Chapter 62

62

Ella

We climbed the rotting stairs quickly, Cassius creeping forward, quiet as an assassin. All I could hear was the deep pulse of the curse. Each beat thundered through me, shaking my very soul.

He listened at the front door, then stepped back and kicked it in. The heavy board sealing it shut shattered, and the hinges screamed as the door was flung open.

Cassius strode forward, his face a mask of tension. "We're alone, but that doesn't mean there's no danger."

I stepped through the entrance. Dust drifted in the beams of moonlight that sneaked into the church. I could barely see beyond ten feet, but I sensed a deep wrongness about the place. The shadows cast by the moonlight tilted oddly, and the air tasted of rot. The whole building thrummed with corruption, and the steady pulse of the curse dragged me forward like the current of a flooded river, pulling on me as well as my magic.

I shivered. "I can't see anything in this light."

Cassius picked up a wrought-iron candelabra, strode to one of the shuttered windows, and rammed it through the boards like a pike. The rotten planks tore free in a shower of broken slats and splinters, letting moonlight in. He bashed through two more, flooding the church with dim illumination. "Better?"

"So much for stealth." Not that anyone else was here. A heavy layer of dust coated the rows of wooden pews, and cobwebs clung to the walls. The only footprints were ours.

I could make out a raised dais at the front, a stone altar, and high niches for each of the great gods. Their statues had fallen long ago and lay broken at the base of the wall. I turned around slowly. A balcony hung above the entrance, but it was empty, just like the rest.

"I don't know where, but it's here. I can feel it pulling on me."

"Then let it pull," he said.

I closed my eyes and shuddered, sensing the currents in the room. I could feel it draining my strength faster than ever. I stepped forward hesitantly, following the strange sensation up the stairs of the dais to the stone-topped altar. It was like a whirlpool drawing me in.

"Here," I whispered.

Cassius stepped up beside me. "Within the altar?"

"Below."

He braced against the stone and pushed. The massive altar groaned, then scraped across the floor as Cassius heaved it over with a savage growl. The thing tipped up and crashed down onto its back. The floor shuddered, and streams of dust filtered down from the dark ceiling above.

I stared at him, awed by his strength. It would have taken half a dozen blacksmiths to shift that much wood and stone.

The prince bent double and braced his hands on his legs, breathing hard, then glared back at me. "What?"

Despite our current predicament, I couldn't help it. I pursed my lips. "Good thing you were born a prince and not a thief. You're not the subtlest at breaking and entering."

He lifted his brow, mildly irritated. "And what would you have suggested?"

"Using leverage."

Cassius gave an annoyed grunt and crouched down. The altar had left a barren, dust-free patch on the floor of the dais, and amid it was a brass ring inset into the floor. "A trapdoor."

I tilted my head. The stone panel had been carved with runes I couldn't read. "Do you know what it says?"

Cassius frowned. "It's the sepulcher of our house's ancestors."

My breathing stilled as my skin prickled. "Maybe we shouldn't?—"

"Doesn't matter," he muttered, then hooked the ring with his fingers and looked up. "We might as well find out what's in there."

Something bad. I stepped back off the top of the dais.

Cassius heaved, and the trapdoor swung open, then crashed backward against the floor. An eerie purple light flooded over him as he stared down into the hole.

My shoulders clenched. "What do you see?"

For a moment, he didn't respond. Then he shook his head as if coming out of a spell. "Light. And it stinks of carrion and rotten flesh."

I opened my mouth to ask for more, but he grabbed his discarded blade and stepped down. I hurried over, practically pulled off my feet by the deep pulsing of the curse.

A stone stairway led downward into a narrow corridor bathed in purple light.

"Be careful!" I covered my mouth with my sleeve, trying to block out the carrion scent, and hurried after him. "There could be traps."

That, or the stench would kill us outright.

Cassius froze as we emerged into a small antechamber. I stopped beside him, my breath tripping in shock. Beyond the next doorway lay a large sepulcher filled with six sarcophagi carved with ancient runes. The stone walls of the room were lined with massive roots that crept down across the floor and over the caskets.

And in the center of the room was a giant, beating heart.

