To ruin an Omega

Chapter 166: A little Faith

CIAN

I stepped out of the car first. The cool night air hit my face and I breathed it in deep, trying to clear my head. Behind me, Fia stirred. I turned back and reached for her, helping her out of the vehicle. Her hand felt small in mine. Steady though. She was steady.

The gravel crunched under our feet. Skollrend’s main estate loomed ahead, windows glowing warm against the darkness. Home. It should have felt like coming home. Instead, my chest was tight with the weight of everything I was carrying. Everything I suspected. Everything I couldn’t prove yet.

The second car pulled up behind ours. Headlights swept across the drive before cutting out. I watched Aldric emerge from the driver’s seat. Then Elara. Then Madeline.

Madeline.

My jaw clenched before I could stop it. I forced myself to relax. To breathe. To remember that I needed her right now. Whatever she had done, whatever part she might have played in Ophelia’s death, I had to push it down. Lock it away. My mother was dying. Madeline could save her. That was what mattered. That had to be what mattered.

“You are disturbed.” Fia’s voice pulled me back. She was looking at me with those eyes that saw too much. “Is something wrong?”

I managed a smile. It felt stiff on my face but I held it there. “Don’t worry about it.”

She didn’t look convinced but she didn’t push. I was grateful for that.

Aldric, Elara, and Madeline crossed the drive toward us. Madeline’s expression was calm. Professional. Like she was here on official witch business and nothing more. Maybe she was. Maybe I was seeing ghosts where there weren’t any.

But my instincts had kept me alive this long. Even if I had my moments of weakness. It had kept Skollrend strong. I wasn’t about to ignore them now.

I turned my attention fully to Madeline. “We should go in. Help my mother.”

She nodded once. “Of course.”

The front doors burst open before we could take another step. Ronan came rushing down the stairs, his face tight with worry that melted into relief the second he saw me.

“You are back.” His eyes found mine first. Then they slid past me and landed right on Madeline.

Everything in his expression changed. His shoulders went rigid. His jaw locked. The relief vanished, replaced by something harder. Colder.

“You.”

The single word carried the weight of a thousand accusations.

I stepped slightly to the side, putting myself between them. “Madeline is here to help my mother.”

Ronan’s gaze snapped back to me. Surprise flickered there. He blinked. Processed. Then his features smoothed out into something more neutral. More controlled.

“Of course,” he said. His voice was careful now. Measured.

We started toward the entrance. Fia stumbled on the first step. Just a small thing. A catch in her stride. But I was there instantly, my hand on her elbow, steadying her. She glanced up at me and I saw the exhaustion in her face. The toll tonight had taken.

“I’m fine,” she murmured.

“I know. Let me just help.”

We moved inside together. The familiar halls of Skollrend wrapped around us. Stone and wood and the scent of home. But there was no comfort in it tonight. We moved through the corridors with purpose. Ronan led the way. Elara stayed close to Madeline. Aldric brought up the rear, silent as always.

The infirmary doors came into view. My stomach twisted. I had been avoiding this place as much as I could. Avoiding the sight of my mother hooked up to machines. Tubes and monitors and the constant beep that measured out her remaining time in mechanical increments.

But I couldn’t avoid it as much I wished. Plus, tonight was supposed to be the end of her suffering. I had to have a little faith.

Ronan pushed the doors open. The smell hit me first. Antiseptic and bleach.

My mother lay in the center bed. Machines surrounded her like metal sentinels. Dr. Maren stood beside her, checking readings. Elder Thorne was near the window, his weathered face drawn with worry.

They both straightened when they saw me. Their eyes went wide when they registered Madeline behind me.

I understood their reaction. After everything that had happened between me and Madeline, after the way things had ended, bringing her here was a statement. A risk. But it was a risk I had to take.

I stepped aside and gave Madeline a clear path to my mother’s bed. “Do what you can.”

Madeline looked at me. Her eyes searched my face for something. Then her gaze slid to Fia, still tucked against my side where I was holding her upright. Something passed through Madeline’s expression. Too quick for me to name.

She looked back at me. “I promise to fix this.”

The words should have been reassuring. They weren’t. Because of that nagging fear at the back of mind. What if this was a mistake? What if my hunch was right and she was now Gabriel’s pawn and spy? I sounded mad. I knew that. Because she has healed Fia without anything negative happening. So I just nodded anyway.

Madeline moved to my mother’s bedside. Her movements were swift. Efficient. She examined the lesions on my mother’s neck and face. The bark-like texture that had been spreading. Killing her slowly from the inside out.

“I need wolfsbane,” Madeline said. Her voice was all business now. “Moonbriar. Hollowberry roots. The red variant.”

