Page 25 of Soul Bound (Cursed Descent (MistHallow Academy) #2)

25

MATILDA

I storm across the campus grounds, the mist curling around me. Chaos finds me as soon as my boots crunch on the snow. He claws his way up my body and wraps his furry body around my neck. He is lovely and warm, and I relax slightly, even though my mind is still reeling from everything I’ve learned in the last few hours.

Striding over the boundary line, I hesitate. I haven’t crossed the line before on my own. Is it safe? Will Blackthorn know? The forest seems more ominous now that I’m alone, and it sends Chaos into a bit of a chittering frenzy.

“Shh,” I murmur, stroking his head.

The trees lean towards me, branches reaching out like welcoming arms. Without thinking, I step into their embrace.

Chaos erupts into a monstrous madness. He claws at me, scraping my skin and making me bleed, but I know where I have to go. I reach up and pluck him off my neck, ripping his claws out of my skin with a hiss. “Look, I know this is probably a stupid idea, but we’re doing it anyway.”

He rumbles at me, his amber eyes flashing with warning.

“Okay, here’s the deal. If anything attacks me, you get to eat it.”

He narrows his eyes and contemplates this for about half a second before settling and leaping onto my shoulder. He then sits like a parrot, observing everything with his sharp gaze. I keep my chuckle to myself and press forward.

The forest is quiet, but not silent. I can hear the rustling of leaves, the soft padding of animal feet, the distant call of birds, and underneath it all, a humming energy that resonates with the power inside me.

I walk deeper into the woods, letting the quiet wash over me. My thoughts are a jumbled mess, but here, surrounded by ancient trees and wild magick, things start to settle.

I’m the vessel for an ancient, powerful being.

I’m not meant to exist beyond being a temporary host.

Everything I am, everything I’ve ever been, was just preparation for this moment.

And I’m fucking pissed about it.

I don’t know where my family fits into this. They know, obviously, who I really am. The connection between Chris and the pendant is too blatant for them to not know anything. So why did they suppress my powers? No, wait, we moved past that, haven’t we? They were syphoning it. Why? For whom? Chris?

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I spit out. “Of course it was Chris. If he gave them the pendant, the magick it was syphoning off me went straight to him. But did they know? Hmm, Chaos? Can you answer me that? Did my family know everything? And if they did, why didn’t they just offer me up to begin with? Why go through all of this?”

That’s the part that you’re focusing on?

I close my eyes and huff out a breath in exasperation. “Oh, don’t suddenly decide to talk to me in my head. You can fuck off, dearie.”

She doesn’t answer, but I feel a shift in the energy around me. The air grows thick with magick, and it makes me stumble as I enter the clearing.

It holds a different energy now. Where earlier this morning it crackled with possibility and power, now it feels heavy with destiny and despair. I sink down onto a fallen log, my hands trembling slightly as I press them against the rough bark.

Come to me, my little Druid daughter. Break the binding. Set me free.

“Shut up,” I mutter, but the voice persists, carried on wisps of mist.

This vessel was made for me. Your existence was crafted for my return.

The mist coalesces, taking on a vaguely feminine shape that hovers just at the edge of my vision. When I turn to look directly at it, it dissipates, only to reform somewhere else.

You feel it, don’t you? The power growing inside you? That’s mine. It was always mine.

“Then why do you need my body?” I demand, standing up. “What happened to yours?”

The mist shivers, almost like laughter. Time takes its toll. Curses are a bitch.

My stomach churns as understanding dawns, and I feel sick again. Vex was wrong. The child wasn’t meant to be overtaken and then destroyed. It was meant to house and reproduce over and over and over again. “I get it now. The Praxian magick burned through yours, didn’t it? It’s why you wanted a child, so you could continue to live in a new body every time yours went kaboom. You are fucking twisted.”

The mist shimmers, merging into a more solid form. Ethereal and translucent, her features are identical to mine.

Clever girl. You understand more than the others did. But you’re still missing pieces of the puzzle.

“What pieces?” I demand, my hands clenching into fists. “What else could there possibly be?”

The figure drifts closer, and I feel the air grow colder around me. Chaos hisses, his fur standing on end.

You are the culmination of centuries of evolution and strength.

“So I’m what, the final product? The perfect body to house you?” The words taste bitter in my mouth.

Not quite perfect. But close enough. You will last longer than the others. Her laughter is like ice cracking.

