Page 101 of Cursebreaker

I can’t let him win. I can’t let Will get away.

I burst through the door to my chambers, but Henry remains in the hall, watching my back as I step over the bedrolls where my siblings slept peacefully just last night and search the chest of drawers where Owen left the Elysian Navigator, but—

“It’s not here!” I take a deep, shuddering breath. Maybe Titus got here first. Maybe he already has the Elysian Navigator, and he’s waiting for us somewhere.

Maybe I’m too late, and Will is long gone.

I try to stay calm as I grab my coat, draped across the chair, and shrug it over my shoulders. “It’s not here!” I say, panting for breath as I hurry back out into the hall.

But the moment I set foot over the threshold, I’m knocked sideways.

I land on top of Henry, my ears ringing.

“Henry?” I don’t hear my own scream.

The vibration of his groan, rumbling deep in his chest, is my only answer.

I try to move, but I can’t feel the lower half of my body, my legs pinned beneath the debris.

Panic sharpens my senses as smoke fills the hallway. I know I need to move. We need to get out of here—need to find Owen and get back to the Starchaser. But when I try to pull myself free, a jagged piece of wood slices my calf, and I nearly black out from the pain. I set my jaw and try again.

The scream that bursts from my lips leaves my throat raw.

I will not die like this, buried beneath debris, consumed by fire. I grit my teeth, determined to free myself. I dig my fingers into the wooden floorboards beside Henry and me, bracing for the inevitable agony that will follow my final attempt. Already, I can feel the air thinning. Every breath I take fills my lungs with smoke, my head light.

“Just breathe,” a voice whispers, brushing against my ear like a phantom caress. “You have the power to stop the fire.”

Heat distorts my vision, and for a moment, I think I see someone standing over me, his dark cloak billowing. But when I blink, there’s no one there.

Smoke stings my eyes as I shut them tight, attempting to draw on the Manan from the ocean, but surrounded by fire, the water feels as if it were a world away.

“Get up, Aster,” comes that deep rasping voice. “No one is coming to save you.”

A jolt of anger rips through me like an electric pulse. I don’t need to be saved.

I never have.

All this time, I’ve struggled to control my power as a bloodletter—I haven’t even tried to access the other affinities. Because of him—because of Will. He doubted me. And now I realize it’s because he knew: If the power of the Lightbringer gives me access to more than just one affinity, I am more than just a bloodletter.

For so long I’ve denied my magic. But it was there all along. It was just waiting for me to use it.

There is Manan in the wood that pins me to the spot—Manan in the fire that rages all around me. The dust of creation is woven into the very fabric of the air. I need only grab hold of it and make it mine.

Something awakens within me—something ancient. Something primal.

And with only a thought, the pressure lifts.

I scramble to my knees, biting my bottom lip to keep from crying out as the pain from my leg nearly blinds me.

“Henry!” I shake him. “Henry!”

I can’t carry him—not like this. Even now, my vision fades as thick black smoke chokes my every breath. Before I can think of a better idea, I swipe my hand through the blood that streams from the wound in my leg and smear it across his lips.

His eyes go wide, the bright golden glow cutting through the gloom.

He shoots upright, his hands clutching my shoulders. “Aster? What—” His gaze lands on my leg, and his nostrils flare. He curses.

I wonder if I’ve made a mistake. I’ve never seen Henry feed on human blood, and as a halfling, my blood will be even harder to resist.