Savage Beauty(38)

She was so focused on him, she never saw me coming.

Before she was aware of my presence, my knife found its mark, slicing right through her flesh and lodging itself into her wretched, shriveled heart. When she cried out, I already had the bottle open and ready to catch her voice. It filled the glass and I corked it, sealing it inside. She began to fall back into the water, but I caught the handle of my knife and pulled it from her chest before she fell backward, splashing us both.

Phillip was stunned for a moment. He clutched his chest and saw me beside him. Then he stood and began to pace and curse, raking his hands through his hair. “I can’t hear! You promised to return my hearing!”

I waved my hand, restoring him.

He calmed.

“Did you have to be so brutal? She wasn’t hurting me!” he roared.

“Look at her.”

“What?” he asked, exasperated.

“Look into the water at the creature who was luring you in.”

He looked into the lake and saw her gray body floating there, a stream of blue-green blood flowing out of her chest. “What? That’s not the same creature,” he stuttered, confused.

“She glamoured herself. It’s part of her lure. She makes you see a lovely, attractive woman, and her enchanting voice snares your soul. Then she drags you to the bottom, drowns you, wraps you in seaweed, and eats little pieces of you at a time until you’re gone. I did everyone in this forest a favor, really.”

“I was so scared. So damned scared, Luna.” His hands were trembling.

“Why? What did you see?” Legend said they showed you the person you wanted more than anything. Did he see Aura’s face staring back at him?

He growled. “She looked like you, and for a second there, I thought someone had hurt you. I thought... I thought you were dying. God, above, I thought Aura had gotten to you somehow.”

Oh. I swallowed. “It wasn’t Aura’s blade that killed the siren, Phillip. It was mine.”

His brows furrowed. “Stop comparing yourself to your sister,” he remarked shrewdly. “You aren’t like her.”

“I’m exactly like her. The fact that I’m capable of collecting these ingredients proves that much.”

Without another word, he pulled me into his chest and stroked my hair. I sank into him, not giving a damn if it was real or not. Because I needed to believe it was.

It had to be real.

My heart cracked a little further, but he held me until I pulled away, and then he placed a soft kiss on my temple.

We stood in silence for a moment, staring at each other, too many unspoken words stretching between us. But there was nothing we could do about it until this spell was made, and it wouldn’t be made if we didn’t gather what it needed.

I tucked the siren’s voice into my bag. “We should go. I have one more ingredient to collect tonight.”

“Only one?” he rasped.

“I’ll save Terigon for tomorrow, and I have no idea how I’m going to get the last one yet. I’m still working on that.”

He grabbed his shirt and buttoned it quickly, tugging on his tunic. He kept an eye on the siren as she floated in the water, staring up sightlessly at the star-smattered sky.

When would he realize that real monsters were alive and well, living among us?



LUNA

In my bag, my fingers searched for the golden chain and found it, dragging my moonstone out with it. “What’s that?” Phillip asked, eyeing the sparkling stone.

“I need to find something. This will help me.”

“What, does Ember have the night off?”

I smiled. “Ember is good at tracking animals, but she’s shit with tracking humans.”

“The umbilis?” he guessed.

Pinching my lips together, I inhaled. “The umbilis—which I have to cut.”

“How do you know a child will be born tonight?”

“I don’t,” I answered. “I’m just hoping for a little luck.” I held my palm out and angled it horizontally, fingers together. Our land was shaped similarly with a small peninsula at the top, cliffs near the eastern shore, and rocky fingers along the western shores that jutted into the sea. The southern shore was sandy and warm. Most of the humans lived there, but it was too far. I needed something closer...

Holding the chain above my palm and letting the moonstone dangle down, I said the magic words: By the power of the wind and moon, help me a newborn find, somewhere I can fly tonight, before the sun shall rise.

As the stone began to spin in a circle, tugging on the cord, Phillip made an awestruck sound.

The stone darted northeast. Brookhaven. We could make it to the tiny village tonight, as it wasn’t far from Virosa. If the midwife or new mother didn’t wish to accommodate my needs, I’d simply have to persuade them to cooperate.





chapter fifteen




LUNA

Brookhaven was asleep. No candles were lit in the windows of the houses, save one. “There,” I said, easing the broom to the ground. Phillip had been quiet on the trip, which was more than fine with me. A woman’s scream of pain came from behind the wooden door, an orange-yellow glow outlining it.

“I know,” he said quietly. “I’ll stay here and guard the broom.”