Chapter 331: Magdalene, Break the gates

*One hour and forty-seven minutes later*

Victoria stood at the gates of the Blackwood estate with twelve witches and warlocks at her back.

It was not the full strength of what the Morvaine coven used to be, that was lost forever, burned to ash fifteen years ago. But it was enough.

Magdalene stood to her right, ancient and powerful, her white hair braided with crystals that hummed with stored magic. Henrik was to her left, carrying the ritual tools needed to sever bonds. The other ten were younger witches and warlocks who had served the coven or owed Victoria their lives or their power.

Together they represented a force strong enough to break through whatever defenses the Blackwoods could muster.

Victoria looked at the estate and felt her rage crystallize.

The grounds were destroyed. Scorch marks everywhere. Bodies of dark creatures dissolving into black smoke. The front doors completely gone.

Evidence of the attack.

Evidence of Lilith fighting for her life while the Alphas were somewhere else.

"Magdalene," Victoria said quietly. "Break the gates."

The older witch stepped forward and raised both hands. Green magic gathered around her...old power, earth power, the kind that predated modern supernatural divisions and slammed into the main gates.

The wards screamed.

But they held.

"Again," Victoria commanded.

Magdalene hit them harder. The wards buckled but reformed.

A third strike. A fourth.

On the fifth strike, the wards shattered like glass and the gates swung open with a sound like breaking bones.

Victoria walked through.

Her coven followed in formation....six to her left, six to her right, all of them radiating enough power to make the air shimmer with heat.

Pack wolves appeared immediately.

They materialized from the shadows and the tree line and the estate itself, at least thirty of them in defensive positions, some already shifted into their wolf forms, others human but ready to shift at a moment’s notice. All of them positioned to block the path to the main house.

All of them prepared to die defending their territory.

Victoria would have admired their loyalty if she were not so angry.

She stopped twenty feet from the nearest wolves and let her power pulse outward, a wave of magical pressure that made every wolf flinch even if they did not understand why.

When she spoke, her voice carried across the grounds with magical amplification, reaching every ear on the estate whether they wanted to hear her or not.

"Stand aside," Victoria said. "I’m not here for your pack. I’m here for my niece."

***

Lilith’s POV

The curse was getting worse.

Lilith sat on the edge of her bed with her hand pressed to her chest and tried to breathe through the pain. It felt like something was wrapped around her ribs....something cold and alive and hateful....squeezing tighter with every breath she took.

Hours ago it had been bearable. Uncomfortable but manageable.

Now it was agony.

"Lilith?" Nicholas’s voice cut through the fog of pain. "Talk to me. What are you feeling?"

She looked up to find all three brothers watching her with varying degrees of concern and helplessness, They had stayed in her room since they got back that evening. Nicholas stood near the window, his arms crossed and his expression carefully controlled. Sebastian sat beside her on the bed, close enough to touch but giving her space. Lucian leaned against the wall by the door, his hands clenched into fists and his eyes flickering gold.

"It’s spreading," Lilith said, her voice barely above a whisper. "The curse. I can feel it growing. Like it’s...." She stopped and pressed harder against her chest. "Like it’s eating me from the inside out."

"Where?" Sebastian asked immediately. "Show me where it hurts."

Lilith moved her hand to the center of her chest. "Here. It started around my ribs but now it’s...it’s everywhere. My lungs. My heart. Every time I breathe it gets tighter."

Nicholas moved to crouch in front of her, his silver eyes searching her face. "Can you still feel your magic?"

"Yes. But it’s..." Lilith tried to find the words. "It’s like the curse is feeding on it. Using my power to make itself stronger. The more magic I have, the faster it grows."

"That’s why your power exploded during the attack," Lucian said from the doorway.

"The curse is amplifying your abilities while it kills you."

The blunt statement made Lilith flinch but she could not deny the truth of it.

"Morgana said I have three options right," Lilith said, looking between the three of them. "Die willingly to break the curse. Give up all my magic and become human. Or do nothing and watch you go feral while the curse kills me anyway."

"Those aren’t options," Sebastian said quietly. "Those are just different kinds of hell."

"I know." Lilith felt tears burning behind her eyes. "I keep trying to figure out which choice I can actually live with and I...I can’t. Every path ends with someone losing. Someone dying. Someone sacrificing everything."

Nicholas reached out and took her hand. His skin was warm against hers and she could feel Kael hovering just beneath the surface, desperate to comfort her but unable to do anything except watch her suffer.

"Then don’t choose yet," Nicholas said. "We still have time..."

"Do we?" Lilith interrupted. "Aunt Victoria’s deadline expires in hours. Thalia knows where I am and she’s going to come back. And this curse is growing so fast I can barely breathe. How much time do we actually have?"

None of them had an answer for that.

The silence stretched until Lilith could not bear it anymore.

"Again i’ll ask you, what do you want me to choose?" she asked, looking at each of them in turn. "If you could pick for me, if this was your decision instead of mine....what would you choose?"

Nicholas answered first. "I would choose the option that keeps you alive. Even if it means losing you."

"That’s not an answer," Lilith said. "There are two options that keep me alive. Giving up my magic or..." She stopped. There was not actually a third option that kept her alive. Just death or magic sacrifice.

"We want you to give up your magic," Sebastian said, and his voice was rough with emotion. "Burn it out. Become human. Sever the bonds. Live a normal life."