Savage Beauty(11)

She inhaled deeply. “It’s a long story, and if you’ll be patient, I will tell you. But not right now. I have work to do.”

What sort of task could she possibly have? She just woke from what was at the very least a seven-day sleep.

Luna stared at me, her yellow-green eyes aflame. They raked over me from head to toe. Was she assessing me as a threat? She turned away, waved her hand, and all thirteen locks on the mystery door disengaged. She strode across the hall and disappeared behind the door, the locks engaging once more. Apparently, witches didn’t need keys. Ember and I kept each other company, ignoring the noises that came from behind the door.

Clanging.

Banging.

A shrill, animalistic screech.

I wondered if I would die at this witch’s hands the same way my brother died at the hands of her sister.

It was a difficult decision to make: trust her and stay, or run like hell – and my first thought was to run. It may have been the first day of autumn and the equinox, and fae may have been hunting, or Luna could be lying and trying to keep me in her cottage so she could boil me for supper. The one thing that gave me pause was that she knew what happened to my brother. Or she said she did, at least.

I argued with myself. She had to know. She knew his name.

Grabbing the bag I’d packed, and threading my sheathed knife onto my belt, I didn’t even stop to say goodbye to Ember. I needed to get out while she was busy. Easing toward the door, I avoided the floorboards that creaked and groaned. I turned the door handle, but nothing happened.

Tugging on it did no good. The worn brass wouldn’t turn, even when I twisted it until its cool surface became warm beneath my hands and I felt sure it would break.

“The door is spelled. You aren’t going outside,” she yelled from behind her door. “You should conserve your energy. You’ll be leaving soon enough.”





chapter five




LUNA

I had to leave his presence. Just looking at him was painful in a way I didn’t know was still possible. Sinking back against the door, I scrubbed my face and willed the locks to turn, shutting him out and keeping me within my safest and most comfortable space.

It was autumn. The equinox. Fall was finally here, but so was he. Phillip needed me. And I needed rid of him.

He, with his full bottom lip and square jaw. He was more muscled than his older brother, but still lithe. I bet he’d never been injured so badly before in his princely little life, and wondered what had happened to him. Did someone try to kill him? Did he fight back?

“I knew he looked familiar. I should have known,” I said, cursing myself for being so stupid.

I attacked and choked him. My fingernail drew his blood, and somehow, he understood why without me having to explain it to him. If I was being honest with myself, I was scared out of my mind. No one came into my cottage while I slept. Not during the summer season, and certainly not during the daylight hours.

And yet he waltzed—limped— right in here. There were traces of William in Phillip, just beneath the surface. Perhaps they took similar traits from their father. Phillip had different mannerisms for the most part, but the gallant look on his face, his posture, and the way he quietly observed what was happening around him, reminded me of things I’d tucked away, better left forgotten.

Squeezing my eyes closed, I cursed myself for comparing the brothers, but I couldn’t help it. William was driven, hell-bent on doing whatever was best for his Kingdom and determined to wear the crown. I didn’t see that same ferocity in Phillip, but he wore his duty proudly, like a crest. He would rule out of a sense of obligation and pressure, not passion.

But, it was pressure that transformed coal into diamonds.

William would have ruled justly. He was a good man, but proud and stubborn. He would have been a protective King, but he was selfish and could be cruel. I’d seen the way he treated the servants charged with keeping him comfortable during his stay at the palace, when he thought no one was looking.

Phillip was a different creature. While I slept, he treated me and my home with respect. He didn’t take anything he didn’t need. He even cleaned as a way to thank me for letting him stay here. He was different from his older brother. William wouldn’t have apologized for having eaten my food. He wouldn’t have done anything to improve the cottage or my circumstances. William felt entitled to the world and everything in it, simply because he was a Prince who would one day be King.

A Kingdom with a selfless King? What a sight that would be to behold.

I took a deep breath. This was a lot to take in after a summer-long slumber.

Upon waking, my first order of business was supposed to be finding Malex. At the end of spring, he agreed to help me when I woke. He would be expecting me.

I needed his help.

He vowed to help me concoct a spell to end the cycle.

Though he hadn’t been exactly forthcoming about what his conditions or demands would be, I knew the price would be steep. But it had to be paid.

Only he could help me break the tether to my sister. I would do anything to end this. To end her.

If our life forces were severed, I would finally be free... free to seek revenge for what she’d done to William. William, the prince who came to Virosa by chance, whom my sister tried to seduce, who refused to fall for her tricks, and who fell in love with me instead. The man she tore apart. I vowed that she would feel everything he felt in his final moments, but I wanted to draw her torture out much more slowly. I would make her beg for mercy, but she would find none in me.