Savage Beauty(42)

“I did poison him, but it was only because I thought you sent him to me, first! I thought you were toying with me,” I said, and in my defense, I was being honest. My muscles started to grow tired and I strained to keep her at bay as she struck out at me again, thorns be damned.

“I would never have sent him to you,” she growled.

Luna slashed at my throat, but my forearm took the brunt of her slashes as I raised it protectively. Fire burst across my flesh and my blood immediately rose, trying to douse the flames. Her arm was bleeding, too, soaking into the dark fabric of her sleeve. She was insane! She was willing to hurt herself just to get at me.

“Stop this.” I backed away from her carefully, my bloody arm outstretched.

“Stop the toxin,” she volleyed, prowling closer.

“Not until you stop trying to untether us.”

“Why?” she screeched.

I kept a few feet between me and her, but I knew she was going to pounce. I could see it in her eyes. “Because as soon as we’re unbound, you’ll try to kill me, and then I’ll have to defend myself. I don’t want to kill you, Luna. I want to live peacefully with you,” I pleaded.

She let out a low laugh. “Peacefully? You poisoned Phillip and then sent him into my home to spy on me! You made him love me, and now that I feel something for him, you’re tearing him apart, too. Only this time, it’s slow and painful. You say you want peace? Well, that reeks of lies, sister.”

I held my hand up, trying to stall her as she stalked forward. We were going around and around in circles, literally and with our conversation. The dream itself was empty, since neither of us had exerted any energy or attention to crafting our surroundings. We were surrounded by white as far as the eye could see with no sky or ceiling, and only my blood droplets on the ground beneath our feet as a guide.

“First, I don’t apologize for anything,” I informed her. “Like I said, I thought you’d sent him to me first. And secondly, you’ve held a grudge since William, but you never let me explain why I tore him to pieces! I killed him for you! For us. To protect us. I’ve always protected us. The people in my garden were going to tear our palace away. They were planning to cast us out of our homes. They told lies about you and said you were cursed and dangerous. They wanted to hunt you down and kill you, sister. I couldn’t let that happen.”

Luna snorted. “They couldn’t have killed me or you, and you know it. Our bond wouldn’t have allowed it, so don’t try to use your undying love for me as an excuse for your depravity.” Her feline eyes flashed. “Reverse this curse, or I swear that every day, I’ll bury you. I’ll cut you apart – cut myself apart, if need be – until nothing remains, and I will laugh each time we both die.”

I pinched my lips together in consternation. She simply refused to listen to reason.

“Reverse it!” she screamed, finally leaping toward me. We fell in a heap and the breath escaped my lungs in a loud puff when my back hit the ground. She held my wrists at my side, struggling to keep her grip because of our mingled blood. It was slick and smeared all over both of us now.

I pinched my lips together, staring at my sister. Despite her theatrics, I had no plans to stop the toxin.

“I didn’t send him to you,” she gritted out.

“I believe you, but I won’t reverse it until you stop trying to separate us.”

“I won’t, Aura. I’ll never stop trying to rid myself of you.”

I shrugged dismissively. “Then Phillip will die.”

She climbed off me and I watched her hands return to normal, but then she conjured fire and formed it into a ball, launching it at me. “You will reverse the effects, Aura,” she demanded.

I rolled to the side to try to avoid the direct hit, but wasn’t fast enough. I was too tired and she was too strong. Siphoning my energy? I had to give it to her. That was a smart move, and it made me wonder how she managed to conjure the spell.

Probably Malex.

When she conjured another fiery ball, I jumped to my feet and ran as fast as I could, pumping my arms and pushing my legs hard until they burned. But again, I wasn’t quick enough. Flames and pain burst across my back as I tried to escape. I cried out as the pain washed over me, my clothes singing and burning away, the flesh of my back blistering.

“We need to talk about this!” I shouted, trying to make her see reason.

In response, she hurled two smaller fire balls. I managed to escape the first, but the other one burst on my lower leg. Both of us cried out from the pain, which told me it hurt her just as badly to create them as it did for me to receive them. I sent water walls into the air to shield myself, but she gathered the air around us, blowing holes through the water large enough for her fireballs to fit through.

Finally, exhausted, I exited her dream and left her there to think about what she’d done to us. My dress smelled like burning fabric and hair, even though there was no sign of scorching on it. I could already feel the blisters on my back and leg bursting, the fluid running down my skin, and I bit back a curse. Damn Luna and her stubbornness.

Still, there was one thing I didn’t understand.... If Luna didn’t send Phillip to Virosa, who did? And this Malex character… Was he strong enough to cure Phillip before I could make my stubborn ass of a sister see reason?

One thing was certain: someone other than Luna wanted our bond severed, which would be dangerous for both of us. Luna and I were strong when we were united. Separated, both of us would be vulnerable, weak enough for someone to cut us both down.