Page 59 of Between These Broken Hearts (Cursed Stars #2)

“There you are!” Kendrick pulls me into his arms and out of a panic-induced stupor. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”

He has? I don’t know how long we’ve been separated. Minutes? Hours? I was searching for my sister but—I look around the dimly

lit hallway—I don’t remember how I got here or where I was before this. I recognize this corridor as belonging to the main

level of the palace, between the ballroom and the throne room. Sounds of fighting and destruction come from outside. “Where

are the others?”

“Everyone’s gathering in the throne room.” He ushers me toward a bit of flickering light at the end of the hall.

“Is Brie there? I’ve been looking for her.”

“I don’t know, but she might be.” He stops right outside the throne room doors and turns me to face him. “Listen, I don’t

know if you can feel it, but Konner had some silencers cast their magic across the palace.”

“Silencers?” I still feel off. Like I’m not quite one with my body.

“They block magic. It was the only way to quickly close all the portals Erith had opened. That means that when it’s time,

you’re going to have to get outside these walls so your magic can work.”

“Time for what?”

His throat bobs. “Time to activate your phoenix—so you can rise before the clock strikes midnight and your birthday gives

Mordeus the power to take you himself.”

But I still don’t know how. I glance toward a set of windows that have been blocked by a wooden headboard, dampening the sounds of chaos beyond the wall.

“I’ll go with you,” he says, pulling me through the throne room doors and into a candlelit space. “I will make sure no one can touch you. When you burn, when you go through that rebirth and shed that bastard’s control once and for all, I

will protect you. I can do that.”

“And who will protect you ?” I ask. Walking feels strange. Like stepping on solid ground after walking around on a boat for hours.

“I’ll handle it,” he says.

“And if I still can’t figure out how to call on my inner fire and make myself burn to ash? What then? Because I don’t know how to do this. I can’t.”

He grips my shoulders and I see hope in his eyes right alongside his fear. “I’ve been thinking about this, and I realized

something about your power. Something we haven’t considered yet.”

This is important, and I watch his lips move and will myself to listen, but I’m feeling dizzy. Maybe because I haven’t eaten

anything today. Maybe at the idea of Kendrick protecting me while surrounded by our enemies.

“Are you listening to me?” Kendrick says, but the room is going blurry and I’m having trouble focusing. “Think about the Sword

of Fire. That flame wasn’t yours.”

There’s a dull humming in my ears. I feel like I’m sleeping and floating. Like I’m a spirit without a body. I put my hand on his chest and see the ring there.

The ring that strengthens the bond between me and Mordeus. The ring I had to use magic to rid myself of. Did I put it back

on? Where did I find it?

Kendrick is trying to tell me something, but he needs to know the ring is back. I lift my hand to show him what I can’t find

the words to explain.

“Jasalyn!” Strong fingers curl around my wrist and I’m pulled back into myself.

“Kendrick?”

He looks down at me in horror, eyes panicked, mouth agape. His fingers loosen from my wrist. “Fight. It.”

Blood pools hot and sticky over my hand, and when I tear my eyes from his to look down, I see my dagger plunged into the middle

of his chest, my ringed hand wrapped around the hilt.

“Kendrick.” My voice shakes. “No...”

“I... I love you,” he gasps before he falls to the floor at my feet.

I’m frozen. Shaking.

“What happened?” Skylar rushes to us, eyes on Kendrick, but she stops when she sees me. “Are you okay?”

“Help him!” I screech. I reach for the ring and yank it from my finger, letting it clatter to the ground.

Skylar drags her eyes off me and drops to her knees. “Kendrick,” she sobs, putting pressure on his wound. She shouts for help,

then people are running all around me, but I can’t move. How did I get here? When did I pull out my dagger? Where did the ring come from? Why...

The dark, familiar chuckle at the back of my mind gives me the answer I should’ve already known. Mordeus .

Remme shoves me away and I stumble backward as he drops to his haunches. He rolls Kendrick to his back. “He’s still breathing,”

he says.

“What did you do?” Skylar asks, her voice climbing to a pitch I’ve never heard from her.

“She missed his heart,” Natan says, “but we need to remove that blade before it can do more damage.”

“No,” I whisper. “This isn’t fair.” As if any of this has ever been fair.

“Remme, you pull the blade,” Natan is saying, “and Skylar, get down here and help me put pressure on this wound.”

“Get out of the way!” Skylar says, shoving at my legs until I stumble back a few steps.

I drop to my knees and crawl toward him. I stabbed him. I stabbed Kendrick. “Please be okay. Please, Kendrick, please,” I sob.

Natan turns to me and takes me by the shoulders. “Let us help Hale. You need to go tap into your power. It’s somewhere in

there, Jas. Find it and win. Win for him . Beat the bastard who tried to kill the male you love.” He looks over his shoulder and when I follow his gaze I realize he’s

looking at the big clock on the other side of the throne room. Fifteen minutes until midnight. Fifteen minutes until my birthday.

Fifteen minutes until I have no way out of this bargain.

Even if I can find this inner flame, how can I endure the pain knowing I have to come back to a world where Kendrick is gone

because of me?

“Natan, we need magic,” Remme says. “He’s not going to make it without a healer.”

“We need to get him outside,” Skylar says.

“He’ll be a sitting duck out there,” Remme says, “never mind the amount of blood he’ll lose if we try to move him. No way.

