Curse Broken (Cursed Descent (MistHallow Academy) #3)

7. Matilda

7

MATILDA

My skin hums with power as we position ourselves around the altar. It feels like the chamber breathes around us, ancient stones beating with rainbow light that grows stronger by the second. Even the air feels different now. Heavy with the weight of old curses, older magick and secrets.

Ellie lies bound on the altar, still smirking despite her position. Her eyes track my every movement, glinting with an intelligence far too ancient for her young face. The wrongness of her presence makes my skin crawl.

“Last words?” I ask her, trying to keep my voice steady as the Praxian force churns inside me.

“Just that I can’t wait to watch you break,” she replies sweetly. “When the force takes you, when it burns through that pathetic shell you call a body. Oh, it’s going to be magnificent.”

“Shut the fuck up,” Vex growls from his position in the circle. “You won’t be alive to see jack shit, let alone watch Tilly command that power like it was made for her.” He snaps his fingers under her nose, and she flinches. “Oh, wait…”

“… it was,” Draven growls.

“Whatever, she asked for my last words.” Ellie rolls her eyes.

Well, she has me there. I did ask.

A deep rumble shakes the chamber, as the chaos entities pour into the chamber, scattering around us but giving Xavi a wide berth. She grins. It’s both gorgeous and utterly terrifying. She moves closer to me, protecting me.

The creatures swirl above us, their combined voices building to a deafening chorus. I feel the Praxian force respond, fighting against my control, wanting to rid the world of these monsters.

“Hold the circle!” Blackthorn shouts over the chaos. “Whatever happens, do not break it!”

They dive at us, but Vex blasts up a protection barrier that they can’t penetrate. “Be quick! I don’t know how long it will hold.”

Their frustration manifests as waves of pressure that make my ears pop and my vision blur.

“Now, Blackthorn!” I scream as the pressure inside my chest becomes unbearable. “Do it now!”

“It has to be you.” He raises the ritual blade, its ancient metal gleaming with rainbow reflections. For a moment, time slows down. Can I do this? Can I kill her ?

Time speeds up, and I hold my hand out. He slaps the handle against my palm.

The blade feels heavy in my hand as my fist closes around it. This isn’t like killing Chris. It’s more visceral, more personal. But as I look down at Ellie’s smug face, I know I can do this.

I raise the blade. My hand is steady. The chaos entities above us shriek louder, sensing what’s about to happen. Vex’s shield flickers dangerously.

I meet Ellie’s eyes one last time. There’s no fear there, only a twisted sort of glee. She thinks she’s won, that this will break me.

“You’re wrong,” I whisper, and bring the blade down across her throat. “Everything about you is wrong.”

Digging it deep into her skin, I drag it back, opening her neck wide open. “This is for Bronwen and Eldora and everyone else who died or has suffered because of this magick.”

Ellie’s body arches off the altar, her mouth open in a silent scream. Her black blood pours onto the stone as a supernatural wind whips around us. Chaos clings to my head as I plant my feet or be swept up in the maelstrom. I grip the edge of the altar, my fingers sliding in Ellie’s blood.

“Tilly!” I hear Draven shout.

“Oh, shit!” I bellow as Ellie melts into the pool of blood on the altar.

The blood moves on its own, flowing down ancient channels carved into the stone pedestal. The chamber reacts violently, stones raining down from above. The blood reaches the ground, and for a moment, everything goes still. Silent. Even the chaos entities above freeze in mid-air.

Then the floor explodes.

A column of pure Praxian force erupts from beneath the altar, a geyser of rainbow fire that roars up through the chamber. The fraction inside me recognises its source and launches me towards it like I’ve got a rocket up my arse. It whips around my insides, making me feel nauseous and threatening to tear me apart in its desperation to be whole again.

I scream, fighting to maintain control as rainbow light pours from my eyes, my mouth, my skin.

The power is everywhere now. In the air, in the stone, in my blood. It burns through me like liquid lightning, and I feel myself starting to unravel.

“Tilly!” Vex’s voice cuts through the roar. “Don’t you dare give in!”

His words anchor me, giving me something to hold on to as the force tries to claim me. Chaos’s claws dig into me, drawing me back, refocusing me, and I breathe.

The chaos entities above shriek and dive toward the column of power. As they touch it, they change; they burn out like stars at the end of their life. They just cease to exist.

“The stars! The alignment of the stars! Shit!”

“What?” Vex thunders over the deafening roar.

“The stars! They were the stars! ”

“What?” he shouts again, but this time in confusion. He doesn’t understand, and I don’t, either, but I know I’m right.

“Oof,” I grunt as the power kicks me in the guts, and then there is pain. My body feels like it’s being remade from the inside out, cell by cell, atom by atom.

“Hold on, Tilly!” Draven shouts. “We’re right here!”

I want to tell them I’m okay, but my tongue feels like it has been glued to the roof of my mouth.

The chamber shakes apart around us as more and more entities pour in, drawn to the power like moths to a flame. Each one that touches the column burns out in shrieks of undisguised agony.

It should be burning me away to nothing just like them, except I’m still standing, brighter than ever. I straighten up, and I see that Chaos is taking on parts of the magick before it rips through me. He is channelling it, binding him to me in ways that I can’t even explain. It’s like he was born from me, but not. Xavier was right. I needed him and I nearly didn’t have him. I smile and hold my arms out, throwing my head back as the feeling tops the best orgasm I’ve ever had.

Just don’t tell the guys that. Or maybe do. See if they can beat it.