Savage Beauty(33)

Luna hovered over me, her long, dark hair spilling onto my chest as she smiled. I reached up to stroke her cheek. “God, you’re beautiful.”

“So are you,” she said with an ornery grin.

It was daylight. “How are you awake?”

“I’m not. We’re both dreaming. I can come into your dreams.”

“How?”

“It’s just a power I possess.”

I was damn glad she possessed it. We were in her bed. She moved to straddle my hips and found me aroused. Her eyes glittered, and then the familiar yellow-green turned blue, Luna’s hair turning from midnight to blonde. “Aura?” I gasped, trying to throw her off me.

She laughed. “You naughty prince. Thinking of my sister in such a lewd way. I should punish you.”

I couldn’t budge. My arms strained against whatever force she held me with.

“She didn’t tell you the whole truth about William, and I thought you might want to hear my side of the story. I know you got my note. Why didn’t you read it?”

“I don’t care about your version of the story.”

She smiled. “My sister already has you under her spell. I’m not sure how she does it. How she enthralls every man—every prince—who looks her way.”

A growl came from nearby and I looked up to see Luna staring at us, her fists clenched.

“What is this?” Luna seethed.

She was staring between me lying on the bed and her sister, straddling me. Aura eased off me and climbed off the bed, gliding toward her sister. “You seemed to like my gift. I merely wanted to make sure he was as good as I thought he would be.”

I sat up as Luna glanced from me to her sister and asked, “Gift?”

“Phillip, of course.” Aura smiled cruelly. “I sent him to you. He’s been my eyes and ears lately. And I know what you’re up to, but you and Malex won’t succeed. Even if you somehow manage to break our bond, we’ll be equally matched in power. You won’t be able to kill me.”

“We’ll see about that,” Luna said calmly.

“I was just about to show him a few memories. Would you like to watch with us?”

“Memories of what?” she asked.

Aura just laughed and waved her hand, and a scene appeared in the air. A scene with Aura and William, strolling through her garden.



“You like my sister?” Aura asked him.

William’s hands were folded casually behind his back. “She’s a nice girl.”

“Nice? You spend a lot of time with her while you should be sleeping to simply think she’s nice.”

“Are you jealous?”

“Of course not. I don’t have it in me to be jealous.”

“No, I suppose you don’t. You and I are cut from the same cloth,” he said. “But first borns, heirs, have to be. It’s why I like you, actually.”

She smiled, but didn’t give him any indication that she was smitten at all.

“You’ll break her heart if you toy with her,” Aura warned.

He stopped and cupped her arms, drawing Aura into his chest. “And what about yours?”

Her eyes locked on his and he bent to kiss her, but before their lips touched, she whispered, “I would have to have a heart in order for you to break it.”

William smiled and kissed Aura anyway.



I glanced at Luna, who was covering her mouth. “This is a lie!”

With a wave of Aura’s hand, the scene disappeared. “It isn’t. He pretended to love me, and he pretended to love you. But in the end, I learned of his plan. He was playing us. He only wanted Virosa.”

My mouth fell open. Of course. That was what he wanted. To take their kingdom. He couldn’t have married a half-fae princess. He was playing them against one another, thinking they would tear one another apart and he could swoop in and take the kingdom after they did. Father would have been so proud.

But it backfired. William played with fire and it burned him.



Aura waved her hand again.

A scene appeared of her and William passionately kissing, tearing at one another’s clothes. “I love you, Aura of Virosa,” he vowed, kissing a trail up her neck.

Aura simply smiled. She never said it back. She knew he didn’t mean it, didn’t she?



Luna erased the scene with a flick of her wrist and showed her own scene of William placing gentle kisses up the column of her neck. He breathed her in and smiled. “Moonflower. You smell of the moonflowers.” They stood on her balcony, the fresh vines of spring wrapping around the stone. Her nightgown fluttered in the breeze.

“Does Aura know that you’re coming home with me?” he asked.

“Not yet, but I’ll tell her soon.”

“In the morning. We should tell her in the morning. Together.”

Luna sank back into his chest. “Together.”



Aura laughed, erasing the image. “You think he was going to sweep you off to Grithim? He had no intention of doing so.”

“You know nothing.”

“I know he didn’t want either of us, and you’re a fool if you believed a word that came out of his mouth. But I’m growing tired of your constant attempts to make me miserable. First you bind me to the palace grounds, and now to the palace itself. Didn’t you know I can control the roses from my room? You received a token from everyone who entered my garden yesterday. Bethany and the others are dead because of you. If you would stop this feud and stop forcing me to take drastic measures, we could be civil.”