We need magic here .”

“He’s dead!” All heads turn to Felicity as she runs into the throne room, her cheeks streaked with tears. “Erith is dead.

I killed—” She stops in her tracks when she sees her brother on the ground. “No,” she breathes. She runs to his side and drops

to the floor, pressing her hand to Kendrick’s pale face. “No, no, no.”

My heart is being carved out. Please, Kendrick. You don’t have to live for me, but you need to live for them. They need you. They love you.

“We need magic,” Remme tells Felicity. “I need you to find Misha and the Eloran silencers—they’re on the north tower. Make

them lift the shield.”

She gives a shaky nod and runs from the throne room.

“I don’t know how long it’s going to take before Felicity finds Misha,” Natan says, squeezing my shoulders. “You can’t count

on having the time to use your magic here. You still need to go to the lawn.”

“I don’t know how —”

“You are the phoenix,” Remme shouts. “ We will take care of this. Get beyond these walls, keep to the shadows, and find your inner fire. Give him a reason to wake up,

Slayer.”

I don’t know how to do this, but I can’t stand here and do nothing. I sprint for the door, pumping my arms and legs so fast my lungs burn. Get to the lawn. Get to the lawn and find your power. Get to the lawn and try to find your flame.

Brie told me once that when she was first learning to wield her shadows, she found them easiest to grasp when she was angry.

Later, she learned better ways to control them, but maybe if I focus on my anger, my rage—

I charge through the doors and toward the lawn at the back of the palace and stumble back at the chaos before me, all illuminated

by flames that line the perimeter. The dozens of raging bonfires that were lit to fortify the wards have grown in size. The

flames lick at the night sky, the crackling so loud it sounds like breaking bones, and the heat so intense I can feel it from

a good hundred yards away.

Soldiers fight with swords and fists and magic, and everywhere I look there is death. Dead soldiers being stomped underfoot

while others fight. Soldiers struck by blades and magic and arrows and falling to join them.

“We have the queen!” someone shouts, and the insurgents flooding the lawn cheer. Several of the Midnight Raiders turn, distracted

by the incoming horde, and are struck because of it.

I tuck myself into the shadows and watch as five males carry my sister over their heads. Her arms are bound to her sides,

her legs tied together. I can’t breathe. They’re going to hang her from the gates, just like the oracle showed me.

I want to chase them down and tear her from their grasp. I roll the ring between two fingers. If I put it on, I could save

her. I could command them and they would do as I say.

Wait. I drop my gaze and nearly drop it because my hands are shaking so hard. I took it off in the hall with Kendrick. I didn’t pick it up, did I? I don’t want to wear the ring again.

Though, maybe I should. If I’d put it on sooner, who’s to say I couldn’t have stopped all of this?

But last time I wore it, I hurt Kendrick and he may not survive. If I put it on now to save my sister, who’s to say Mordeus

won’t take control and kill her with my hands?

It takes every bit of my focus, but I hold it tight and hurl it toward the flames that line the lawn.

The best way I can help my sister now is to keep Mordeus from taking it all, and the only way I can do that is to tap into

the power I can’t seem to find inside myself.

I blow out a shuddering breath, ignore every instinct that tells me to run after my sister, and will myself to find that fire

Pretha swears is waiting inside.

Someone grabs me by the hair and yanks me backward. “Finally!” he mutters. “We find the vessel. Come with me.”

I let him push me along toward a group of soldiers near the gates. The air grows hotter the closer we get, and I have to squint

against the glare of the flames.

Burn now , I tell myself, burn and take this bastard with you.

I dig, looking deep toward my anger, thinking of every day Mordeus stole from me because of what he did in those dungeons—not

just the days I was there but the days after. Fury pumps through me, but I still see no flame.

The vessel. They know Mordeus’s plan. And if that’s the case then they know that their king plans to take over this body.

If this continues, I lose, and all my efforts were for nothing. But if they think I am Mordeus...

“Enough!” I shout, and everyone in the group pulls to attention. “Is this how you look at your king ?” I jerk from the soldier’s grasp and spin to glare at him.

“Mordeus,” he breathes, bowing his head. “Forgive me, I—”

“Give us something so we know it’s you in there, Your Majesty,” someone says behind me.

What was Kendrick trying to tell me before Mordeus pushed me from my own consciousness? Remember the Sword of Fire, he said.

Does he think it’s here somewhere? That Erith brought it with him? Maybe it could be used to ignite my power or—

“Yeah,” the male next to him says. “It’s not midnight yet.”

“Exactly. And your job is to protect this vessel until it’s complete ,” I spit, spinning to glare at the others.

“Of course,” the first male says. “We will keep you safe.”

The clock on the Midnight Palace sounds its first chime for midnight. If I don’t move now, this is over. Think about the Sword of Fire , Kendrick said . That flame wasn’t yours.

Pretha wanted me to find my inner flame, she thought that was the way to use my power, but what if that’s not how this works

at all.

Maybe we’ve been wrong all along. Maybe I can’t wield flames like my sister can wield shadows. Maybe there’s no fire burning

inside me but only the ability to survive it. Or not survive but return.

I don’t know any other way to do this. “You know what I have to do,” I tell the males. They exchange worried glances, unsure.

Before they can stop me, I walk to the closest raging fire and right into the flames.