I gulp. “Madeline and whoever else. You took them, but as soon as they burned out, you were recursed. It’s a vicious cycle.”

Close enough to the truth.

“Oh, so you never made it out of the curse. Not fully. The Praxian is the one that burned them.”

They were weak,

“And you cannot exist without the Praxian magick coursing through the veins of your body. The other Druids didn’t just contain you because you were a power-hungry arsehole. They truly cursed you to live in eternal torment until I came along. Too bad for you that I have zero intention of letting you take my body, my life.”

The ghostly figure’s laughter grows louder, echoing through the trees. You have spirit, little one. But you have no choice in this matter. The stars align. The pattern becomes complete. Your fate was sealed long before you drew your first breath.

“Fuck that,” I spit out. “I make my own fate.”

Chaos hisses in agreement, his claws digging into my shoulder. The mist swirls closer, and I feel an icy tendril brush against my cheek. Chaos lashes out, but the mist dissipates instantly.

Such fire. Such defiance. It will serve me well when I claim what’s mine.

“My body is not yours,” I growl, feeling the Praxian magick rise within me, responding to my anger. “I will fight you with every breath I take.”

The figure’s smile is razor-sharp, but then she vanishes more suddenly than she appeared.

I laugh. “Pathetic. You can’t even keep a misty form for more than two minutes. What makes you think you can take my body?”

There is no answer this time, so I roll my eyes and march out of the forest. Whatever clarity I was seeking, I just got it in spades. That thing is not taking my body to use and pop out a child to carry on the cycle before I burn up. No fucking way.

“Tilly!” Vex’s voice cuts through my determined stride. He, Draven, and Luc cut me off before I reach the boundary line.

“I’m fine,” I say before they can ask. “Just had a lovely chat with the First Guardian. What a bitch.”

They all freeze. Draven’s eyes narrow. “She appeared to you?”

“Sort of. More like a misty shadow puppet show.” I scratch Chaos under his chin. “But I learned something interesting. She’s not just trying to take my body because she’s trapped. She needs it because the Praxian magick keeps burning through her potential hosts.”

“What?” Luc steps closer, his dark eyes intense. “Potential?”

“Yeah. It turns out that being a power-hungry psychopath has some drawbacks. The curse the Druids put on her isn’t just containing her. It’s forcing her to live through an endless cycle of possession and destruction. She needs new bodies to channel the Praxian magick, but they keep burning out before she even gets to them. She can’t survive without the Praxian magick because she is tied to it. The host needs to have the magick before she can make the leap. She has never got that far. Madeline and the others went mad from the magick, it burned through their consciousness in seconds.”

“But not you. You have had this magick for as long as you’ve lived,” Vex says quietly.

“According to her, I’m the ‘culmination of centuries of evolution and strength.’ Whatever that means.” I shrug, trying to appear more nonchalant than I feel. “But I’m not planning on letting her test that theory. There are dots to connect between her, the magick, Chris, the pendant and my family, and I won’t rest until I figure this all out. It’s the only way to stop her.”

Draven nods. “We can help with that, but we have something else. Something that will protect you.”

His tone makes me pause. “Why do I feel like I’m not going to like this?”

“Because it’s dangerous,” Luc admits. “And permanent.”

“And potentially fatal,” Vex adds helpfully.

I look between the three of them, noting their serious expressions and the way they’ve unconsciously moved to form a circle around me. “Okay, you’re starting to freak me out. What exactly are we talking about here?”

“A soul bond,” Vex says.

The words hang in the air, and I stare at them blankly. “A what now?”

“A soul bond,” Vex repeats, his voice gentle. “It’s an ancient form of magick that binds souls together.”

“How?”

“A soul bond literally weaves souls together. We would become part of each other. Our magick, our life force, our souls would be intertwined.”

“All four of us?” I look between them, trying to process this. “Is that even possible?”

“It’s rare,” Vex acknowledges. “But as long as we are all aware of what needs to be done, it is possible.”

“And this would help how exactly?”

“Think of it like creating a fortress around your soul,” Draven explains. “The First Guardian might be able to take over a single consciousness, but trying to possess four bound souls? That’s a different level of difficulty entirely.”

“Plus,” Vex adds, “our combined power would strengthen you. Make you more resistant to her influence.”

“What’s the catch? You said it was dangerous and potentially fatal.”

