Page 7 of Cursebreaker

“I am free!” He grinds his jaw, his playful composure slipping. “Free to kill as I please and not have to hide it, or feel ashamed of who I am, or be forced to keep my true feelings a secret.”

He throws the last few words at me, his voice choked, and I see it—see him, fighting to tell me something that flickers in his eyes, fiery and urgent.

“You’re right,” I say slowly, closing the distance between us. I sheathe one dagger at my left hip and lift my hand as if to cup his jaw. “You shouldn’t have to hide who you are.”

His chest heaves as he stares at me—at my sapphire coat—a crease forming between his brow, transfixed. He reaches for me, as if to touch the embroidered fabric, the movement hesitant, accidental.

“And neither should she.”

I take one smooth step to the right, out of Titus’s grasp, and thrust my dagger into Elsie’s chest.

The sound that bursts from Elsie’s gaping mouth is far from human.

I leap back, putting distance between us once more as Elsie’s body contorts, her skin sliding from her face like melted candle wax, her bones snapping at unnatural angles.

In the blink of an eye, a Shifter stands where Elsie knelt moments before, fully transformed. She gasps for breath, her braided blond hair receding to cropped purple strands that dust her shoulders. I recognize her instantly as the Shifter who imitated Sybil’s likeness, infiltrating the Order as one of Morana’s spies.

She presses against the wound in her chest, inky-black blood pouring from between her fingers, her lip curled even as a glint of mischief twinkles in her eyes. “You missed.”

I draw my second dagger as lightning illuminates the ship, glancing off the Elysian Iron in a blinding flash of white. “It won’t happen again.”

Bloodknights surround me, closing ranks and separating me from my crew, still overwhelmed in battle aboard the Starchaser.

Titus grins as he props the hilt of his macabre blade atop his shoulder and scratches his head with his other hand. “How did you know?”

I jerk my chin at the Shifter and shrug. “Elsie wouldn’t have cried like that.”

The Shifter sneers. Titus barks a laugh.

“Can we move this along?” the Shifter asks, teeth gritted as her wound slowly stitches itself together. “Queen Morana doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”

A muscle in Titus’s jaw twitches, but his smile doesn’t falter. “Then Morana should have retrieved the girl herself, aye, Selene?”

Sybil—or Selene, I suppose—rolls her eyes.

Morana could have compelled Titus to be fully compliant—never questioning her will or reason. So, if Titus has it in him to argue, that means he’s still pulling the strings. I just need to reach him somehow.

“Titus, listen—” I start, but I’m cut off by a commotion aboard the Starchaser.

Mangled screams cut short; heavy, armored bodies dropping like flies. Bloodknights attempt to scramble over the gangplank to safety aboard the Mythslayer only to be dragged backward by an invisible force, their bones cracking, slicing through flesh.

I turn.

It’s all Titus needs to grab hold of me, one arm around my neck, the other wrapped around my body like a steel band. “That’s it, love,” he croons, his lips tickling my ear, sending a shiver through me. “No need to fight it.”

My vision fades as the pressure increases on my throat, but through the haze, I see Will. The Mythslayer’s cannon must have freed him somehow, but… the chains of Elysian Iron that had bound his wrist are missing, too. He shreds the Bloodknights to ribbons, tearing limbs from their bodies. His teeth drip with blood as he rips into their throats and gorges himself on Manan that makes his eyes appear as bright as the sun itself.

And then he sees me.

Cocks his head. Snarls. Throws out a hand.

The pressure at my neck relents, and Titus’s body slumps, dragging me to the ground along with him. I roll out of his arms, dizzy as I try to get to my feet.

Selene roars in frustration as Will, having cleared our ship of the enemy, chases the last surviving Bloodknight onto the Mythslayer. He throws out a hand, and the knight’s neck twists, cracks, and the soldier falls. Will sets his sights on Selene, now guarded by the last three Bloodknights, backing away from Titus’s prone body.

“Think about this—”

She coughs blood onto her chin. Looks down.