Dr. Maren moved immediately to a cabinet and started pulling out jars and vials.

“Two parts wolfsbane,” Madeline continued. “One part moonbriar. Half a part of the hollowberry. Grind them fine. Mix them in a ceramic bowl.”

Dr. Maren worked quickly. Her hands were steady despite the tension in her shoulders. Elder Thorne moved closer, watching everything with sharp eyes.

Madeline took some of the ingredients herself. Her fingers moved with practiced precision. Measuring. Mixing. The components came together in the bowl. The mixture started as a dull brown. Then it shifted. Amber. Like honey catching light.

The color brightened. Deepened. Became something luminous.

Madeline held the bowl in both hands. Her lips moved. She said words I couldn’t quite hear. Neither could I understand. The language was old. Ancient. The kind of magic that predated our packs. That reached back to when witches ruled the forests and wolves were still learning to walk on their two legs.

The liquid in the bowl glowed. Just for a second. A flash of golden light that made my eyes water. Then it faded and went still.

Madeline carried it to my mother’s feeding tube. Her movements were careful. Deliberate. She poured the mixture in. We all watched it disappear down the tube. Into my mother’s body.

I moved closer without thinking. My eyes fixed on the lesions. The rough, diseased poison patches that had been consuming her. They looked worse up close. More invasive. Like something alien had taken root under her skin and was slowly transforming her into something else.

“Did it work?” The question came out rougher than I intended.

Madeline turned to face me. “Give it a minute.”

The words hung between us. The machines kept beeping. Kept measuring. Kept marking time.

Then I saw it.

The lesions. They were moving. Shifting. The bark-like texture started to smooth at the edges. Just slightly at first. So subtle I almost thought I was imagining it.

But no. It was real.

The rough patches began to fade. Receding like shadows under sunlight. The skin underneath was pale. Too pale. But whole. Unmarked.

“Goddess,” I whispered. “It’s lifting.”

The transformation spread. Across my mother’s neck. Up toward her jaw. The diseased tissue melted away like it had never been there at all. Like it had been nothing but a bad dream.

Fia’s hand found mine and she squeezed tight. I squeezed back, not taking my eyes off my mother.

The lesions on her face began to fade too. Slower than the ones on her neck but steady. Inexorable. The poison was losing its hold. Releasing its grip on her.

Dr. Maren leaned in and checked the monitors. Her eyes widened. “Her vitals are stabilizing. Heart rate is improving. Oxygen levels are climbing.”

Elder Thorne moved closer too. His weathered hands reached out like he wanted to touch her but didn’t quite dare. “The corruption seems to be leaving her.”

Madeline stayed where she was. Watching. Waiting. Her expression was neutral but I could see the tension in her shoulders. The way she held herself too still.

The last of the lesions disappeared and my mother’s skin was now clear. Unmarked except for the natural lines of age and the pallor of someone who had been ill for too long.

“Is she cured?” Ronan asked from behind me. His voice was thick.

“The alchemized poison is gone,” Madeline said. “The immediate danger has passed. But she will need time to recover. Her body has been through trauma. She needs rest. Proper nutrition. Care.”

I couldn’t look away from my mother’s face. She looked peaceful now. Like she was just sleeping. Like she might wake up any moment and ask what all the fuss was about.

“When will she wake up?” The question came from me but I barely recognized my own voice.

“Today… Tomorrow… Days, maybe,” Madeline said. “What is clear is that her body needs to heal. To rebuild what the poison destroyed. But she will wake up, Cian. I promise you that.”

The promise settled into my chest. Heavy and real. My mother was going to live. The poison hadn’t won. Madeline had saved her.

But even as relief flooded through me, even as the weight I’d been carrying started to lift, I couldn’t shake the other feeling. The suspicion that coiled tight in my gut. The questions that wouldn’t go away no matter how much I wanted them to.

Madeline had saved my mother. But had she also been the one who killed Ophelia?

I forced the thought down. Buried it deep. Now wasn’t the time. My mother was alive. That was what mattered. The rest could wait.

Fia swayed slightly against me. I tightened my hold on her. “You need rest.”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re exhausted.” I looked down at her. “Let me take you upstairs.”

She opened her mouth like she wanted to argue. Then she just nodded. Small. Tired.

I turned to Madeline. “Thank you.”

The words felt inadequate. Insufficient for what she had just done. But they were all I had.

Madeline met my eyes. Something flickered there. Something I couldn’t name. “You’re welcome.”

The machines around my mother kept their steady rhythm. Dr. Maren was already adjusting medications. Elder Thorne stood watch like he planned to stay there all night.

I guided Fia toward the door. Ronan fell into step beside us. Madeline, Aldric and Elara chose to stay behind.