I gagged, fighting back the nausea twisting my stomach.

It floated, streams of purple light drifting off it with every pulse. The light spilled over the caskets and walls like flames licking the sides of a hearth or sunlight shimmering across the bottom of a lake.

"What the hell is that?" Cassius whispered.

"The curse made manifest, and the source of their power," I said, mesmerized. Its hunger was a current pulling me forward, and although I fought it, I found myself stepping toward the heart.

Cassius grabbed my arm, restraining me. "What are you doing?"

A dull pain racked my body, and the urge to get closer to the heart became undeniable. I braced against him and gritted my teeth. "It wants my magic. And me."

Not just me. It wanted everything—all the magic in the forest and in the humans who dwelt here. It had been feeding off me my entire life and would consume my strength until my last breath. It was ravenous and unquenchable—the perfect tool to keep powerful people in line.

Cassius pushed me back toward the stairs, then strode forward, blade out. "Well, it can't have you. You're mine."

I grasped the lintel to prevent myself from being pulled forward by the spell. "Cassius, wait!"

The moment he stepped across the threshold of the sepulcher, light flashed. His body was hurled back and slammed into the wall, then toppled to the ground.

Shimmering purple light streamed off his skin, and I dropped to his side. "Are you okay?"

He growled and grabbed his fallen blade. "I'm fucking pissed."

Words thundered through my mind: I will not let you destroy me, Ella.

My breath stilled. The heart was speaking to me.

"It's alive," I whispered, looking desperately at Cassius. "Can you hear it?"

He stared at me like I was mad. "What are you talking about?"

I know you, Ella , the heart boomed in my mind. I understand you. You don't need to destroy me. You can use me.

"You're an abomination," I said, grasping Cassius's arm so that the pulsing thing didn't pull me into its clutches. He watched me, a mix of understanding and horror on his face as I spoke to the heart. "You've taken everything from my people!"

I've been waiting for someone as strong as you . Someone who could control me and use me for good.

"I want nothing to do with you."

The heart flared with a furious purple light. Think of what you could do with the power I possess. You could end the mages. You could kill the immortals. No one would ever have to give themselves over again.

"The Triad created you."

They've grown weak. They lack vision, but not you. You see a different future, don't you?

Images of Thalindra and Malthus barged into my mind. They were laughing and drinking blood wine as my people suffered and served their desires. Then I was there, tearing them apart with their own magic.

The lust of vengeance stirred within me, and my pulse quickened. Cassius's grip on me tightened, an anchor pulling me back.

Give yourself to me, and my power will belong to you forever.

In my mind, I saw the trees and animals bending before me. I saw the sisters begging me for mercy, and then Cassius and his court, all bowing, all serving me.

I sat upon the throne, the mighty queen of the Bloodvale. I could drink the blood of immortals and live forever, and no human would ever have to fear again because I wielded true power .

Their power.

A tithe of magic—not my own, but stolen from my people at birth and paid throughout their lives. I'd be given the power to protect them from the world, but they would never know their own strength.

The visions vanished, and cold determination seated itself within my soul. I raised my eyes to the pulsing heart. "You're a thief. The power isn't yours to give."

It is mine to take! the heart thundered in my mind. Do you think the immortals will ever show your kind any mercy? You could save them!

As the heart's spell over me grew, I reached for Cassius's hand, his strength giving me fortitude. "No. They can save themselves."

You are a fool.

The heart pulsed, and a wave of magic drove me to my knees. It was Horace's spell, but stronger than his magic had ever been. I pushed against the invisible bonds, and Cassius roared in defiance.

The heart's cruel voice thundered through me. If you won't take the power, then I will teach you what it means to obey.

Cassius's eyes suddenly widened, and his hand gripped his blade and rose as if he had no control over it. He strained against the magic, but the blade inched toward my chest. I tried to pull away, but the magic shoved me forward, closer to the steel.

"Ella!" he shouted as his arm quaked. Horror rang in his voice. "I can't fight it much longer!"

You cannot fight me at all , the heart snarled in my mind.

"Yes, I can." I reached for my connection with the trees in the courtyard, but a wave of corrupted power slammed into my body and drove me forward. Suddenly, there was only pain.