Chapter 7 - The Trial of Blood and Marble
"By the blood of the heir," Julian declared, his voice echoing through the subterranean vault like thunder.
"And the strength of the bride," Violet added, her voice strong and unwavering.
They slammed their bleeding palms together directly onto the central rune of the altar.
CRACK!
A violent shockwave of raw magic exploded from the center of the altar, throwing Maeve and the spectral guardians to the stone floor. The sky-high ceiling of the subterranean chamber cracked open, raining down shards of black marble and ancient dust.
The blood of Julian and Violet seeped into the stone runes. Instead of being absorbed as a sacrifice, the silver-infused blood began to burn away the ancient black markings like acid eating through paper.
A high-pitched, agonizing scream echoed through the walls of the mansion above—a collective cry of the ancient curse being torn from its foundations.
"It’s rejecting the blood!" Julian shouted, holding Violet’s hand down with all his strength as the altar vibrated violently, trying to throw them off. "The curse is trying to purge us!"
Suddenly, the stone statue of Victoria—which had been left in the room above—was pulled down through the collapsing ceiling by an invisible gravitational force.
The granite form of the former matriarch crashed onto the floor near the altar, her stone face frozen in an eternal mask of horrific greed. The dark magic attempted to transfer the entirety of the petrifying curse into Violet, sending a surge of black energy up through the altar into her arm.
Violet screamed as the black veins spread up her wrist toward her neck. Her right arm began to harden, turning gray and rigid.
"Violet!" Julian cried out.
"Don't let go!" Violet yelled through her gritted teeth, her eyes blazing with defiance. "Julian, don't you dare let go!"
Julian wrapped his other arm around her waist, pulling her body tightly against his, fusing their energy, their breath, and their blood into a single, unbreakable force.
"I won't leave you!" Julian roared into the storm. "We break it together!"
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Maeve scrambled to her feet, running to the base of the altar. She raised her staff and drove it directly into the crack between the altar and the bedrock floor.
"In the name of the Weaver!" Maeve commanded, her voice ringing with ancestral authority. "I revoke the land! I shatter the pedestal!"