They exchange glances before Luc speaks. “The bonding process itself is incredibly painful. And if it goes wrong—if any of us hesitate or resist—it could kill us all.”

“And if it works?” I press.

“Then we’re bound. Forever.” Vex’s eyes meet mine. “What happens to one happens to all. If one dies...”

“We all die,” I finish quietly. “That’s what you mean by permanent.”

They nod solemnly.

“And you’re willing to do this? To literally tie your lives to mine?” I look at each of them in turn. “Why would you risk that?”

“Because we love you,” Draven says. “The question is, do you love us? All of us, equally and unconditionally?”

Blinking, I take a step back. Love. Love? We haven’t got there yet. Have we? I’m not even really sure I know what that is.

They’ve all risked everything for me, time and time again. They’ve supported me, protected me, and challenged me to be stronger.

“I… that’s a lot.”

“We know. But we know we love you, Matilda,” Luc says. “You are it for us. Whether you feel the same way back or not, we aren’t going anywhere.”

I look at Vex, and he takes my hands. “Tilly. You are ours. We love you, and we want to do this for you. If you aren’t there and you need more time, we will find another way. Don’t make declarations you don’t really mean because this ritual will know, and it will backfire on our arses so fast, we won’t even have time for our heads to spin before we all die a horrible, painful death.”

“Wow. Don’t sugarcoat it, then.”

“I can’t. You need to know that this isn’t something we can skate over. It’s either something you know in your soul or you don’t.”

“I know I care about all of you. Deeply. But love? That’s... I’m not sure I even know what that means. Not really. I’ve never felt it in any form.”

Vex’s grip on my hands tightens slightly. “It’s okay if you’re not there yet, Tilly. We understand.”

“No, it’s not that,” I say, frustrated. “It’s because everything in my life has been a lie. My family, my magick, even my own existence. How can I trust any feeling I have when I don’t even know who I really am?”

“You’re the one who’s captured our hearts,” Luc adds softly. “Whether you meant to or not.”

I close my eyes, feeling overwhelmed. “I don’t want you to die for me,” I whisper.

“We’re not planning on dying,” Vex says firmly. “We’re planning on living. With you.”

“Besides,” Draven says. “Luc and I are immortal.” He searches my eyes as he offers up that information.

“You can’t be killed?” I ask carefully.

“Let’s just say the Devil’s sons aren’t exactly easy to take down.”

“More like fucking impossible, but… you never know,” Luc adds.

“And I have the runes that make me impervious to death. None of us are going down without one hell of a fight, even with the source of all magick and its gatekeeper,” Vex says.

“Gatekeeper,” I murmur as the thoughts churn, turning over and over, clashing and colliding until they form a coherent theory. “Gatekeeper!” I exclaim louder. “That’s exactly what she is. She is gatekeeping this fucking magick. It doesn’t want her, it doesn’t owe her anything. She is stopping the Praxian from doing what it wants to do. It’s purposefully burning through hosts, so she can’t live. Fuck!”

“Okay,” Vex says, catching up quickly. “But that doesn’t mean it’s on our side.”

“No, but it sure as shit means it’s not on hers.”

“So, is that a yay or a nay on the soul bond?” Luc asks, somewhat confused by the sudden change in topic.

“That is a hold fire for a little bit. I care about all of you. More than I’ve ever cared about anyone, and I want to trust that feeling, to let it grow into something deeper. But I need you to understand that I’m still figuring out who I am. I can’t promise you forever when I don’t even know what tomorrow holds.”

Vex squeezes my hands gently. “We’re not asking for promises, Tilly. We’re offering you a choice.”

“A terrifying, potentially fatal choice,” I mutter.

“Welcome to MistHallow,” Draven says dryly. “Where Hell seems pleasant in comparison.”

I snort into my hand, and suddenly, I feel lighter than I have in a while. We are figuring stuff out, and it all leads to answers that we desperately need. But the niggling feeling of where my family fits into this is still weighing on me. I need to find out before it’s too late, and I’m blindsided by something I should’ve known. “I need to write all of this down. Get it all into some sort of cohesive order. I’ll see you later,” I mutter and head off with Chaos still clinging to my neck, determination etched into every step I take. I’m done being used, done being fucked over. The tables have turned, and I will stand up for myself, my guys, my life here and Chaos. I don’t need a soul bond to protect me. These things that are coming for me are the ones that need protection. From me.