To ruin an Omega novel Chapter 426

Chapter 426: When the seasons change 2

FIA

Athena’s eyes brightened. Something fierce and alive flickered behind that ancient exhaustion.

"That’s good. Anger is good." She stepped toward me again, close enough that I could see the gold flecks in her dark eyes that matched mine exactly. "Hold onto it like a lifeline."

She reached out slowly, like she was afraid I might disappear if she moved too quickly. Her fingers didn’t quite touch my arm, hovering just above my skin.

"Valentine Blossom is part of the reason why I couldn’t live a fulfilled life and raise my own daughter right. The reason I couldn’t be there for my grandchild. For you."

The words came out measured, each one weighted with decades of pain that had never found proper release.

"There were others too. Pauline Strati and her demented husband. But those are sins of old."

Her hand dropped away.

"New sins however deserve punishment. If Valentine intends to repeat a cruel history I died for and Muna escaped to prevent for your sake, then we have to take it upon ourselves to protect the innocents of the future."

My hand moved to my stomach without conscious thought. The gesture felt automatic now, protective in a way I hadn’t fully understood before this moment.

Athena’s gaze followed the movement.

"That’s why you instinctively called me to this space."

She said it like a conclusion reached after long deliberation. Like she’d been watching me since the moment I’d pulled her here and had only now figured out the why of it.

"You inherited the light from Muna. But not the darkness."

The statement should have felt like an accusation. Instead it landed like simple observation, a fact stated without judgment.

"Healing and foresight won’t help you where you wake up."

She smiled then. The expression transformed her face completely, made her look like the woman she might have been if Valentine hadn’t gotten his hands on her first.

"What will?"

I needed to know. Needed to understand what she thought I could possibly do against everything waiting for me on the other side of this conversation.

Athena held out her hands, palms up. As I watched, light began to gather in them. Not the warm blue glow that came when I healed, but something cooler. Silver and ethereal, like moonlight made solid.

"For my great grandchild, I gift you this, granddaughter."

She opened her left hand first. An olive branch materialized there, small and perfect, each leaf catching the strange light in this space and reflecting it back brighter.

"The gift of small miracles."

Then her right hand opened. A garnet stone sat in her palm, deep red and gleaming like fresh blood.

"And we can’t forget... the red."

I stared at the objects in her hands. They felt significant in a way I couldn’t quite articulate, like symbols of something larger than their physical forms suggested.

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