Savage Beauty(25)

“Luna!”

She stood, laughing hysterically. “She killed so many people today, even locked in her castle. I should have known she would lash out. And now, Prince, do you see the true nature of my sister?”

The flames grew taller around her.

“What happened to you last night? This isn’t you!” I yelled.

She threw the ribbon into the fire, and as it bubbled and burned, turning brown, curling and crisping in her flames, she laughed. “This is exactly who I am. If you thought I was the good twin, you were wrong. And no matter what happens, I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to rid the world of my sister.”

Her anger was palpable and thick, like a coiling serpent as it wound round my throat.

“Why are your lips like that? Did she poison you last night? Is that why you fell from your broom?”

She laughed, wiping at her lips, the stain refusing to leave her plump flesh. “This wasn’t my sister’s doing; it was mine and Malex’s. He marked me.”

“How did he do that, exactly?” I asked, becoming irritated.

She sauntered toward me with a sway in her hips, and I straightened my spine to stand tall in front of her. She was hysterical, but I wasn’t going to let her intimidate me. She wouldn’t drive me away.

When she stood on the tips of her toes, her breath mingling with mine, she whispered, “He put his lips upon my cheek and upon my lips, and kissed me so that I would remember him.”

She was off making love with some faery last night? No, not love. There was no love shining in her eyes when she mentioned him.

Nothing but coldness.

Piercing anger suddenly coursed through my veins. No, not anger. Rage. My fingers curled and I wanted to pound my fist into the door casing.

In a blink, the rage shifted, and now I felt her fire as she burned me. I was writhing inside, begging her to stop, but suffocated by her smoke. I clawed at my neck. And the reddish haze fell over my vision again.

What’s happening to me?

The fire in me was hotter than the flames that were beginning to taper on the porch.

My rage crested, thinking of another man’s lips on hers. I didn’t want her to make such bargains. Didn’t want her to separate herself from her sister. Not for anything.

She tilted her head, watching me with narrowed eyes. “What’s wrong with you?”

She saw too much and she gave too much of herself away to people who weren’t worthy of her. Grabbing her wrists, I bared my teeth at her. “You would trade your body to end your sister?”

She smiled. “It hasn’t come to that yet, but yes, I suppose I would.”

“Then you’re no better than she is,” I whispered. “What wouldn’t she give to ruin you? By doing this, aren’t you giving her exactly what she wants?”

Hurt flashed in her feline eyes, but it was what she needed to hear, even if she didn’t want to hear it.

I didn’t tell her about the final gift. A letter, addressed to me, sent from Aura. It lay in my pocket, folded and unread. But I could remedy that. As soon as I got a drink.

“I have an errand to run,” she finally said, taking a step backward.

“Errand? Do you mean meeting other men, or is it an appointment with the same one?” I shouted.

She gave a sinister smile. “Oh, tonight I’ll be meeting another. You may know him. Prince Terigon of Ringsted.”

I shook my head disgustedly.

When she pulled her hands out of my grasp, it was like I’d been doused with a bucket of cold water. “It isn’t what you think,” she added, her voice softer. “I plan to remove his tongue.”

“Were you doing that to me just now?”

“Doing what?”

“Burning me from the inside out,” I gritted.

She narrowed her eyes. “No, I was not.”

Another side effect of her spell, perhaps?

Calming my breaths and pounding heart, I asked, “Why on earth would you cut out his tongue?”

“Because he is a liar, and because Malex’s spell requires it. There are other ingredients I’ll have to find as well, should removing the tongue of a firstborn prince prove more difficult than I imagine. Just be lucky it isn’t your tongue he asked for,” she warned.

“You would do it, too. You’d remove my tongue – my head – if he asked. If it served your purpose.”

“One mute prince to save hundreds, maybe thousands? I could sleep peacefully knowing those figures.”

“Of course you could.”

She inhaled deeply and locked her eyes onto mine. “I can’t let her keep doing this. In the spring, we’ll be at the age of maturity, which is when her powers and mine will peak. She’ll be able to blast through the binding salts I’ve used to seal her in. She’ll be crowned, and no one will be able to stop her. Right now, I have a slight advantage with what little magic I do wield in addition to our powers over the elements. But that advantage will shrivel like a grape on the vine at our birthday, and then we will be equally matched in every way. Besides, Malex said that if I don’t sever our life forces now, I’ll never be able to. I will forever be leashed to someone I hate. I can’t live like that. Now, you can either understand that and help me, or you can leave. But know that if you choose the latter, you won’t make it very far. My sister will kill you, and she’ll enjoy every second of it.”