I was Kidnapped for Revenge by a Ruthless Alpha-Chapter 161: Mental fortitude training pt 2

~ODETTE’S POV~

"Mother?" I whispered.

A soft humming answered from down the hall.

Her humming.

It was her gentle, warm, voice. The sound that soothed every childhood nightmare.

My heart pounded. Anxiety was funneled into me like a shady business deal.

"Mom"

I rounded the corner and stopped dead.

She stood at the end of the hall, wearing the same pajamas she’d worn when I was ten. Her back was to me... She lifted a hand, urging me to come over.

"Odette," she said.

Only it wasn’t her voice.

It was hers on the surface... but underneath, something evil and ancient rasped, like nails on a chalkboard.

It was his voice. Ezelreth.

I froze. My body went cold. My legs refused to move.

"Come here, little one," the layered voice called. "Your mother misses you."

I wanted it to be her. Despite knowing it’s a spell, knowing it’s not her, my brain still wanted it to be, tried everything to make her look more real.

"I know you’re not her," I forced out. "You’re not."

The figure turned.

My mother’s face stared at me, smiling gently, like she aways did, at me her eyes glowed an unnatural violent magenta, and had pupils like dragon slits.

Pain hit me.

Sharp.

Instant.

Crushing.

A tidal wave of grief punched into my ribs, stealing all my breath. My knees slammed into the ground as agony rolled through my chest, loss, guilt, longing, every memory of my mother twisted into shards and shoved under my skin like broken glass.

"Stop," I gasped, grabbing my head.

The creature wearing her face knelt, tilting her head "What’s wrong, don’t you still love your mother, still love me?"

I couldn’t breathe.

My chest felt like something was ripping it open from the inside.

The surge of emotion overwhelmed me so fast, I didn’t even have time to counter it. I wasn’t prepared.

Everything shattered inward instead.

The world blacked out.

I fell backward into the darkness.

And then Artemisia’s voice cut through bringing me back.

"Odette! Enough!"

I sucked in a rigged gasp and sat straight up. Sweat soaked my clothes. My hands trembled uncontrollably.

Artemisia knelt beside me "You broke too quickly. But that was expected."

"I..." I wiped my face, realizing tears streaked down my cheeks. "I wasn’t ready."

"No one is ready for the face of someone they love."

Her voice gentled. "Again. Trial two."

I barely had time to brace myself before Artemisia’s fingers snapped sending me back in.

This time, I found myself standing on the pavilion at my old home, by the lake. The wind whipped my hair across my face, cold and sharp.

My mother stood leaning over the railing.

Not in a nightgown this time.

In her favorite dress.

Soft pink that flowed in the wind.

"Odette," she called, smiling. "Come here, sweetheart."

The thing inside her wasn’t hiding this time as well.

Her smile was too wide.

Her hands too still.

I stepped forward, chest tight, but feeling more confident. "You’re not her."

"You want to save me, don’t you?" she asked.

A crack of pain sliced through my ribs, a jolt of guilt shot through me, it was so deep it made my breath shake. I stumbled, falling to my knees. The pain was forcing me to heave like I was cat chucking up a hairball.

She knelt beside me and whispered, "You couldn’t save him before. Not then. Not now. You won’t save her either. You’ll fail.

Ezelereth’s voice shadowed my mothers.

A memory hit me, my past life losing her lover once again, and another flash fast forward and it was a repeat of the same scene except it was me freeing him and killing my mother for nothing.

Like he was showing me his plans.

I buckled.

The storm clouds above burst open.

Rain hammered down like needles.

"Shut up." I whispered.

The emotion was too raw, too close. I couldn’t fight it. Couldn’t push anything back.

The wind roared, slamming me to the ground.

The pavilion shattered under me.

The world crumbled.

"Enough!" Artemisia’s voice commanded again.

I was ripped out of the illusion with a scream, grabbing my chest like my heart had been torn out.

Artemisia’s expression hardened with worry. "He amplifies what already exists," she reminded. "The guilt is not yours to carry."

"I know."

And that was the worst part. I was responsible for the pain of my past life. He had two ways to get to me, and I had none, no ways to him.

I wiped my face with shaking hands, already exhausted, already raw.

Artemisia gave me a moment.

Just a moment.

Then she lifted her hands again.

"Trial three."

This time I didn’t fight the transition.

I surrendered to it.

Darkness surrounded me.

Warm.

Comforting.

I stood in my family garden, the one my uncle Jeremy tended too for years and adapted it for my mother’s comfort.

And she sat on the stone bench beside the sundial, hands folded in her lap, smiling softly.

Exactly as I remembered her.

Uncorrupted.

Radiating love.

My throat tightened painfully. "Mom..."

"Come here," she said gently.

I walked toward her, feet dragging like each step weighed a hundred pounds.

"Odette," she said, reaching out, "I’m so proud of you."

The surge hit instantly.

Not pain this time.

Love.

Blinding.

Overwhelming.

Crushing love.

It wrapped around me like chains.

Pressed against every place in my soul.

The longing was so intense I couldn’t breathe.

"I miss you," I whispered, voice cracking.

"You don’t need to fight me," she said softly. "You don’t need to be strong. Let go, sweetheart. Rest."

And for a moment...

I wanted to.

I wanted to fall into her arms, illusion or not.

I wanted to surrender.

To stop hurting.

To stop being strong.

But that want was exactly the trap.

The love twisted, tightening around my heart.

Squeezing until I felt bruised from the inside out.

Ezelereth’s voice whispered behind the softness of my mother’s voice, "Love is the easiest cage." 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

I gasped.

The illusion brightened painfully, like staring into the sun.

And I broke.

Emotion overwhelmed me again, too strong, too blinding.

The world snapped like a glass window hit by a stone.

When I came back, I was sobbing.

Not delicately.

Ugly, shaking, breathless sobs.

Artemisia didn’t comment. She didn’t scold.

She simply stood there letting me feel my pain.

"Odette," she finally said, "you are not losing because you are weak. You are losing because you are a decent person. Because you love deeply. And that is precisely why you must learn to control your center."

I wiped my face, feeling exhausted and empty.

I wasn’t ready to give up, not just yet.

"One more time," I whispered.