Ashes of the Broken

Chapter 18

Chapter eighteen– The Prisoner’s Truth

Carter’s P.O.V.

The laboratory never truly slept.

Even in the dead of night, the stone walls hummed with ancient magic.

Glass vials lined the shelves.

Silver restraints hung from iron hooks.

The scent of herbs barely covered the smell of blood.

My blood.

Charlie carefully wrapped fresh bandages around my forearm.

Neither of us spoke.

We’d repeated this routine nearly every day for six months.

She drew my blood.

Navarro experimented.

My body healed.

Then we started over.

She sighed as she tied off the bandage.

“I hate this part.”

I managed a tired smile.

“You’ve said that every time.”

“And I’ll keep saying it.”

She looked toward the heavy iron door before lowering her voice.

“He’s gone.”

I frowned.

“Navarro?”

She nodded.

“He returned to DeL Sol.”

My heartbeat quickened.

“Why?”

Charlie hesitated.

For the first time since I’d met her…

She looked afraid.

“The Council called a summit.”

I straightened despite the pain in my ribs.

“Anna…”

Charlie closed her eyes.

“He heard something”

The room fell silent.

My mouth went dry.

“Heard what?”

She looked directly at me.

“She’s pregnant.”

Everything inside me stopped.

For one impossible moment…

I couldn’t breathe.

“What did you say?”

Charlie’s eyes filled with tears.

“Anna is carrying your child.”

The words shattered something inside me.

A child.

Mine.

Anna.

Alive.

Pregnant.

I laughed.

Then cried.

Then laughed again.

Charlie watched quietly.

“I knew you’d react like that.”

I covered my face with both hands.

“I have a baby.”

My voice cracked.

“I have a baby.”

For six months…

I’d believed I’d lost everything.

Now…

Somehow…

I had everything to live for. I thought me being here in this place kept Anna safe I couldn’t hurt her from here she didn’t have to wage war with her family to be with me while I was here in this place she didn’t have to choose my fathers past his creation couldn’t hurt her but now my child my baby needed its father I pictured my child as a little girl beautiful harmless and precious clinging on to me her father…

The joy lasted only seconds.

Charlie’s expression never changed.

“Carter…”

I slowly lowered my hands.

“What?”

She looked toward the door again.

“That’s why Navarro went.”

My stomach tightened.

“He isn’t going to congratulate you.”

Every instinct I possessed screamed.

“What is he planning?”

Charlie swallowed hard.

“He believes the prophecy speaks about your child.”

I stared at her.

“He intends to take the baby.”

Silence.

“He believes if he raises the child…”

“…he can shape the future before anyone else does.”

“No.”

The word left my mouth before I realized I’d spoken.

“No.”

I stood so quickly the chair crashed against the stone floor.

“He will never touch my child.”

Charlie stepped forward.

“You can’t even leave this room.”

“I’ll kill him.”

“Carter.”

“I’ll tear this mountain apart if I have to.”

“Carter!”

Her voice echoed through the laboratory.

I stopped pacing.

She looked at me for a long moment.

Then made a decision.

One that would change both our lives.

“There was something Navarro ordered me never to tell you.”

My breathing slowed.

“What?”

She walked toward the laboratory door.

Pressed one hand against the ancient runes.

Waited.

Satisfied no one stood outside…

She turned back to me.

“You’re not the only prisoner here.”

Confusion crossed my face.

“What are you talking about?”

“There is another wing beneath this one.”

“I’ve been forbidden from taking you there.”

My chest tightened.

“Who is it?”

Charlie looked at me with genuine sorrow.

“Carter…”

Her voice barely rose above a whisper.

“…your mother.”

The world tilted.

I laughed once.

Not because it was funny.

Because it couldn’t possibly be true.

“My mother is dead.”

“No.”

Charlie slowly shook her head.

“She’s been alive all these years.”

I backed away from her.

“No.”

“Dorian transformed her while she was giving birth to you.”

Every memory I’d ever had of my childhood suddenly felt incomplete.

“She escaped.”

Charlie nodded.

“She ran before Dorian could finish whatever he intended.”

“Navarro found her years later.”

Silence.

“He has kept her alive ever since.”

My knees nearly gave out.

“For experiments.”

Charlie lowered her eyes.

“Yes.”

I felt sick.

Every drop of blood Navarro had taken from me…

He had taken from her first.

Every test.

Every needle.

Every restraint.

She had endured them long before I ever woke in this place.

I looked at Charlie.

There was only one thing left to ask.

“Take me to her.”

“I can’t.”

“Please.”

“If Navarro finds out—”

“I don’t care.”

She closed her eyes.

“I do.”

I stepped closer.

“Charlie…”

My voice broke.

“My mother is alive.”

A tear rolled down her cheek.

“I know.”

“My mate is carrying our child.”

