Page 91 of Cursebreaker

He doesn’t want to go back there. I can’t make him go back there.

But I’m going. I don’t have a choice.

Owen watches me, biting his bottom lip, as if he were resisting the urge to give the order himself.

I can’t tell him I’m terrified of finding the next Relic—that I’m afraid what kind of sacrifice we’ll be forced to make to obtain the Sword. But if finding all three Relics is the only way to get Elsie back…

“Set a course for the Eerie,” I say.

Owen looses a tight breath. “Aye, set a course—”

“Wait!” Gabriel grinds his jaw. “We’ll need reinforcements. We should return to the Red Island for—”

“We’re going now,” I say, already moving toward the helm.

It’s Titus who catches my wrist. “He’s right, love,” he says, imploring me to meet his gaze.

I jerk my arm out of his grasp. “I’m not giving up! Elsie—”

“No one is giving up,” he says gently, taking a tentative step toward me. “But we must be strategic about this. If Calantha”—his throat bobs—“discovers you’ve set foot in the Eerie, she will stop at nothing to find you.”

I shake my head, take a step back. “What will I tell Mother and Father?” My voice breaks, and I struggle to swallow the knot in my throat. “I can’t face them.”

“You won’t face them alone.” Owen’s voice. He moves to stand beside Titus. “As much as I hate to admit it, they’re right. If we try to storm Castle Grim alone, more of us could end up—” He grinds his teeth.

Dead.

But Elsie isn’t dead.

“You wanted to go! Just five seconds ago, you were ready—”

“I still am!” Owen shouts, his lip curling. “If I were alone, I wouldn’t stop until I’d razed that entire bloody continent to the ground!” His face flushes with something akin to shame. “But I can’t put everyone else at risk because I lost my cool. And you—you’re the captain of this voyage. You of all people should be thinking about the good of the entire crew.”

His words are like a slap to the face, and I see the regret flicker in his eyes when I flinch.

“Then maybe I shouldn’t be captain anymore.”

Owen sighs. “I didn’t mean—”

“I never asked for this!” I take the medallion from around my neck and hold it out to Titus. The pendant dangles from the chain, swinging back and forth like a pendulum. “The Starchaser is yours.”

Titus frowns. He reaches out, covering my hand with both of his as he curls my fist over the medallion. “You have every right to be angry,” he says, his voice soft—words meant only for me. He gestures at my family and friends, all gathering around us, awaiting their orders. “Everyone here knows you’re not perfect,” he adds, the ghost of a wry grin tugging at his lips, “but they chose you anyway.” He uncurls my fingers—takes the medallion from my palm. “That’s why they chose you.”

He slips the chain over my head. “Now you have to choose yourself.”

Tears burn my cheeks. But as Titus steps back, Owen moves to stand in his place. He places a hand on my shoulder, and I feel the weight of our Father’s steady, comforting touch.

“We go together?” he asks, offering me his hand.

My fingers curl into a fist at my side. I don’t want to go home. Not when Elsie isn’t there. Not when my family is falling apart again, and there’s nothing I can do to hold them all together—nothing except push my own feelings aside.

They don’t need a sister, I think. They need a leader. A captain.

So I take Owen’s hand. Bury my grief. Nod. “We go together.”

There is no more music. No more dancing. No more laughter.

The Starchaser is quiet.