Chapter 422: You Are Of No Use To Me Now

Victoria’s POV

Victoria felt the exact moment Lilith’s soul merged with her body.

She was standing in the grey space between the Veil and the mortal realm, suspended in the nothing where death magic could reach across dimensions.....when the pull suddenly reversed.

The soul she had been dragging back toward life stopped resisting.

Stopped fighting.

Just....slammed into flesh with a force that sent shockwaves rippling through the space between worlds.

Victoria gasped and fell to her knees.

The death magic she had been channeling cut off abruptly, leaving her hands smoking and her entire body trembling with exhaustion.

"It worked," Victoria thought desperately. "She’s alive. Lilith is alive."

But the relief lasted only seconds before reality crashed back in.

Nicholas was gone. Consumed. Dissolved into nothing.

And Thalia....

Thalia was still waiting in the Underworld. Still expecting payment for her help. Still holding power over Victoria through the binding deal they had made.

Victoria forced herself to stand on shaking legs.

She needed to go back. Needed to face Thalia. Needed to pay whatever price was demanded before she could return to the estate and see Lilith with her own eyes.

She turned away from the direction of the mortal realm and walked deeper into the grey.

Back toward the Underworld. Back toward Thalia’s sanctum. Back toward the reckoning she had been dreading since the moment she agreed to this deal.

The journey felt longer than it should have. Or maybe time just moved strangely when you were caught between life and death. Either way, by the time Victoria reached the twisted structures of the middle realms, her legs felt like lead and her magic felt depleted to dangerous levels.

***

She found Thalia’s sanctum exactly where she had left it.

The stone building with Morvaine sigils carved above the door. The faint light glowing from within. The sense of dark magic saturating the air around it.

She pushed the door open and entered.

Thalia was there, standing over the stone altar where Nicholas’s body had dissolved, carefully dismantling the resurrection ritual. The candles were being extinguished one by one. The crystals were being gathered and stored. The ritual circles were being erased with methodical precision.

Thalia looked up when Victoria entered.

Her black eyes swept over Victoria, taking in the exhaustion, the blood magic corruption spreading through her channels, the absolute depletion written across her face.

"It worked," Thalia observed. "She’s alive."

"Yes," Victoria said. Her voice came out rough.

"And Nicholas is gone," Thalia continued. "Consumed by the entity. No body. No soul. Just....erased from existence."

Victoria felt guilt twist in her chest but she pushed it down. "Yes."

Thalia smiled. That terrible, knowing smile that made Victoria’s skin crawl.

"Then the resurrection is complete," Thalia said. "And our deal comes due."

Victoria took a breath and forced herself to meet Thalia’s gaze directly.

"I’m ready," Victoria said. "I’m ready to pay your price. Whatever you want.....years of my life, memories, pieces of my soul, I’ll give it. Just name your terms."

For a moment, Thalia said nothing.

Then she started laughing.

Not a kind laugh. Not amused. Just sharp and bitter and absolutely without mercy.

"You think you can pay what I will demand?" Thalia asked. She set down the crystal she had been holding and turned to face Victoria fully. "You think you’re of any use to me now?"

Victoria felt ice slide down her spine. "What?"

"Look at yourself," Thalia said. She gestured at Victoria with one hand. "Look at what you’ve become. Your magic is corrupted. Tainted with blood magic and death magic and all the dark bargains you made to save Lilith. You’re no longer a pure Morvaine witch, Victoria. You’re something else. Something twisted."

Victoria looked down at her hands.

The black veins were more visible now. Spreading further. The corruption was deeper than it had been even hours ago.

"So what?" Victoria demanded. "I can still pay. I still have years of life to trade. I still have....."

"You’re useless to me," Thalia interrupted flatly.

The words hit Victoria like a physical blow.

"What?" Victoria whispered.

"I don’t want your corrupted magic," Thalia said. "I don’t want your tainted blood. I don’t want anything you can offer because you’ve already destroyed the one thing that made you valuable."

Victoria felt real fear settle into her bones.

If she could not pay....

If Thalia would not accept payment from her....

That only left one option.

"No," Victoria said immediately. "No. You can’t....I won’t let you near Lilith. I won’t let you...."

"You don’t have a choice," Thalia interrupted. She moved closer, her black eyes fixed on Victoria with predatory focus. "The deal was sealed with binding magic. Payment must be rendered. And if you cannot pay...." She smiled. "Then the debt transfers to the one who benefited from the service rendered."

"Lilith," Victoria breathed.

"Lilith," Thalia confirmed.

Victoria felt panic surge through her. "She doesn’t know about the deal. She didn’t consent. You can’t hold her responsible for...."

"I can and I will," Thalia said. "Because Victoria....Lilith is worth so much more than you ever were."

She turned and walked to a table where several books lay open. Ancient texts. Dark grimoires. Research Victoria did not recognize.

"Do you know what happened when Lilith’s soul returned from the Veil?" Thalia asked.

"She came back to life," Victoria said.

"She came back changed," Thalia corrected. She picked up one of the books and showed Victoria a page covered in symbols and diagrams. "The Veil is not just a space between life and death. It’s a source of power. Ancient power. The kind that existed before the Moon Goddess shaped the world. And when Lilith’s soul passed through the Veil, when it was held there by the entity for those critical moments, something transferred."

Victoria felt her blood run cold. "What transferred?"

"The Veil’s core essence," Thalia said. She was smiling now. Genuinely pleased. "Lilith absorbed it. It’s woven into her soul now. Part of her in ways that cannot be separated. She carries the power of the space between life and death inside her."