Chapter 382: The Curse Won

"Yes," Elena confirmed. "Divine curses have a kind of consciousness. Not sentience exactly. But purpose. This curse’s purpose is to kill you. To extract payment for sins your mates’ ancestor committed. It won’t negotiate. It won’t compromise. It will only do what it was designed to do."

"So how do I transform something that’s designed to kill me?" Lilith asked.

"By making it serve you instead," Elena said. "Lilith, I need you to listen very carefully. What I’m about to ask you to do will feel wrong. Every instinct you have will scream at you to stop. But you have to trust me. Can you do that?"

"Yes," Lilith said.

"Good," Elena said. "Now....I need you to stop defending against the curse."

Lilith’s eyes flew open. "What?"

Elena’s face was calm above her. "For weeks you’ve been using your magic to hold the curse back. To keep it contained. To prevent it from spreading too fast. I need you to stop doing that. Lower your defenses. Let the curse in."

"That will kill me," Lilith said.

"For about five seconds," Elena confirmed. "And then you’re going to do something the curse doesn’t expect. You’re going to reach into it and pull. You’re going to drag the death magic toward your core instead of away from it. You’re going to claim it."

"Elena, that’s insane...."

"It’s the only way," Elena interrupted gently. "The curse is too strong to fight from the outside. You have to let it in. Pull it all the way into your magical core. And then use your Morvaine gift to weave it into your power. Transform it from something foreign killing you into something that belongs to you."

Lilith felt terror spike through her chest.

But through the bonds she felt the Alphas pushing strength toward her. Felt their absolute refusal to let her go. Felt their love and determination and desperate hope.

"Okay," Lilith whispered. "Tell me what to do."

"Close your eyes again," Elena instructed. "Find the curse. And then.....very carefully....lower the magical shields you’ve been holding around your heart."

Lilith closed her eyes and turned inward again.

The curse was still there. Still coiled. Still waiting.

She could feel her own magic wrapped around it like armor, protective barriers she had unconsciously built to slow the curse’s progression.

Let go, Lilith told herself. Trust Elena. Lower the walls.

She did.

The moment her magical shields dropped, the curse surged forward.

Pain exploded through Lilith’s chest....immediate and absolute. It felt like her heart was being crushed. Like her ribs were cracking. Like her entire body was being torn apart from the inside.

She screamed.

"DON’T FIGHT IT!" Elena’s voice cut through the agony. "LET IT COME! THEN PULL!"

The curse was flooding through Lilith’s magical channels now, spreading faster than she had ever felt it move before. Racing toward her core. Toward the center of everything she was.

It would reach her center in seconds.

And when it did, it would consume her entirely.

Pull, Lilith thought desperately. Pull NOW.

She reached into the dark energy flooding her system, reached with her Morvaine gift, with the part of her magic that manipulated supernatural connections, and she grabbed the curse.

Not physically. But magically.

She wrapped her power around the death magic and pulled.

The curse resisted immediately.

It was not designed to be claimed. Not designed to be controlled. It was a divine punishment, absolute and immutable and meant only to destroy.

But Lilith pulled harder.

She dragged the death magic toward her core. Inch by painful inch. Fighting against the curse’s fundamental nature with nothing but will and desperation and the Morvaine gift singing in her blood.

And impossibly...

It was working.

The curse was moving. Responding to her pull. The death magic was dark and heavy and fought her with every movement, but it was coming closer to her core.

Lilith could feel the transformation beginning. Could feel the curse starting to integrate into her power. Could feel the death magic beginning to weave itself into the bonds connecting her to the three Alphas.

"YES!" Elena’s voice was triumphant. "GOOD! KEEP GOING! ALMOST THERE!"

Through the bonds, Lilith felt the Alphas pushing more power toward her. Silver and gold and bronze energy flooding through the connections, giving her strength, anchoring her to life.

The curse was almost at her core now.

Almost integrated.

Almost transformed from something killing her into something that belonged to her.

Just a little further....

And then the curse understood what she was trying to do.

Understood that she was not trying to destroy it or expel it or contain it.

She was trying to claim it. To make divine punishment into personal power. To transform death magic into something she could wield.

The curse reacted with absolute fury.

Dark energy exploded outward from Lilith’s chest, not spreading gradually this time but erupting all at once. The death magic that had been slowly integrating suddenly reversed course and lashed out with the full force of divine wrath.

It slammed into Lilith’s magical core like a battering ram.

Her power shattered.

The protective walls she had lowered came crashing down. The channels she had been using to pull the curse inward collapsed. The Morvaine gift that had been weaving death magic into the bonds fractured.

Everything inside Lilith broke at once.

The pain was beyond description.

It felt like dying. Like being unmade. Like every piece of herself was being torn apart and scattered.

Lilith felt blood pour from her nose. From her ears. From her eyes.

Felt her body convulse so violently she would have broken bones if Elena’s magic had not been holding her in place.

Felt the bonds with the Alphas stretching thin....thinner...too thin....

Felt herself dying.

The curse was winning.

Had always been going to win.

Had always been too strong, too ancient, too absolute for anyone to transform.

Lilith had been a fool to think she could claim divine punishment and survive.

Through the rapidly fading bonds, she felt the Alphas screaming. Felt their terror. Felt them trying desperately to pour more power through connections that were dissolving.

Felt them losing her.

"LILITH!" Elena’s voice was distant now. "HOLD ON! DON’T LET GO!"

But Lilith couldn’t hold on.

Couldn’t fight anymore.

The curse had won.

And she was dying.

The last thing Lilith felt before the darkness took her was the bonds snapping.

All three of them.

One after another after another.

Nicholas. Sebastian. Lucian.

Gone.

And then there was only pain and darkness and the absolute certainty that she had failed.

Lilith opened her mouth and screamed....