Filed To Story: Cursed Legacies Series Free PDF by Morgan B Lee
Implying I was chosen instead of specifically made to kill Amadeus is a nice thought.
Lillian moves one of her pieces again, and I frown when I realize she’s a lot closer to checkmate than I thought.
“But mostly, I saw a girl who forgot that she deserves to be happy,” she finally murmurs, looking at me again. “You were always so busy preparing for a tragic ending. You survived for others, but it’s time you stopped putting everyone else first. It’s time you live for you. I need you to promise me that you’ll live and love and be happy without always putting others ahead of yourself, because you deserve that and so much more.
Promise.
“
I consider everything she’s saying.
In my past life, I was a survivor. I made most of my choices based on necessity. The one time I really felt like I was taking matters into my own hands was when I decided to leverage my unique position as the telum to free the Nether humans.
Maybe that’s why learning about my orchestrated existence bothered me so much. It felt like that choice was just another given—another thing I was simply made to do.
But now? Lillian is right.
I already survived the tragic fate I always anticipated. And even though I didn’t stick the landing, I’m really fucking proud of the fact that the Nether humans are free. I already know what future happiness I’m fighting for—a lifetime with my quintet.
They will always be my priority, but besides that…I wouldn’t mind being a little more selfish.
After all, a demigoddess bitch deserves a break now and then.
“I promise,” I smile at her.
Lillian looks relieved before she knocks over one of my pieces. “Checkmate.”
Damn it.
She laughs at my expression. When a strange bell begins to toll somewhere in the distance, Lillian stands, brushing more charcoal off her hands and beaming at me as I also get to my feet.
“That bell is mine. It means Sachar is ready for me. If you don’t mind seeing me off…”
I nod and then pause, glancing down at the makeshift chessboard that was such a big part of my melancholy childhood. “Can you take things from the vestibule into the Beyond?”
“I’m not sure.”
Worth a try anyway. I grab both queens from the chessboard, pocketing one and offering the other to her. “Something so you won’t forget me in the Beyond,” I mutter, feeling ridiculously sentimental.
Lillian laughs as we leave the hovel and walk back out into white nothingness.
“You’re not very forgettable, Maven. But if I can take it with me, I’ll treasure?—“
“Mom!” a girl’s voice shouts in the distance.
Lillian’s eyes widen and fill with fresh tears as she whirls to face the direction from which we heard the voice. A moment later, the same curly-haired girl from the picture I saw on her nightstand skips into view, a big grin on her face.
She’s walking beside a tall, looming cloaked figure that I assume is my mother. But when they stop not far from us, the figure removes its hood, and I realize I’m looking at my mother’s twin brother.
Sachar.
The eternal judge of the Beyond has the same pitch black hair and eyes as my mother, as well as the same colorless skin and symmetrical, hard features. The only difference is his much shorter hair, his square jaw, and the fact that he doesn’t carry a scythe. His gaze falls on me, and there’s something incredibly penetrating about it, as if he sees everything about me all at once.
He says nothing as Lillian runs forward and scoops up Annabel, both of them weeping with joy. It’s a touching sight, and I’m genuinely happy for her.
But at the same time, my heart throbs strangely inside my chest.
I’m going to miss her so fucking much.
“Bye,” I whisper as Annabel pulls on Lillian’s hand, dragging her further into the whiteness.
Lillian looks back and waves one more time, a bright smile on her teary face.
I wave back.
Annabel beams over her shoulder, shouts a thank you, and just like that, they vanish into the white haze of the distance.
The bell stops tolling.
Several quiet moments later, tears are still trying to escape my eyes. I quickly take a deep breath before looking back at Sachar.
“Okay, Uncle Judge. Take me back.”
He shakes his head silently.
I tense, my words coming out sharp. “What the fuck do you mean, no? Syntyche said I could only be here briefly. It’s time for me to go.”
Sachar shakes his head again, but says nothing. His expression tells me nothing.
Shit. If he’s saying I can’t go back, my quintet is going to be so fucking pissed at me for leaving.
Am I about to have to fight the judge of the Beyond? I didn’t grab Cuttrina from the forest floor after killing Gideon, but Pierce is stashed in one of my boots. My hand is already itching toward it as I wonder if adamantine hurts divine beings.
But before I can attack my uncle and figure out a way back to the mortal realm by myself, someone clears his throat behind me.
“He can’t speak, Sweet Pea.”
Sweet Pea?
Irritation prickles over me as I turn, ready to give my best death glare to this stranger who’s trying to give me yet another flower-based nickname.
“Who the fuck are you calling?—“
My words cut off as I realize exactly who I’m looking at. My heart begins to pound as an unfamiliar emotion sinks in.
Aside from his warm olive-toned skin and messy black hair, I don’t look much like Pietro Amato. He’s nice looking but not striking, aside from his smile and sparkling hazel eyes. He’s dressed in a simple white button up, slacks, and shoes.
But his presence is a palpable thing. Even as a spirit, it’s like he has his own gravitational pull. Warm and kind and strong and…fatherly. Which is extremely fucking strange, but not bad.
At least, it’s not bad until his eyes tear up.
“My little miracle,” he whispers, half laughing and half on the brink of crying. “Dear gods, look at you. So grown up and beautiful. The spitting image of your mother. Seeing you finally, I’m just so…”
I wait, carefully keeping my expression blank so that if he admits he’s ashamed to have a daughter as messed up as I am, I can pretend it doesn’t hurt.
Pietro Amato finally shakes his head, wiping moisture from one of his cheeks. “I’m so proud of you, it hurts. Getting to watch you grow and fight and become you from my place in the Beyond has been the greatest reward I could have possibly asked for.”
Oh.
The lump in my throat makes it impossible to form the words I can’t even find, so I nod a little too aggressively. This is such unfamiliar territory that I’m completely out of my depth, so I blurt the one thing I think is relevant.
“I wish I knew you while you were alive.”
New Book: Returned To Make Them Pay
On her wedding anniversary, Alicia is drugged and stumbles into the wrong room—straight into the arms of the powerful Caden Ward, a man rumored never to touch women. Their night of passion shocks even him, especially when he discovers she’s still a virgin after two years of marriage to Joshua Yates.