Chapter 593: Heart blood

Sebastian’s face took on an expression of astonishment and understanding at the same time. Born with corruption? So this was why Ivy had said the corruption had always been inside them, as though they were born with it. It turned out they really had been born corrupted, and it was part of their curse, which always made him feral during the full moons.

"How come you knew about this when none of the others did?" he asked suspiciously.

"Not just me. Ysara knows too, as we both hold the knowledge of the prophecy and pass it down through each generation. She explained the prophecy of your destined mate and the signs you should look for in her, didn’t she?" Margaret asked, lighting another candle within the circle. "So why haven’t you broken your curse now that you’ve found her?"

"Because she was already pregnant by the time we found out she was the one," Sebastian replied, still rubbing his aching chest. "May I ask you something?"

"As if I have a choice."

Sebastian ignored her remark and asked anyway. "I don’t feel the urge to mark her anymore. Is that supposed to happen? Does it have something to do with the fact that she’s a half-breed?"

Margaret stopped what she was doing and turned to look at him.

"What is her other half?" she asked. The information reaching her home was limited, and she had barely bothered keeping up with the happenings of the pack ever since Sebastian had forced her to abandon the practice she loved. No one had told her that his mate was a half-breed.

"Mermaid," he told her, since it was no longer a secret to many that Viola was half mermaid, but he didn’t expect her reaction to his words.

"Well, if that isn’t surprising. A mermaid? How did a mermaid become the prophecy when a werewolf’s mark can’t stay on a mermaid’s skin?"

"What do you mean?" Sebastian growled at her.

"Exactly what you heard. Mermaids are creatures of the water who serve an entirely different Goddess. Their skin resists our marking venom, which makes a mark impossible to set, even though werewolves can mark humans. Even if you mark her, it will fade away and not remain, just like it happened in the past with our ancestor who fell in love with one and realized it wouldn’t work."

Sebastian’s eyes stayed on her. "Our ancestor? Do you mean Vaelor?" He questioned, not liking this information about mermaids not being able to be marked by werewolves when the prophecy had destined her to him. What was the witch trying to get at?

"Do we have another ancestor with a history with mermaids other than Vaelor?" Margaret deadpanned as she got up from where she was sitting and reached for a shelf behind her to retrieve a thick book.

"I have kept this book for ages." She dropped it in front of him, dust raising as it hit the floor. "It contains studies and notes about mermaids that our people recorded in the past. If you read it, you will see that the two of us were never meant to coexist in a way like that." She returned to sit in front of him, watching his stunned expression as he flipped through the dusty book.

"The Sea Goddess and the Moon Goddess were not the best of friends, and they never planned to be. It is why we are separated by a barrier that neither side can cross: they can’t live outside water, and we can’t live in it." She looked at him. "Vaelor must have realized this before he killed her, for he knew that even if she were alive, they couldn’t be together."

Sebastian lifted his eyes from the book to look at the witch. "Then why was she my prophecy? If we are not meant to coexist in such a way, why is she the cure to my curse?" He demanded, starting to feel frustrated, as the book confirmed what she was saying.

Margaret shrugged her narrow shoulders. "I don’t have the answers to that. There are two other possibilities now. Either she’s not the real one, or there is a trick of fate we are missing here." She looked into his eyes. "Maybe your curse was never meant to be broken, or we can put it to the test: you can try to mark her and let’s see what happens."

Sebastian put the book down, his mind tangling thoughts of the past and present until they blurred together. Vaelor had marked her before he killed her, and the mark had transmitted to Viola’s wolf. Was there a reason for that killing that they didn’t know of? He thought, and realized that unless he tried to mark Viola immediately, he couldn’t find out whether the mark would stay.

"How are you going to cure my son?" He asked, impatient to return to his wife and test the theory, but first he had come here for their son.

"About your son," Margaret said. "I’ll need to take energy from you and turn it into a potion. He is still a baby who can’t heal himself, but if I take from you and make it into a potion, we can heal him, hopefully."

Sebastian didn’t hesitate. "Then take whatever you need."

"Not so fast, Alpha. Your corruption is still highly active right now, as though something had triggered it. If I take from your heart blood to make the potion, you might not heal fast for some time and will be in constant pain, coughing up blood." She looked at him, knowing he might realize it wasn’t worth going through the pain for his little one after all.

Sebastian stopped to think. Ivy had triggered his heart corruption with the hit she gave him to the chest, and he hated the discomfort he suffered from it, and to think it would be doubled if he gave his heart blood. But then there was their son, and Viola’s desire to try to help him. Could he stand having her worry and wanting to go to the sea? It would be just a few days of pain and discomfort, and he would handle it and take it.

Sebastian unbuttoned his shirt as he said to the witch, "Go ahead, take as much as he needs to be healthy."

Margaret looked at him and realised how much the young Alpha had changed since the last time she’d seen him.

"I’ll try to make it less painful..."

With that, she reached for a thin dagger bearing a witch’s marking on its blade and plunged it into his chest, beginning to collect his heart blood as he groaned in pain.