Savage Beauty(17)

He glanced from me to the cat, frowning when she purred at his legs. I held in my laughter.

“Stay inside, no matter what you hear or see. Remember what I said. The forest isn’t safe tonight, but the house will be protected. I will step back inside the door at dawn, and not a moment before. If I arrive while the sky is still dark and ask you to come outside, it’s not really me.”

His mind chewed on that possibility and he finally agreed, a hint of disappointment in his voice. “Fine.”

I motioned for him to turn around and go back inside the door. He did, but refused to close it. Closing my eyes, I spelled the cottage with protection. I had already bound my sister to the palace grounds, but soon, I would seal my sister into the palace itself, away from her precious garden. It was a small step, but one that would make a huge difference to her. She loved her roses, and my plan would keep her away from them. Being bound to a smaller place would also make her angry, and anger was a diversion in and of itself. While she raged about being confined, I would work to set us both free. Soon, but not soon enough.

Right now, she would be about to succumb to sleep. But I hadn’t heard from her since our last sleep walk during my summer slumber. She didn’t reach out to me on the equinox and I hadn’t sensed Pieces since waking. Neither had Ember. That only meant one thing…my sister was up to something. They say it is when your enemy is quiet that they are preparing to strike. My sister was no exception.

I called an owl from the wood. It landed on a nearby branch and let out a hoot, ruffling its white and brown feathers. A few of them fluttered to the ground. The bird’s large eyes fastened on me expectantly.

“Watch my sister,” I commanded. While she couldn’t come here at night, that didn’t mean she couldn’t glamour someone and send them in her place, or send some creature to my doorstep. I didn’t trust her, and I didn’t want to leave Phillip without knowing where she was and what was going on around her palace.

With a tick of its head, the owl flew off toward the castle.

“You talk to animals?” Phillip yelled from inside. “You can actually control them?”

“Only nocturnal ones,” I replied with a smirk.

I called more owls. They landed in the trees all around the cottage. “Spread yourselves through the woods and keep watch. If something or someone comes near the cottage, alert me immediately.”

Most took to the air, spreading themselves into the forest in every direction.

Phillip was in awe. His mouth gaped open as he watched them from the door. “Be careful, Luna.”

Hmm. It almost sounded like he cared.

Gripping the broomstick, I took off into the dark, through the churning, angry autumn air. All he cares about is getting home, I chided myself. I was merely his ticket there.



PHILLIP

She left me here. With Ember. Under the guise of guarding her familiar. A familiar I was certain had never needed guarding in the past. My pain was almost gone. There was no more fever. No cold sweats or inability to control my own hand or behavior. Luna blamed my actions on an adverse effect of one of the spell’s ingredients. I didn’t even want to know what she put into the blue liquid that knit me back together so quickly, or what could’ve caused me to act possessed, like my hands weren’t even my own.

I was almost completely healed. By tomorrow at the latest, the bones would be fused, the soft tissues would have mended themselves, and I could go home. Which was what I wanted. I needed to be in Grithim; to return and make sure my parents knew I was still alive.

She wouldn’t need me here – she wouldn’t even want me here. In her space. With her cat. The cat that didn’t need me to watch over her.

I glanced down at Ember.

She purred happily, brushing back and forth against my legs.

I scooped her into my arm and closed the door against the night.

No matter how much I stroked Ember’s fur, the fire in me wouldn’t be calmed. I needed answers—answers that only Luna had. I had to know what happened to William. My parents deserved to know, too. I understood that she was tired and that the experience must have been traumatic. There was no denying the haunted look in her eyes when she spoke in circles around what happened, or clamped her jaw together, unable to speak the words. It had been eighteen months, but was still too fresh a wound for her.

Ember’s eyes, yellow-green like Luna’s, stared up at me. “I’m not leaving until she tells me what happened.”

Ember meowed and promptly tilted her neck to bury her head in my hand.

“Where’d she get the scars on her face? Hmm?” I asked the cat.

Ember looked toward the front door.

“Out there somewhere, huh?”

She meowed again.

“I’m talking to a cat,” I said, staring at her, my knuckles running over her fur. “Are you hungry, Ember? We should find you something to eat.”

She jumped down and scurried across the floor to the mysterious locked door. The locks disengaged for Ember and the door itself opened a few inches. Curious, I eased my fingers into the gap and pulled it open enough to slip inside. Black candles flickered throughout the space, but the light they provided wasn’t enough to illuminate everything.

My eyes slowly adjusted.

The room was a long, windowless rectangle, and the scent of something powerful stung my nose. A cauldron, its edges ragged and charred from use, sat in the center of a long counter. There were glass bottles of every shape and size, but unlike the kitchen, these did not contain cooking spices.