Page 141 of Cursebreaker

But not mine.

Will’s green eyes meet mine as he gasps, and at once, he’s no longer Azeron—no longer the Underling who betrayed me. He’s the boy who brought me flowers. The boy who loved his family. The boy who made sure that Titus was never alone.

He drops to his knees as Morana shrieks, her face contorting with fury.

She tries to run. I see the moment her body twists, her feet lifting.

But she isn’t fast enough.

I swing Cursebreaker, gleaming with heavenly golden light.

And Morana’s head rolls at my feet.

Sunlight floods my veins. As the full power of the Lightbringer surges through me, my vision sharpens, colors brighten. Every gasp of air I draw into my lungs is dizzying, intoxicating. And for an instant, I hear everything—every birdsong, every crash of a wave, every crunch of a leaf underfoot, insects buzzing miles away, flowers blooming on a distant continent.

The earth quakes, but not under my feet.

I see, with eyes that are not my own, the barren landscape of the Burning Lands. And I watch, as if from above, as the chasm stitches back together, sealing the Lake of Eternal Fire. The flames that ravage the land cease, like a thousand candles snuffed out by a single breath.

It’s as if a mighty wind swept over the wasteland. In its wake, the charred earth transforms into rich, fertile soil, and from the lush ground, Bloodroses bloom, glittering with gold dust.

And then I’m back on the Red Island, levitating above the sand. A fresh wave of power overtakes me, and the magic that bursts from my outstretched hands feels like every minute I’ve ever spent with my family—like dancing with my crew aboard the Starchaser. Like Henry’s laughter, and Leo’s courage, and Owen’s kind eyes. It feels like Eliza’s warmth, and Charlie’s gentle hugs, and Lewis’s fierce determination. Like Margaret’s selflessness and Jack’s patience. Like Elsie’s joy and Albert’s compassion. Like merry tunes played on Rook’s fiddle and afternoons sunbathing with Diana on the bowsprit. Like Gabriel’s quiet encouragement and Flynn’s playful grin. Like Killian’s and Orella’s unshakable loyalty. Like Mother’s and Father’s unconditional love.

Like Titus’s smile.

I draw on the joy that pulses in the air around me, in the strings of light that connect me to every person that I love, and I find that I no longer pull from the Manan in the world around me.

I create it.

With merely a thought, the Underlings burst like exploding stars—not flesh and blood and bone, but light.

Gilded dust falls on the beaches of the Red Island.

When I drop, Titus’s arms are there to catch me, and it’s as if everything fades beneath the beating of his heart.

“You have got to stop jumping off perfectly good ships,” he says, his voice breaking.

He chuckles, but the sound is choked, as if he doesn’t know whether to sob or laugh, and suddenly, I’m laughing, too, even as the tears stream down my face.

I open my mouth to respond, but then his lips are on mine, and he’s kissing me as if I am everything. As if I am every drop of water, every blade of grass in the jungle beyond, every gust of wind, and every ray of light that illuminates the world and everything in it. As if I am more than flesh and blood and bone. More than this heart beating hard against my rib cage, more than the butterflies taking flight in my stomach.

And I realize I don’t have to be anything in this moment but me.

I am Aster, and that is enough.

“You lied,” I say when he draws back, and I know by the smile on his face—by the look of awe and reverence in his eyes—that he’s thinking the same thing. “You said you wouldn’t always be there to catch me.”

He laughs, but tears stream down his cheeks. “Forgive me?”

I press my lips to his, running my hands through his hair as he lifts me, setting me on my own two feet. “Does that answer your question?” I whisper against his smile, breathless.

He exhales, and it sounds like the first full breath he’s ever taken. “Perhaps I should ask again.”

But then his brows pinch, and my heart gets stuck in my throat, as we both turn toward Will, kneeling in the sand, his hand pressed to his chest.

Blood seeps between his fingers, but when he looks up at us, his eyes glitter with amusement.

“Ah, so you haven’t forgotten about me.”