Chapter 316 The Necklace Touch

Chapter 316: Chapter 316 The Necklace Touch

Talia’s POV

I waited for her answer, but my mother did not speak right away. She just looked at me, and I saw the tears still shining in her eyes, and I saw the smile that had not left her face since she finished braiding my hair.

I squeezed her hand. "Mother?"

She blinked, and I saw her coming back to the present. "I do not know what comes next, Talia," she said, and her voice was soft. "I have not had to think about tomorrow in fifteen years. I only knew how to survive today."

I held her hand tighter. "Then we will figure it out together. One day at a time."

She nodded, and I saw the hope flickering in her tired eyes. "Yes," she said. "Together."

We sat in silence for a while, and I watched the sun climb higher in the sky. The birds were singing, and the wind was warm, and I felt the exhaustion pulling at me. But I did not want to sleep, I wanted to stay awake and feel every moment of this.

"I used to dream about moments like this," my mother said, with her voice small, and soft and distant. "I used to close my eyes and imagine what it would feel like to sit beside you again, to hear your voice, and to feel your hand in mine. And now that it is real, I keep waiting for it to disappear. I keep waiting to wake up back in that dungeon, alone and cold, with nothing but the memory of you to keep me going."

I leaned against my mother, and I felt her arm wrapping around me. “You will never go back there again mother. Never.”

She smiled and kissed my forehead.

We sat like that, watching the morning unfold, until the fire burned low and the rest of the pack began to stir.

Then I felt my mother’s hand reach up, and her fingers brushed against my hair. She rubbed it back, and her hand paused on my head.

My mother removed her hand, and reached out again, and her fingers brushed against my neck. I felt her touch against the pendant that hung there, the one she had given me so many years ago.

"You kept it," My mother said, and her voice was barely a whisper.

I looked down, and I saw the pendant resting against my chest. It was worn and scratched, and the chain was thin from years of wear, but it was still there. It had never left my side.

"All these years," she said. "You kept it all these years."

I reached up, and I touched the pendant with my fingers.

I felt the cool metal against my fingertips, and I remembered the day she had placed it around my neck. I remembered the heat of the fire, and the smoke in my lungs, and the way her hands had trembled as she fastened the clasp. I remembered her voice, desperate and fierce, telling me to run and never look back.

I had held onto that memory for fifteen years, and I had held onto the pendant for fifteen years. And now, she was here, touching it with her own hands.

"It was all I had of you, Mother," I said, and my voice was thick with emotion. "I had nothing else. No memories of your face, no letters, until I found your journal, and no keepsakes. Just this, mother. So I held onto it."

She looked at me, and I saw the tears streaming down her face. "I put a piece of myself in that pendant," she said. "I put my love, and my hope."

She paused. "Every night in that cage, I would close my eyes and I would picture this moment," she said, her voice trembling. "I would picture you wearing that pendant, and I would picture you safe, and I would picture you happy. And I would tell myself that as long as you were wearing it, you were still alive, still fighting, and still out there somewhere looking for me."

She sniffed back tears. "And I put most of my magic in it, leaving just a little bit with me. Because I wanted you to be safe."

I looked at her, and I felt the tears burning in my eyes. "You put most of your magic in it?"

She nodded, and I saw the tears streaming down her face. "I poured almost everything I had into that pendant, Talia. Every ounce of love I had for you, every hope I had for your future, and every piece of magic I could spare. I wanted it to protect you, to guide you, and to remind you that you were never alone."

She smiled. "And I knew that as long as you had it, you would be safe."

I looked at the pendant, and I felt the warmth spreading through my chest. "It did keep me safe, Mother. It protected me, and it guided me."

"There were so many times when I wanted to give up," I admitted, my voice breaking. "So many nights when I thought I would never find you, when I thought I was chasing a ghost, and many nights when I thought I was deceiving myself with false hope. But every time I touched this pendant, I felt something warm spread through my chest, and I knew it was you. I knew you were still out there, still waiting for me." I smiled. "And this pendant, it led me to you."

She pulled me into her arms, and I felt her body shaking against mine. "My brave girl," she whispered. "My brave, brave girl."

I held her, and I let myself cry.

Kaelen was sitting by the fire, and I heard him shift. I turned, and I saw him watching us. He was smiling, and I saw the love in his eyes.

I smiled back, and I turned to my mother.

"Mother," I said. "What was it like? Before the fire? Before everything?"

She was quiet for a long moment, and I watched her face as she searched for the words. I could see the memories moving behind her eyes, with some bright and some dark, as her facial expressions kept changing. And I knew that she must be sifting through years of pain to find the good ones.

"It was beautiful," she finally said, and her voice was soft. "Our village was small, but it was full of life."

I closed my eyes, and I tried to picture it. I tried to imagine the gardens she was describing, with flowers that bloomed in every color. I tried to imagine the children running through the streets, with their laughter echoing off the stone walls. And I tried to imagine the life that had been taken away from her.

"Tell me more," I said. "Tell me everything."

I moved into a comfortable position. "I want to know what it felt like to be happy," I said, with my voice barely above a whisper. "I want to know what it felt like to live without fear, without all this darkness, and without the weight of everything pressing down on you. I want to know who you were before the fire, before the cage, and before all of this."

My mother smiled, and I saw the hope flickering in her tired eyes. "There was a fountain in the center of the village," she said. "The water was so clear that you could see the stones at the bottom. And in the summer, the children would run through it to cool off. You would have loved it, Talia. You would have loved it so much."

She let out a slow breath. "There were gardens, and children playing, and the sound of laughter, and there was magic. Everywhere you looked, there was magic."

I listened, and I felt the tears burning in my eyes. "Tell me more, mother.”