“I know.”

“And a man who has spent years carving pieces out of my family…”

I clenched my fists.

“…plans to steal my baby.”

Charlie looked at me for a long time.

Long enough for the silence to become unbearable.

Finally…

She reached into the pocket of her apron.

A small iron key rested in her trembling palm.

“There are three guard changes between midnight and sunrise.”

She placed the key into my hand.

“I can get you to your mother.”

My heart pounded.

“But after that…”

She looked me squarely in the eye.

“…there’s no turning back.”

I closed my fingers around the key.

“I wasn’t planning on turning back.”

For the first time in six months…

I wasn’t thinking about surviving.

I was thinking about escaping.

Because somewhere beyond these walls…

Anna needed me.

Our child needed me.

And before I could save either of them

I was going to save my mother.

I locked eyes with Charlie her face was pale, but her resolve was clear. We both knew there was no return from what we were about to do.

“Take me to her,” I whispered, the words barely holding back the flood of emotions.

Charlie nodded once, pulling the door open to the shadowed corridor beyond. “We have to move quietly. But Carter…” She hesitated, her voice soft. “Be ready. She’s not the woman you remember, but she’s still your mother.”

I swallowed hard, stepping out of the lab, feeling the weight of both hope and fear as we began the descent into the unknown.

The corridor was colder than I remembered, my legs heavier than I wanted to admit. We’d been moving in silence, but I could feel my strength waning from months of Navarro’s experiments. Charlie noticed too. She reached for my arm as we approached a shadowed corner. “You’re fading,” she whispered, her eyes scanning for guards. “You need strength.”

“I’ll manage,” I gritted out, even as dizziness threatened to pull me down. But we both knew if I faltered now, I’d never reach her.

Charlie’s voice softened but firmed. “It’s not just for you, Carter. You need to get to Anna and the baby. Take what you need of me to survive.”

I shook my head at first, but her gaze held mine. In the end, it wasn’t pride it was the thought of them that made me nod. We were in this together.

Charlie leaned head to the side, almost begging me to drink of her. My lips grazed her neck. I could smell her. Her blood smell like cinnamon it felt warm like hot tea like the Earth on a hot day I bit into her the blood hit me like fire. My whole body felt alive I felt hot to the touch. The magic in her veins made me feel drunk made me feel like I had no control. I pulled her tighter. I could hear her calling my name I ignored her and continued to drink and drink , and I got drunker and drunker from the blood. I could almost feel myself loose control. I let myself go and surrender myself to it to my hunger for a second. I thought I might kill her I didn’t come back to my senses until I felt my back slam against the wall. She had used her magic to throw me clear across the corridor my head was still spinning, but I looked up at her and she looked pissed.

“Carter!” “Dude what the f**k”?

I slowly stood and wiped my mouth

“I’m sorry Charlie it’s been a while since I had fresh blood” I looked down almost to embarrassed to look her in the eyes, she shook her head.

“Let’s keep moving!”

I rolled my shoulders.

Everything still hurt.

Every muscle protested.

But the crushing exhaustion had lifted just enough.

“I still feel terrible.”

She laughed quietly.

“You probably will for a while.”

“You can thank me by staying alive.”

A sharp whistle echoed through the corridor.

Charlie froze.

“Guard change.”

She extinguished the lantern she’d been carrying.

Darkness swallowed us.

Only thin strips of moonlight filtering through cracks in the stone gave us anything to see.

Two voices drifted closer.

“…Navarro returns tomorrow evening.”

“…Good. I hate these lower tunnels.”

“They give me the creeps.”

Their footsteps grew louder.

Charlie grabbed my wrist.

She pointed toward a narrow service passage barely wide enough for one person.

We slipped inside just as two armored guards rounded the corner.

They passed within feet of us.

One paused.

I stopped breathing.

He turned toward the darkness where we stood hidden.

For one terrifying second…

I thought he’d seen us.

Then his partner called his name.

“You coming?”

The guard looked away.

“Yeah.”

Their footsteps faded.

Neither Charlie nor I moved.

Not until the silence returned.

She released a shaky breath.

“I really hate those two.”

I couldn’t help it.

A laugh escaped me.

Quiet.

Rough.

But real.

Charlie smiled.

“I was beginning to think you’d forgotten how.”

“I almost had.”

She looked at me for a long moment.

“You don’t have to become what Navarro thinks you are.”

I looked down the tunnel disappearing into darkness.

“No.”

I thought of Anna.

Of the child waiting for me.

Of a mother I had never known.

“I don’t.”

I straightened.

“Let’s go find my family.”

Charlie nodded once.

Together, we disappeared deeper beneath the mountain.

Somewhere below us…

A woman who had spent decades believing her son was dead waited in the darkness.

Neither of us knew that before the night was over…

Three generations of one bloodline would finally be reunited.