Tangled Hearts - The Alpha's Baby Mama-Chapter 274: The ultimate sacrifice...

Selene POV

"What?" my eyes widened.

The weight of Aunt Helena’s words pressed down on me like a suffocating blanket, leaving me breathless. My heart pounded in my chest, louder than the sounds of the wind rustling through the leaves around us. I stared at her, trying to process what I had just heard.

"The high witch... said I died?" I whispered again; my voice barely audible.

Aunt Helena nodded, her face pale and drawn. "Yes, your mother was devasted. She had waited so long, prayed to Shard, and yet... it seemed as though the Moon Goddess had cursed her with an empty womb again. She broke down, Selene. The grief, the pain... I’ve never seen her like that."

I felt a tight knot forming in my stomach. I had known there was more to my parent’s story, but this... this was beyond anything I had imagined. My mother had believed I was dead before I was ever born. This would be maybe the third time I was avoiding death. Was I destined to die?

"But I wasn’t dead," I said swallowing the lump in my throat. I’m here, I survived." freёnovelkiss.com

"That you did!" she smiled at me "But before I tell you how you survived, I need to make something clear to you. On that day, the vision which she saw was that of your mother crying. Well, shortly after that, when your mother and father went up to their rooms to rest, I approached the high witch and she told me that the moon goddess changed your fate. You told me about the "FATES" and their mission and how they’ve been able to discover the unbalance. The moon goddess had an illicit affair with Fenrir that birthed a child of darkness. The moon goddess was convinced that she could change him despite being born with that kind of fate."

"Can she not?"

"No dear," she shook her head. "She might be the moon goddess but she’s not the universe. Only the Universe can determine all of that. In a bid to save her child and her secret, she made your conception seem like you are the reason for the unbalance. You see, your mother was never fated to have a child, so it was easy for her to weave the story like that and it gave her what she wanted."

I stared at Aunt Helena, hoping she was trying to make a joke but she had a serious expression on her face. She didn’t look like she was making a joke either. "Are you trying to tell me that the Moon Goddess lied?"

She nodded wincing. "I don’t know about a lot of things but I’ve seen women do dark things for their children, Selene. When a woman is desperate, she loses reason. The moon goddess may have abused her power."

"She abused it," I fumed "All in the bid for what? To keep her throne?"

"No!" Aunt Helena shook her head. "For her child. She wanted to keep the boy at all course and that was because she loved his father so much. The child was proof of their love. For years, she had to endure staying away from the baby, so as not to attract eyes. She got a nursemaid which she made blind, deaf and dumb after she finished nursing the child but the problem with evil is, you cannot keep it hidden for long."

"Then how is it that he would want to kill me?"

"I’ll tell you in a short while. The high Witch reached out to your parents the next day. She could save you but it had to come with a price and a rare and almost unstable thread of fate." She paused to gather her thoughts before she continued.

"She told your parents that the chances you would have a normal life with every other person were low. She was going to divert your path and channel it into something else, making it impossible for the moon goddess to get you. If she kills you, it will automatically expose her secret. So, she made sure that your fate would be the ’Dark Fate’ created as a result of the birth of Kragen."

"So, me and him... we share the same fates?"

"Yes!" Aunt Helena nodded. "His birth created fate and caused a divide in the mythical world. Although the moon goddess has been doing a good job keeping it together there’s always a limit to what one can do. The divide has ushered in a lot of darkness into our world, the ’Fates’ are desperate and if a child born on the day of darkness is sacrificed, then the hole might close up but not for long. It resets every thousand years but I suppose it would give her enough time to look for someone else."

A shiver ran through my spine at the implication of everything. "So, all these years, children born with the fate of the dark moon have been used as sacrifices to keep Kragen alive?"

Aunt Helena nodded with a sigh.

"What?" I scoffed, still trying to wrap my head around it. "I can’t believe she would stoop so low, deny people of their happiness just to keep her son alive. That’s been selfish. She’s supposed to be our protector, how in hell’s name is she choosing her child over us all?"

"You’re a mother, Selene... maybe you understand."

"I will not keep my daughter alive at the expense of other kids!" I fumed growing annoyed "How is it that no one has stopped her?"

"Well, not everyone wants to keep children born with that fate!" Aunt Helena shrugged. "You’re lucky because your parents wanted you and they loved and cherished you so much. Also, you were able to find your second half and survive until now. A lot of parents were glad that their children with this problem died."

I took deep breaths, trying to calm myself down. "So, what happened after that?"

Aunt Helena looked away for a moment, her eyes tracing the edges of the crumbling altar. "That was the first part that she told me and me alone. She told your parents that there was a way to bring you back from the dead... but it came with a price."

A chill ran down my spine. "What kind of price?"

"You know," she started "To give life is to have another taken away. The unbalance between you and Kragen didn’t happen that way. Your births didn’t give you any life in exchange. Then her gaze returned to me, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. "A life for a life."

I staggered back, my mind spinning. "A life for a life. What does that mean?"

"It means," she said softly. "That to bring you back, someone else had to die in your place. Your mother had to give up something – someone she loved deeply, to restore the balance."

I shook my head, refusing to believe it. "No...no, that can’t be true. Who would she..."

Helena’s eyes filled with sorrow as she interrupted me. "I gave my son..." she murmured, as a tear rolled down her cheek. "He was my only child and I was raped and didn’t know until I was far too gone. Your mother loved him to bits but he was a constant reminder of the pain I felt. I could never bring myself to love him... every time I saw him, I would feel hatred but your mom took him as her own..."

She sighed and then looked away. "Your parents had agreed that it was going to be your dad but I went back to the high witch and insisted that she should take Lenny – that was his name. I knew his death would cause pain to your mother but the death of her mate would do more. No child deserves to come to this world without both parents and it was the perfect opportunity to get rid of the past I wanted to run away from completely."

"Aunt Helena!" I muttered not knowing what to say. "I’m so sorry."

"Don’t apologise, Selene... we all had to make extreme sacrifices. I sent for the boy and explained everything to him."

"He- he knew?" I asked my voice trembling.

Aunt Helena’s silence was deafening and that’s when I realized the truth.

"He knew," I whispered the words like poison on my tongue. "He knew an agree."

She nodded slowly. "Yes. He loved your mother more than anything in this world, Selene. He would have done anything for her, even if it meant giving up his own life to bring you into this world. He experienced all of her pains before she had you... we all did."

"I’m sorry!" I muttered, "It must be hard on you..."

She nodded. "I thought I didn’t love him, I mean, he was a model child, never gave me troubles and you know the kind of child that everyone prayed to have but I was angry with myself for so many years that I didn’t realize that he didn’t ask to be born. He wasn’t those men who did that to me... he just came because that’s what happens when you meet a man... I regret it every day to say the truth..." She paused and wiped her eyes. "He deserved to live but..." she shrugged.

"Thank you, Aunt Helena!" I reached for her hand. "I’m alive today, thanks to you and your son, Lenny..."