Page 10 of Soul Bound (Cursed Descent (MistHallow Academy) #2)

10

MATILDA

With my heart beating steadily, even though my insides are cramping badly, I walk into the library with my head held high. Whatever happens, happens at this meeting. There is nothing we can do except move forward, even if all I want to do is pretend that none of this exists. Blackthorn is already in the vaulted restricted section, sitting casually with his feet on the table as he flicks through a book.

The second he hears or senses me, he drops his feet with a clearing of his throat and attempts to appear stern and Headmaster-y. I press my lips together. Busted . I knew he wasn’t all stick-up-his-arse like he makes out to be.

“Miss Matilda,” he murmurs. “Please take a seat.”

Nervously, I sit in the chair he indicated and wait for the guys to show up.

I fidget in my seat, trying to calm my nerves as we wait. The silence in the library feels oppressive, broken only by the occasional rustle of pages as Blackthorn continues to peruse his book.

Finally, the sound of footsteps echoes through the stacks. Vex appears first, his blue eyes scanning the room before settling on us. He gives a curt nod and takes the seat beside me. Luc saunters in next, a cocky grin on his face and Draven follows close behind, his face an impassive mask.

Once we’re all seated, Blackthorn sets his book aside and leans forward, his expression grave. “So, Miss Matilda. Do you want to give a translation of these runes you inscribed? As accurate as possible, please.” He slides the notebook over to me.

Gulping back my nerves, I nod and point to the first one. “When the elements were one, before the great divide, magick flowed pure and whole. The Praxian force knew no boundaries, no limitations. The chosen vessel will emerge when darkness threatens to consume all. One who can channel the pure force, untainted by the divisions of time. She will stand between two forces, fire and shadow, chaos and order. Bound to both, yet mastered by neither. But beware, the power of Praxian magick cannot be contained by one vessel alone. It will consume?—”

My heart thumps faster, making me lightheaded, but there is none of the pain there was before. The words settle over me like a cloak.

“Go on,” Blackthorn urges.

“That’s it. That’s as far as it will let me go.”

“Where is this on here?” He points to the book.

“This one,” I say, showing him the rune four from the end.

“A prophecy?”

“That’s what I said,” Vex mutters.

“Not a curse?” Blackthorn frowns. “Unless the curse comes between here and here?” He traces his fingers over the remaining runes. “But this one,” he taps the last one, “is definitely the to-be-continued aspect.”

“So in the space of three runes, we have the curse, but we can’t read it,” Luc states. “Sounds about right.”

“Indeed,” Blackthorn says, sitting back, his gaze fixed on me. “Are you certain you can’t read these?”

I nod. “Yeah. It’s like there’s a block in my mind. When I try to focus on those runes, everything gets fuzzy.”

Blackthorn’s eyes narrow. “Interesting. It seems the curse itself may be preventing you from accessing that information.”

“Or protecting her,” Draven interjects, his voice low and intense.

Blackthorn raises an eyebrow. “Perhaps. Either way, it’s clear there are powerful forces at work here.” He turns back to me. “Miss Matilda, what you’ve translated is extremely significant. A prophecy of this magnitude could change everything we thought we knew about magick.”

I shift uncomfortably in my seat as his stare becomes a whole lot more searching. He knows I know something more.

The room falls silent for a moment. Vex clears his throat. “So what does this mean for Tilly? This prophecy part?”

“It means what we already know, that Miss Matilda is tapping into the source of all magick.”

“But how?” I croak.

“Much like Chaos, it found you,” he says. “You say that the Guardian you met underground was your ancestor?”

I nod. “I believe so. I felt a kinship. It’s not fact, just something I feel, you know?”

“So your blood is powerful, Miss Matilda. The ancient Druids who cursed the land, are also the ones who split the magick.”

“Are you sure about that?” Draven asks, sitting forward.

“It stands to reason. The Praxian magick wouldn’t have split itself. It wouldn’t have wanted to. It diminishes its full power.”

