Page 38 of Soul Bound (Cursed Descent (MistHallow Academy) #2)

38

MATILDA

In the aftermath of Vazna’s departure, we all stand in the wreckage of the training room. The walls are scorched with Hellfire and celestial burns, and the air still snaps with residual energy. My power hums contentedly, well-fed from the battle.

Chaos swings from the rafters like a mini Tarzan until the chunk of ceiling that the rope is dangling from crashes to the ground, leaving him scampering up my back to sit on my head.

“Well,” Blackthorn drawls, brushing debris from his expensive black suit, “that was invigorating.”

“This is a whole other bag to unpack, but let’s start with what you came in here to tell me before Vazna appeared,” I say, needing time to process what the Angel said. Blackthorn exchanges a loaded look with Vex.

Vex sighs. “Yeah, it’s whacked out, even more so now we know a bit more. Blackthorn and I found some things from a recently procured set of tomes.”

“What do you mean?”

“We found records of an organisation called the Harvester Order,” Blackthorn says. “They’ve been systematically breeding and draining power for centuries. They’ve been working toward something specific, a ritual that we assumed requires both Praxian and Hell-born energy, but now that appears to be incorrect, in a way. My best guess now, would be that this forgotten ritual is to draw all the magick into the Praxian force to feed it. To feed… you.”

“Feed me how? For what?”

Vex takes over. “We think they’re not trying to create a powerful being, they’re trying to create an inexhaustible source of power. One they can tap into whenever they want. They are incapable of holding the power indefinitely, but syphoned off power? Yeah, they can harness that and use it.”

Luc flicks a Hellfire orb up into the air. “So they’re going to what? Use Tilly as some kind of magickal battery?”

“Worse,” Blackthorn says. “A generator. You will be on a loop, generating Praxian power constantly. You, as you know yourself, will be gone within days, maybe less. Your soul won’t be able to handle it.”

“The question is, who or what are they planning to power up with it?” Vex says.

I feel sick thinking about how many layers of manipulation have been at work. Everyone has been waiting and trying to use me.

“We need to find Xanthos,” Vex adds. “He’s the only one left who might have answers about how all of this connects to Anu. Your family is a whole other bag. But if we can finally figure out one side, it gives us a leg up.”

“Bag?” I croak. “More like a market stall jammed with a thousand bags. I don’t even know where to start.”

“That’s why we start with Xanthos,” Vex says, taking my hand and lacing our fingers together. “One step at a time.”

“You have to work quickly,” Morrigan states. “We don’t know how much time we have left before shit hits the fan.”

“I think it hit the fan a while ago,” I mutter.

“More like the fan exploded,” Draven growls, kicking at a piece of celestial-scorched debris. “And we still don’t know what part Chris or Night played in all this.”

“Or if he was working with the Harvesters,” Luc adds, his eyes dark with barely contained rage.

“That’s why we need to go after Xanthos. Only he has the answers to this particular mystery.”

I squeeze Vex’s hand, drawing strength from his steady presence. “When?”

“Now,” Blackthorn says, straightening his cuffs. “Time isn’t on our side, and after that little display with our feathered friend, your power is particularly robust.”

“You mean hungry,” I correct him, feeling the way my magick still reaches for the lingering energies in the room. “It’s always hungry now.”

“Which is exactly why we need answers,” Vex says. “The more your power grows, the more vulnerable you become to whatever this ritual is meant to do.”

“So, back down the rabbit hole,” I mutter. “Great. He escaped from us last time.”

“He won’t this time,” Vex says.

Chaos chatters from his perch on my head, clearly expressing his opinion on the matter. I reach up to stroke his side, my mind racing with questions. “What if Xanthos doesn’t want to talk?”

Draven’s intense glower deepens. “Then we make him.”

“No,” I say, feeling something shift inside me. “Then I make him. He knows about my mother, about what I am. I know what he did to those poor women he helped create.” I let a tendril of energy curl around my fingers, watching as it draws in both light and shadow. “I think it’s time we had a proper chat about family history.”

“To the library then,” Luc says.

I nod. “After we’ve cleaned up this mess.”

“MistHallow has this,” Blackthorn says. “Go now.”

Chaos leaps from my head onto Blackthorn’s, and I pause. Should we take him this time?

Vex shakes his head, sensing my inner debate. “We need to be in and out, not chasing around after him if he goes feral.”

Sighing, I agree and give him a little wave before we turn and head out of the training gym in the direction of the library.

The library is silent when we arrive. The circle in the stone floor is waiting like a dark mouth ready to swallow us whole.

Luc steps into position, Hellfire already dancing at his fingertips. “We go in hard and fast. No fucking about this time.”

“Let’s try to avoid that creepy-as-fuck breeding chamber,” Draven mutters darkly.

“I’m with you on that one.” I squeeze Vex’s hand before letting go. “Let’s do this before I remember all the reasons this is a terrible idea.”

Crouching down, I press the button, and I feel the floor drop out from under our feet.

As we descend into darkness, I feel my power starting to strain against the dampening field. It fights harder this time, like it knows what’s coming and refuses to be contained. But even as it dims, I can feel it adapting, learning, evolving.

Just like me.

Xanthos wants to hide in his underground maze? Fine. But this time, we’re not leaving without answers.

