Page 29 of Soul Bound (Cursed Descent (MistHallow Academy) #2)

29

MATILDA

The academy gardens are less busy at this hour. The night students are in class, and the day students should be sleeping. I should be sleeping, but I can’t. I’m too restless. I need space to think, away from the guys’ concerned looks and protective hovering. Even Chaos is giving me space, probably still sleeping off his zombie flesh feast.

Staring up at the moon, I sit on a stone bench, watching rainbow sparks dance across my fingertips. The Praxian magick feels different now. It’s not just a tool or a weapon but a living part of me. It hums beneath my skin like a lullaby, familiar, yet strange.

Chris’s final moments replay in my mind. The way he unmade, erased from existence by power he thought he could control. Power he thought I was meant to contain for someone else. I close my eyes, remembering the surge of energy, the moment I stopped fighting it and let it flow through me instead.

My body still aches pleasantly from earlier. I can feel the scratches from the tree bark and bruises from passionate hands. But the pain feels right, somehow. Real. A reminder that I’m still here, still myself, even with this ancient power coursing through my veins.

I know there will be consequences. Power like this always comes with a price. Killing comes with a price. No matter which way you swing it.

“Sacrifice.”

“Hmm?” I look up to see Draven hovering in the shadows.

“Chris. He was a sacrifice.”

I shift on the bench, making room for him even though I wanted to be alone. Something in his voice draws me in. “What do you mean?”

Draven steps from the shadows, his movements fluid and predatory. It makes me shiver. “The Praxian needed a sacrifice to fully bond with you. He served that purpose.”

The rainbow sparks at my fingertips flare brighter for a moment. “You felt it too, didn’t you? It bonded with you as well?”

“Yes.” He sits beside me, close enough that I can feel the chill seeping from his skin. “It tasted me and decided it liked what it was feeding on.”

“What does that mean?” I don’t like the sound of this at all.

“It means,” Draven says carefully, “that the Praxian magick has chosen both of us, in different ways. You as its wielder, and me...” He pauses, considering his words. “As its Guardian, I think.”

I remember how the power had responded to him in his Demonic form, how it had practically purred when we connected. “Guardian?”

“Yeah, but one it chose. Not like the others who were guarding the curse, the magick from being released. This wants me for a specific purpose. But I’m not sure what that is yet.”

“Should we be worried?”

“Worried? No.” He turns to face me fully, his blue eyes gleaming. “But we should be careful. This kind of power is an unknown variable. It is sentient. We need to be cautious.”

“I already feel different,” I admit quietly. “Like there’s this whole other layer to everything now.”

“Because there is. Pieces are starting to fall into place. The connection between our birth dates has drawn us all here at this point in time. Who and what we are serves a purpose.”

“Any idea what that is yet?”

He chuckles. “No. I’m not as quick on the draw as Vex. But some stuff I know. I felt it when the magick crashed into me.”

“Did it hurt?”

“A little, but it changed me on a very basic level. I’ve never had wings before.”

“What was that like? Feeling them for the first time?”

“Strange. Nice. Weird.”

“Three very good adjectives,” I say with a giggle.

He takes my hand and kisses my fingertips. “You are something very special, petal. I knew it as soon as I saw you on the side of the road, shivering to death in your short skirt in the dead of winter. You aren’t a vessel for this magick. It is you, and it also chose us to be with you. To support you.”

“How did your mum know all of this?”

“I don’t think she does. She has seers. They probably told her to send us here. That we need to be here. Xavi, on the other hand, has her ear to the ground. I’m worried about the Light.”

“Why? Aren’t they the ‘good guys’?” I use air quotes.

He gives me a wry smile. “Supposedly. However, the Light is far more insidious than the Dark. What you see is what you get with Hell. Heaven? It has its own agenda, and that shifts constantly. Also, I have an intense hatred for Vazna, so that just makes it even more concerning.”

“Who is Vazna?” I ask, intrigued.

“Heaven’s Guardian.”

My mouth drops open in surprise. “Ooh.”

“Yeah, he is a massive arsehole.”

“An Angel being an arsehole. That is concerning,” I say with a smile.

He grins, “They are all arseholes. Trust me.”

“You would say that, Spawn of Satan.”

He snorts loudly, his eyes lighting up. “That kind of turns me on.”

Wickedly, I crawl into his lap and grind down on his cock.

Students turn to stare, but I don’t care. I wrap my arms around his neck and lean my forehead against his.

“This has been a long few weeks.”

“It’s going to get worse. We are nowhere near done with this shower of shit yet.”

“Nope. And then there’s my family,” I say, the words bitter in my mouth. “They knew who I was, and yet they didn’t hand me over to Chris, or Night, for that matter. They kept hold of me. Why?”

“To use you for their own ends. Maybe they knew if they handed you over to Chris, they would lose their connection to the Praxian magick.”

That realisation makes all the sense in the world. “They knew what they had, and they didn’t want to give it up. But why keep the pendant on me, syphoning magick out to the First Guardian? I wish I knew her name. This is getting tedious.”

“Maybe they weren’t,” he says slowly as Vex and Luc join us, sitting on either side of Draven. I slide off his lap and snuggle into Luc. He wraps his arms around me and leans his chin on my head.

“You’re so hot,” I murmur.

“Yeah, I know,” he replies.

I giggle. “I mean your heat. I’m freezing, and you’re hot.”

“Ah, so you don’t think I’m the best looking dude you’ve ever seen?”

“One of,” I say slyly. “But right now, I prefer your heat to your pretty face.”

“I can live with that.”

“Back to ‘maybe they weren’t,’” I say, turning back to face Draven.

“It’s a theory, but maybe your family had a way of grabbing some of that syphoned power before it reached bitchface.”

“Ouch, but nice nickname. You think? Is that possible?” I look to Vex for answers.

He searches my eyes. “It is. With heavy, dark magick. It’s an interception spell. But it would have to have been delicately performed, subtle so that Chris didn’t notice. An advanced practitioner would’ve had to cast it.”

‘“I wouldn’t say that my parents were advanced, nor Janice. I doubt Gray, my brother, is capable, and Ellie is just a child. She wasn’t even born when Janice gave me the pendant. So who?”

“Laurent?” Vex asks. “Remember her? Somehow, she is involved in all this mess.”

I had forgotten about the professor. “Did Big B ever find her after she disappeared?”

Vex shrugs. “We’ll have to ask him. In the meantime, I think you need to get some sleep. You’re supposed to be training with Morrigan in a few hours.”

I nod and stifle a yawn. “Yeah. My brain is tired.”

Luc snaps his fingers, and we arrive back in my bedroom.

“How did you do that?” I ask.

“My power is altering. I think all of ours are.” He eyes up Draven, his gaze screaming with questions about his transformation earlier. He looks back at me. “I think it is connected to you now, my sweet.”

“We all are,” Vex agrees.

“Guardians,” Draven murmurs. “Guardians of Matilda.”

I strip off and crawl into bed as the guys tuck me in. “We will be here, watching,” Vex says, stroking my hair back from my face. “Get some rest.”

I nod and close my eyes, asleep before I take my next breath.