Page 104 of Cursebreaker

“Look at you,” he says, his gaze roving from my feet to my lips, landing finally on my eyes. “I know you feel it—that raw, untamed power inside you. Do you see what you’re capable of with only a portion of the Lightbringer’s gift? And you don’t even know how to use it!” He takes another step, and I feel the blade pierce his skin, but he appears unfazed. It looks like he might even enjoy the pain. “You’re hurt.”

His eyes narrow on my leg, dripping blood onto the leaves, but even with my dagger between us, when he reaches for me, I flinch.

He sighs. “I have no reason to compel you,” he says softly. “I can help.”

“Help?” My voice cracks. “If you really want to help, give me back the Elysian Navigator! Call off this attack!”

He looks up, surveying the carnage with a detached sort of curiosity. “I will call off the attack,” he says, nodding, his eyes sparkling. “But first, I believe you still owe me an answer.”

An answer to his proposal, I realize. He can’t truly think I would ever agree to marry him after everything he’s done? After knowing, now, that he’d influenced my feelings for him—that nothing we shared was real.

I spit at his feet, my body quivering with rage. “No.”

Will cocks his head. Smirks. “No?” He almost laughs, his voice deep and husky. “But, my darling, I brought you an engagement present.” He sweeps his hand in the direction of the beach, where I know the Deathwail draws closer to the shore by the minute. “I’d planned to deliver the ship to you after your transformation was complete, but when you ran off like you did, I figured, why wait?”

“How—” I try to speak but my tongue feels swollen, my head too heavy.

His jaw twitches, but his eyes are alight with a sadistic brand of mischief I never would have thought I’d see in him. “Did you think Eliza was the only one capable of cloaking a ship?”

He exhales deeply. “Join me, and I will teach you. There are no limits to what your power can do, and with my guidance—”

He’s still talking when I see the tattoo on his neck—a whorl of ink that wasn’t there before he revealed himself to be an Underling general. A kraken with ten eyes and fangs for teeth—the symbol of the Deathwail.

I remember what Will said all those months ago, when he asked me about my time on the cannibals’ ship. I felt responsible.

“It was you,” I say, digging my hands in the sand in an attempt to tether me to reality. “The Deathwail is your ship.”

The twinkle in his eyes is unmistakable. He looks proud in a way that roils my stomach. “The Deathwail was a weapon to be wielded,” he says, nodding slowly. He glances at Henry, sprawled out on the ground behind me, barely breathing, and his face falls, if only for an instant. “Henry’s capture was purely accidental. A mistake they paid for dearly. But you…” His gaze darkens, resting on my ear, where the X marks my skin. “They were never supposed to lay a finger on you. They knew nothing of your significance to Morana, only that you were”—he grinds his teeth—“important to me. They thought their little mutiny against me—they thought killing you—would bring them favor with Morana.”

Two months. Two months I spent aboard that ship, haunted by the atrocities I witnessed. Even now, the screams of the innocent chase me from my sleep, their mutilated bodies populate my nightmares. The sting of the rope, tightening around my throat with every breath I take, black spots edging my vision as I attempt to reconcile the person I see before me with the gentle, kind Will I thought I knew. But… it was him. The bite. The curse. The torture I endured aboard the Deathwail. Owen’s death. Our capture. It all starts with him. This wolf in sheep’s clothing.

“You’re a monster.”

“There’s no need for flattery, darling. My heart is already yours.”

I clench my jaw so tight I fear it might break. “I pray you have a heart,” I tell him, “because I plan to carve it from your chest and feed it to the sharks.”

“Delightful.” He licks his lips, scoffs a laugh. “You can still save your family, Aster. You can save them all.” He turns serious, his intense gaze unyielding as he holds my hateful stare. “You and me, remember? Once you transform, you’ll be able to keep everyone you love safe. They’ll never want for anything. You will never want for anything.”

“You killed Jack!” I sob through gritted teeth. “He was like family to you—”

“He was,” he hisses, his lip curling, and I think I see a flash of something almost human in his eyes—a glimpse of the Will I thought I knew. “Morana asked that I kill him to prove my loyalty.”

“Your loyalty,” I scoff as tears stream down my face. “I know all about your loyalty. You were going to let Morana torture me! I was to be your pet! And I’m supposed to believe—”

“I was never going to let that happen!” he shouts, losing his composure for only a second before he runs a hand through his hair, exhaling sharply through his nose. His expression is pleading. “I asked that Morana make it quick—painless.” He holds out his hand for me to take. “Come with me. Put an end to all this. We can find the Relics together. You can still rule beside me in Morana’s new kingdom.” His brow furrows, a muscle in his jaw feathering. “You love me, Aster. I know that you do.”

I gape at him, my heart pounding. Memories of lying beside Will in the conservatory, staring up at the stars, flash through my mind, weakening my resolve. I blink, shaking my head in an attempt to clear it. Everything I know about Will—everything I felt for him—is tainted by his compulsion. By his lies. And I won’t fall for it again.

I hold the dagger between us, unyielding.

“I never loved you,” I say. “And I never will.”

Something akin to hurt flashes in his eyes, but it quickly gives way to fury. “My venom still courses through your veins. Let me teach you how to wield it.”

He offers me his upturned palm. Waits.

“No more compulsion,” he says, his expression sincere. “The time for that has passed. There will be no secrets between us, my darling. I know who you are. I know you’ve spent seventeen years fighting the beast within—that voice whispering in your ear, that insatiable craving for blood.” His eyes flicker at the look of shock that must dominate my features. “Yes, I know. I know you better than you know yourself. But you don’t have to fight it anymore. With me, you can be free.”