Chapter 286 The Reunion

Chapter 286: Chapter 286 The Reunion

Talia’s POV

The word hung in the air like a prayer.

"Mother?"

The woman in the cell did not move at first. She was so still, and so fragile, that I almost thought she was a statue, another skeleton, or a ghost, or a figment of my desperate imagination.

“Seraphina Ashford?” I called.

Then suddenly, she lifted her head.

Her movements were slow, like every muscle in her body had forgotten how to work. Her eyes blinked against the light, weak and unfocused. She looked like she had not seen the sun in years, or decades.

I stood frozen at the threshold, with my heart pounding so hard I could hear it in my ears. Kaelen was behind me, and his hand was warm on my back, steadying me.

"Talia," he whispered. "Go to her."

I took a step forward, then another. The cell was small, barely large enough for three people to stand. The walls were rough stone, covered in silver chains and rusted shackles. A pallet of straw sat in the corner, and on it, my mother sat.

The words, “My mother.” Made me smile.

Her eyes finally focused on me.

I watched the confusion fade from her face, replaced by something else, like recognition, and then disbelief. And then, a light flickered in her eyes that had not been there before.

"Talia?" Her voice was a whisper, cracked and dry, like she had not used it in years. "Talia, is that really you?"

I fell to my knees in front of the cell, and I reached through the bars. "It is me, Mother. I am here, and i found you."

She stared at me for a long moment, with her eyes searching my face. I saw her gaze trace my features, my eyes, my nose, and my lips. And I knew she was seeing my father’s face in mine. And hers too.

I watched her eyes move over my face, memorizing every line and curve like she was afraid I would disappear if she looked away. Her gaze lingered on my eyes, and I saw her lips tremble. "You have your father’s eyes," she whispered, and her voice cracked on the words. "I see him every time I look at you, Talia. Every single time."

I let the tears flow freely down my cheeks.

My mother’s eyes filled with tears. They spilled down her cheeks, carving paths through the dirt and grime on her face.

"You came," she whispered. And her voice broke. "You... really came."

I pressed my face against the bars, and I felt the cold silver against my skin. "I never stopped looking for you, Mother. I never stopped."

She reached for my hand.

Her hand moved slowly, like she was fighting through years of stillness and silence, but when her fingers finally touched mine, I felt the warmth of her skin through the cold silver bars. I expected her to be cold, to feel like the dead, but she was not. She was warm, she was alive, and she was holding onto me like I was the only thing keeping her tethered to this world. Her fingers wrapped around mine through the bars. They were cold and thin, but they held on tightly. So tightly.

"My daughter," she said, and the words were a prayer. "My beautiful daughter."

I sobbed, with the sound tearing from my throat. "I thought I had lost you... I thought you were dead."

She shook her head, with her fingers tightening around mine. "I am here, Talia. I am alive."

I pressed her hand against my cheek through the bars, and I felt the tears soaking her fingers. "I have waited so long for this moment, and I have dreamed of it for fifteen years."

Her other hand reached through the bars, trembling, and she touched my face. Her fingers were cold, but they were real. She was real.

"I have replayed this moment in my mind a thousand times," I said, with my voice breaking as I held her hand against my face. "I imagined what I would say, how I would feel, and what you would look like. But none of my dreams prepared me for this, for the way my heart is breaking and mending at the same time, for the way I want to hold you and never let go, for the way I am terrified that if I blink, you will disappear."

More tears ran down my mother’s cheeks. "Look at you," she whispered. "You are so beautiful. You have grown into such a strong woman."

I laughed through my tears. "I learned from you, Mother."

She smiled, and for a moment, she looked like the woman I remembered. The woman who had walked into the fire to save me.

I reached for the silver bars, trying to pull them apart, but they did not move. I pushed against them, but they held firm. I could not break them, because they were too strong.

"Mother," I said, with my voice breaking. "I cannot... I cannot get to you."

She pressed her palm against mine through the bars. "It is okay, Talia. You are here. That is what matters."

Kaelen stepped forward, and I saw the pain on his face. His skin was covered in red welts, and his breathing was shallow. The silver was too much for him.

"Talia," he said, with his voice weak. "We need to find a way to break the bars."

I looked at him, and I saw that he was struggling. He could not help me, and he could barely stand.

I turned back to my mother, and I felt the desperation rising in my chest.

"Mother," I said. "I am going to get you out of here. I promise."

She looked at me, and I saw the hope in her tired eyes. "I know you will, Talia. I have always believed in you."

I held her hand through the bars, and I whispered to myself. "I will find a way."

I looked at my mother through the bars, at the woman who had given up everything to save me, and I felt something shift in my chest.

It was not just hope anymore, it was certainty. I had spent fifteen years searching for her, I had waited for fifteen years, wondering if she was alive or dead, and I had spent fifteen years carrying the weight of her sacrifice on my shoulders.

And now that I had found her, I was not going to let anything stand in my way. Not the silver, not Malachai, and not the darkness that had tried so hard to swallow us both.