The descent feels longer this time, the darkness thicker. But it’s slower. We aren’t plummeting, we are floating. When our feet touch the ground, the air is heavy with that same ancient mustiness, I’ve come to loathe.

I try to reach out with my power, but it’s like moving through molasses. The dampening field seems stronger and more focused. “It’s been busy fortifying.”

“Probably because it knows what you are now.”

“Good,” Draven growls, his death magick manifesting as barely visible wisps in the suppressed environment. “Means it’s scared.”

We move forward cautiously, the tunnel somehow both familiar and foreign. The walls shift in our peripheral vision, and the air grows colder with each step. We come to a fork in the tunnel. Of course.

“Every time we’ve been down here, we’ve gone left,” Draven mutters. “I say we try right this time?”

I stifle my giggle at his lack of conviction.

A grinding sound douses my amusement. The floor beneath our feet trembles.

“Move!” Vex shouts, shoving me forward as the ground caves in behind us. We sprint ahead as the collapse chases us, forcing us down the left path and straight into the chamber of horrors we’d hoped to avoid.

“It’s herding us,” Luc snarls, throwing Hellfire at a section of wall that seems to be closing in. It barely leaves a mark.

“Then let’s show it why that’s a mistake,” I growl. We are so fucking close to the cursed earth. I can feel it in the way my magick lashes through my body. The dampening field fights back, but something’s different now. My power absorbs it, adapts and reality bitch slaps me.

“We are standing over the cursed ground,” I rasp as I double over, feeling Bronwen’s memories flood my mind with disgusting clarity. “This is where… where she… witnessed the rape of her daughter and threw the curse.”

The ground rumbles under our feet, and for the first time, I see the containment runes etched into the ground. All of them and more. The one where Blackthorn said it stopped with the to be continued , newer rune, more form in a wide circle around the altar.

“These aren’t just containment runes,” Vex says, crouching to examine them closer. “They’re channelling runes. Everything that happens here feeds back into...”

“Into me,” I finish, feeling sick. The memories aren’t just Bronwen’s anymore, they’re mine too. The altar, the violation, the moment when grief turned to rage, and rage turned to curse. “This is where it all happened. Where everyone in the chamber and the magick was cursed, chained to the earth.”

“Look at the patterns above,” Luc points out, his Hellfire orb casting dancing shadows over the ancient markings. “They’re not the same.”

“They aren’t runes,” Vex says. “They’re forming a circuit.”

Draven’s face darkens as he studies the markings. “I’ve seen this in Hell. It’s a power loop. Everything that happens here gets amplified and fed back through the system. That’s why they needed this specific location for their ritual. This is where the Praxian hit the earth when Lucifer fell.”

“Who was Lucifer to you?” I ask quietly as the cramps abate a bit.

“Great-great grandfather,” Luc clips out.

My eyes widen. That’s not that far back. “So, you are the fifth generation?”

“Yep.”

“As fascinating as this family tree is,” Vex says, “it makes sense why Night got such a power boost after we fucked in here.”

“It’s ground zero.”

“Clever girl,” a voice echoes around the chamber and Xanthos steps into view, his robe in tatters and his hood drawn low over his face.

“You,” I spit out and go for him, but Vex holds me back. “You vile, sadistic monster!”

“Oh, you have your mother’s spirit. What a delight.”

I hold my hand up, and my magick flares up, warning him not to step closer. I understand why Vex stopped me from getting to him. We need answers. His death will come after.

“Where is my mother?” I grit out.

“How would I know? I’ve been trapped underground for millennia.”

“You are the weakest of the three,” I murmur. “Were. Your fellow rapists are dead.”

He hisses. “We did what we had to. Our creation of the female gods was imperative to our survival. We were dying out.”

“So you committed heinous acts in the name of survival? You selfish fucking pricks!” I scream and let loose a torrent of magick that takes every ounce of willpower I have to redirect at the last second and send it crashing into the wall. “What is the last of the curse? How do we break it?”

Xanthos shrugs. “Only the caster knows the key to breaking it. You will have to dig her up and ask her.”

“Bronwen,” I hiss. “Fuck.”

“You’ve got her memories, my sweet,” Luc says, coming up behind me and placing his hands on my waist. The seduction in it makes my blood heat up. I want to ravage him. The same goes for Draven and Vex, but we can’t let this chamber get to us.

“I don’t know. I can’t think,” I pant, sweating suddenly.

“Take her,” Xanthos purrs. “Take the little whore and feed the magick, feed all of us.”

My vision turns red at Xanthos’ words. A primal rage floods through me, unleashing something dark and ravenous. Before I can stop myself, my power lashes out, wrapping around Xanthos like barbed wire.

He screams as it squeezes, cutting into his ethereal form.

“You’re nothing but a rapist and a coward,” I snarl, tightening my hold. The dampening field fights against my power, but it’s futile against my rage.

Vex grabs my arm. “Tilly, wait. We need him alive.”

But I can barely hear him over the roaring in my ears. Images flash through my mind of violated women, stolen children, centuries of pain and manipulation. All for power. All leading to this moment.

“Tell me where my mother is!” I bellow, wrapping more magick around him, squeezing the life out of him. “Tell me!”

A blinding flash explodes in the chamber, and I stumble back, releasing my hold on Xanthos. He disappears in a flash of magick, and I screech in rage. “No!”

“Matilda.” A soft voice stops me, and I freeze before turning towards it.