrian moved between us.
The creature snarled.
“Father.”
Adrian froze.
“What?”
The creature attacked him.
Luna slammed into it before it reached him.
They crashed against the wall.
“Move!” she shouted.
Vanessa could barely walk.
Mara supported her.
Lucian shifted back.
Blood covered his shoulder.
“We leave now.”
I looked toward the broken floor.
Another voice came from below.
Soft.
Familiar.
“Elena, sweetheart.”
My eyes filled with tears.
My mother used to call me that.
Sweetheart.
Every morning.
Every night.
“Mom?”
The voice answered immediately.
“Don't trust the King.”
Lucian went still.
Silas laughed.
I turned toward him.
“What does she mean?”
“Perhaps Selene remembers him better than you do.”
Lucian grabbed Silas.
“We're done.”
He dragged him toward the exit.
I followed reluctantly.
Then the voice screamed.
“Elena! He took your sister!”
Luna froze.
Everyone stopped.
Her face went white.
“What?”
The voice continued.
“The King took Luna!”
Luna looked at Lucian.
“You said you found me in the North.”
Lucian's expression hardened.
“Keep moving.”
“No.”
She stepped toward him.
“Did you take me from our mother?”
“No.”
“Then why does she remember you?”
“I don't know if that's Selene.”
Silas laughed again.
Lucian punched him.
Silas collapsed.
“Move!”
The building shook violently.
We ran.
Behind us, creatures poured into the corridor.
Lucian and Mara fought them back while Luna helped Vanessa.
Adrian stayed beside me.
I hated that part of me still felt safer with him there.
We reached the staircase.
A creature dropped from the ceiling.
Adrian shoved me aside.
Its claws tore across his back.
He screamed.
I raised both hands.
“DOWN!”
Silver light exploded.
The creature hit the floor.
Something strange happened.
Instead of attacking again, it stared at me.
Then bowed.
One by one, the other creatures stopped.
They bowed too.
Lucian stared.
Mara whispered, “Moon help us.”
“What?”
“They recognize you.”
Silas lifted his bloody face.
“Of course they do.”
“Why?”
“Because every one of them carries Ardyn blood.”
My stomach turned.
The creatures lowered their heads.
Not to Lucian.
Not to Luna.
To me.
Then they spoke together.
“Crown.”
The word echoed through the corridor.
I backed away.
“No.”
Silas smiled.
“You wanted to know what awakening blood meant.”
He nodded toward the creatures.
“Now you know.”
I could awaken whatever remained of House Ardyn inside them.
That was why the Council wanted me.
Not just for a child.
For an army.
Lucian grabbed my hand.
“We leave before they recover.”
This time I followed.
We reached the ground floor.
The exit was twenty feet away.
Freedom.
Then every light in the building went out.
Darkness swallowed us.
A heartbeat later, emergency lights turned red.
A door opened behind me.
Not violently.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
I turned.
A woman stood at the end of the corridor.
Thin.
Barefoot.
Long silver-black hair fell over a white hospital gown.
My heart stopped.
She looked older than the mother I remembered.
Scarred.
Broken.
But her face—
My mother's face.
The crescent necklace around my throat became burning hot.
“Mom?”
Lucian stepped in front of me.
The woman raised her head.
Her silver eyes found mine.
“Elena.”
My knees nearly gave out.
Luna whispered beside me.
“Mother?”
The woman's gaze moved to her.
Tears filled her eyes.
“My daughters.”
Luna made a broken sound.
I stepped forward.
Lucian blocked me.
“Don't.”
The woman's expression changed when she saw him.
Fear became rage.
“You.”
Lucian froze.
She pointed at him with a trembling hand.
“Stay away from my daughters.”
“Selene?”
“You should have died that night.”
Silence.
Lucian's face lost all color.
I stared at him.
“What is she talking about?”
He didn't answer.
My mother looked at me.
“Elena, listen carefully.”
“Mom—”
“Lucian Kane is not here because he wants to protect you.”
Lucian growled.
“Selene, you don't know what they've done to your mind.”
“I remember enough.”
She looked at my stomach.
Then terror filled her face.
“No.”
She rushed toward me.
Lucian prepared to stop her.
“Don't touch her!” I screamed.
My mother stopped inches away.
Her hand hovered over my stomach.
Then she began to cry.
“They did it again.”
“What?”
Her silver eyes met mine.
“The child.”
My heart hammered.
“What about my child?”
She slowly looked at Adrian.
Then Lucian.
And shook her head.
“Neither of them is the father.”
Nobody moved.
I could barely breathe.
“Then who is?”
My mother grabbed my wrist.
Her face filled with horror.
“You weren't pregnant before tonight.”
My blood froze.
“What?”
She pulled me toward the underground corridor.
“The baby wasn't conceived.”
Her voice broke.
“It was awakened.”
Then every alarm in the building began screaming.
A mechanical voice echoed through the sanatorium.
SUBJECT 02 GESTATION CONFIRMED.
ROYAL EMBRYO ACTIVATION SUCCESSFUL.
My mother tightened her grip on me.
And whispered the words that turned my blood to ice.
“Elena, they put that child inside you years ago.”
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