“That’s what I think as well,” I say in a rush. “At least about it being forced to split up.”

“So if the Druids are the ones who did that,” Vex says slowly. “That is some badass power.”

“You could say that again,” Blackthorn mutters. “Do you think your family are aware of this connection?”

I chew the inside of my lip and look at Vex. He sighs and gives me a brief nod. He knows we have to come clean about all of it. “Yes,” I say, looking back at Blackthorn. “Another one of the Guardians infiltrated my home as a friend of my brother. For years, he hung around. I think he is the one who gave the pendant to them.”

“And you know this was a Guardian, how?”

“I saw him again underground earlier. He—he…”

Vex squeezes my thigh under the table for support. I grip his hand like a lifeline.

“He insinuated that my family offered me to him to impregnate. He was angry that it didn’t work.” My cheeks flame with red-hot heat as Blackthorn’s eyebrow goes up.

“When was this?”

“About three years ago,” I croak, avoiding his stare. “Then he disappeared, and I didn’t see him again until today. We believe that, as a Guardian, he somehow awoke from his slumber and was able to move about freely. But when the Praxian started seeping through the earth, he either absorbed it without his knowledge or, more likely, he took it for his own ends. But it trapped him there. Cursed. Like the magick.”

Blackthorn doesn’t even blink for a minute as we sit in an uncomfortable silence. When he speaks, he asks one simple question. The one I was expecting. “Why did he want a child with you?”

“That’s the million gold bar question, now, isn’t it,” Luc growls.

“I haven’t been able to piece it together, yet,” Vex says.

“But there was a ritual altar in a chamber underground,” Luc adds carefully. “I think it was meant to be used in another attempt to get Tilly pregnant.”

“Oh?” Both of Blackthorn’s eyebrows shoot up, and I wish the floor would open up and swallow me whole.

“Mm,” I mutter, staring at the table as his gaze bores into my head.

“I see,” Blackthorn mutters. “Am I to assume this didn’t happen?”

“That is correct,” I murmur. No way am I telling him what me and the guys did down there.

“Right,” he says stiffly. “Right. Well then, moving on, it has now become even more imperative we find out how to read the remaining runes.”

“Did you translate the other ones?” I ask, happy to be leaving this topic behind. “The newer ones?”

“Not yet,” he says with a frown. “Every time I think I’ve got it, they shift.”

“Yeah, they did that to me too.”

He nods slowly. “Leave it with me. We know it has to be connected to the binding curse somehow due to the translation of the to-be-continued rune. I have a few tricks that can help unravel this mystery.”

“Okay,” I say, relieved he has a plan.

“In the meantime, do not under any circumstances, go back down there. It’s not safe if this Guardian is lurking, waiting for you.”

I nod and stand up. “I have absolutely no intention of going back down there.”

He nods and waves his hands to dismiss us.

As the four of us file out, I feel like a small weight has been lifted off my shoulders. We have a powerful ally in this shitshow, and hopefully, he can figure it out for us.

“So,” Draven says, speaking up for the first time in ages. “Are we going to confront Night?”

“Hellfire, man. This army has really given you a massive wedgie, hasn’t it?” Luc snorts.

“Yes,” Vex says, interrupting them before Draven can respond. “Let’s go and see if we can find out what he knows.”

Vex leads the way out of the library and back to the South Tower. We take the steps slowly, silently, which makes me uneasy. Shouldn’t we be talking about a plan?

Vex stops in front of a door halfway up and knocks on it. “Professor? It’s Vex.” He looks concerned when no one replies, but we hear scraping noises coming from inside.

With a grim set to his jaw, Vex pushes open the door and steps inside with the rest of us at his back.

“Who the hell are you?” he demands to a figure crouched over a large wooden box, dressed in ceremonial robes.

The figure looks up, and I catch a glimpse of his face.

My blood freezes, and I instinctively move closer to Luc, who growls so loudly that the foundations of the tower shake under our feet.