Savage Beauty(40)

She wouldn’t look at me, and I knew that when we went inside, this awkwardness would continue to grow and build unless I did something to prove myself and my feelings for her. I walked a few steps behind. Ember was on the porch, happy to see us, meowing loudly as Luna pushed the front door open and disappeared into the spell room.

My thoughts may have been scattered and all over the place, but they weren’t Aura’s. She might have given me false memories, or used me to spy on Luna, but the conversations Luna and I had and the feelings they evoked were mine. I just needed to show her that it was all real. It was all me.



“Luna?”

“Yeah?” She walked out of her spell room, eyebrows raised.

“I want to kiss you.”

She expelled a breath. “Why?”

I snorted. “Funny you should ask. I’ll admit my emotions have been all over the place.”

“That’s Aura’s doing,” she interrupted.

I walked to her and she sucked in a breath when I brushed her jaw with the backs of my fingers. “The way I feel about you? That is not Aura’s doing. Let me show you what you mean to me.”

“What do I mean to you?” she asked softly. There was fear and wariness in her eyes, and I wanted to erase every trace of them.

When she looked down, I nudged her chin up. “Look at me.” She fastened her yellow-green eyes on mine. “This is me. This is real.”

I slowly lowered my lips to hers, placing a gentle kiss on them. And then another. When she relaxed, I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close. She gently raked her nails through my hair. My tongue brushed her lips and she opened her mouth for me, exposing her heart to me as I exposed mine to her. I backed her slowly toward the wall, startling both of us when her back hit it before I realized it would. She smiled, biting her lip, and then pulled my head down to meet her lips again. I captured her bottom one with my teeth and she let out a low moan.

That was the moment when she placed me under her spell. It was one I never wanted to be released from.



LUNA

He was kissing me, and while I couldn’t feel the earth shifting beneath my feet, I felt it spinning out of control. There was nothing but him and me. The taste and touch of us. Together.

I raked my fingers over his stomach and tugged at the bottom of his tunic. He let my lips go only long enough to pull it over his head. I held my lips while I waited. I savored the stung, swollen feeling of my lips, but only had seconds to register the unfamiliar and warm feeling before his lips were on mine again.

As we kissed, he slowly walked me across the room to the chair next to the hearth—his chair—and settled into it. I climbed onto his lap and looked into his eyes as he unbuttoned his shirt, button by agonizing button.

“We don’t have to go any further—” he started.

I covered his lips with mine, letting my fingers feel the scruff of the stubble on his jaw, and listened to the noises he made for me.

All for me.

His chest was warm and muscled, and I reveled in the way it rippled when he used his arms to hold and touch me. But he was ever a gentleman. He obviously needed a nudge.

I sat back and slowly tugged the strings holding my bodice together. He swallowed, watching the motion, the silken strands gaping open. “Are you sure?” he asked hoarsely.

I smiled. “I’ve never been so sure about anything in my life, Phillip.”

“Good.”

I loosened the strings and his strong hands clamped down on either side of my waist, pulling me in to his lips. Then those sumptuous lips found my chest, moving slowly, languorously, dragging across my heated skin. Head back, eyes closed, I just felt. Felt him. Felt his warmth. His tongue on my flesh. Felt his love.

He was hard beneath me. His hands carved a gentle path over my hips and then found my thighs, pushing the hem of my skirt higher. His thumb on my legs almost set me on fire. I could feel it thrumming beneath my skin, leaving a burning path of ecstasy with every touch.

My breasts were heavy, begging for attention, but he hadn’t given them any yet. Right as the request started to spill from my lips, he started coughing violently. I climbed off his lap as a fit wracked his body, a cold sheen of sweat breaking out on his forehead.

Something was terribly wrong.

He tried to stand and fell to his knees. I dropped to mine beside him. “Phillip!”

“I’m okay,” he panted between coughs. But I knew. It wasn’t just the scent of roses filling the room. It was the roses’ toxin.

Aura had poisoned him. She must have slowed down the effect on his body, and it was just now manifesting. This was the first sign, but I knew the progression. I knew what would follow, and I knew where it ended.

My heart was breaking. Tears filled my eyes and I let out an agonized scream.

After a few moments, Phillip recovered and I helped him into the chair again. “Sorry,” he said sheepishly. “I don’t know what happened.”

I knew what happened. My sister. And if she took him from me, I would never stop killing her. If the spell didn’t work and I was tethered to her forever, I would kill her every night in her dreams. I would rejoice each morning because it meant she would be brought back just so I could kill her again. I would never let her rest. She would rue the day she met and used Phillip of Grithim against me.

I laced my bodice, tying it tightly, trying to smile so he wouldn’t know I was falling apart inside. “Would you like some water?” I offered.