Savage Beauty(51)

“I told you all I know. Will you save me?”

She smiled. “Not yet.”

I should’ve known not to trust her! I closed my eyes and breathed deeply, which sent me into a coughing fit. She sighed, crossing her arms. “But I will slow it down,” she offered.

She waved her hand over me and the pain in my chest lessened. My heart felt strong, steady, and normal.

“Thank you,” I said gratefully.

“Don’t thank me yet. I still haven’t taken the toxin out of you.” She stood and straightened her gown, all business. “Come with me.”

“I need to tell Luna about Malex,” I argued.

“We’ll tell her together.”

“She’s sleeping.”

“Then we’ll go to her in a dream.”



I felt a heavy blow to the back of my head, the sensation of being dragged by my arm, and then darkness took hold of my vision.





chapter twenty




AURA

I tried to connect with Luna. I pushed myself into her consciousness, but was met with a dark, stone wall. Running my hands over its surface, it was slick and wet in the moonlight. I brought my fingers away and rubbed them together. Sticky and wet. Bloody. The coppery scent was overwhelming.

This was what she wanted me to see; what she erected for me to find when I came to her.

A defense mechanism.

Stronger than I could bring down.

Too slippery to climb.

Too strong for my water to break through. I tried to upset the earth around the wall, but the stones were buried too deep. She’d effectively locked me out of her head.

The blood was a metaphysical promise of things to come.

I looked at the Prince laying on my bearskin rug, sleeping peacefully. His chest rose and fell softly.

If I spared him, would it calm Luna’s hatred? Could he be the olive branch extended and accepted between the two of us, the one to finally end the war?

Or was he just in the way, like his brother had been?



MALEX

By now, Prince Phillip knew that I lied about my blood. He was probably wondering if it would have worked in the first place. It would have, not that I’d ever give him a drop of what belonged to me. Including Luna.

Phillip never said he would drink it, only promising to consider doing so, but I saw the hunger and desperation in his eyes. He wanted that vial when I held it between my thumb and first finger.

The toxin would render him weak, if Aura didn’t find and tear him apart first. He didn’t know that she’d made the vines protectors of their blooms. The briars would grab and tear at him while the other flowers would retaliate against the one who plucked from their vines, releasing more of the deadly vapor that was already turning his organs to mush.

He would die quickly, and when he did, he’d take my betrayal to the grave with him.

In case Aura caught him and questioned him and he told her about me, I’d sewn other seeds, telling Luna how she could block her sister from her dreams and send her a warning at the same time. She had the power to keep her consciousness clear, to block her sister from invading her sleep.

I was just being a good friend by telling her how to wield her power.

Being alive for centuries taught me to always have a failsafe; layers of plans and deceit in place to account for inevitable changes and turns of events.

I smiled and waited for Luna in the cave. Ready to be her friend, to hold her and tell her all would be well. I would lie and guide her through the spell she would cast with her power, because I had none of my own. She hadn’t realized that little fact yet.

The day faded and twilight descended. By tuning into my mark, I knew she was awake and very upset. The pathetic amount of power I had was attached to her as well, just behind her ear. I would take it back. Soon, I would take everything from her.

She’d awakened and found Phillip was missing from the cottage.

She would be here soon.





chapter twenty-one




LUNA

I woke with a start. Ember meowed loudly, nudging my legs toward the door as I stood and pushing me toward the kitchen. Phillip wasn’t in there. He wasn’t in his chair, either. The fool! Did he go outside?

Ember meowed and jumped up onto the couch, grabbing the long stem of a blood red rose in her mouth and bringing it to me. I fell to my knees. “Did you get this? Where is Phillip?”

Suddenly, I knew exactly where he was. “He retrieved the rose for me.”

She dropped the rose into my hand and I closed my palm around it. He’d even removed the thorns.

“Is he dead?”

I felt through Ember that he wasn’t.

“My sister has him?”

She meowed loudly.

Damn her.

I felt her at my mental wall today. At the time, I laughed when she couldn’t get past the barrier, but now that I knew she had Phillip, the thought made me sick. I knew what she was up to. She would keep him alive and use him as a pawn until I came for her. I knew in my heart that if she made him whole, I wouldn’t use the potion. I would agree to remain tethered. I would give up anything if she spared his life. But if she refused to heal him, I had no other option but to make the potion. I would separate us and kill her to try to release him from her poison.

I laced my boots, grabbed a large sack, and ran to the spell room to gather the ingredients. Then I flew as fast as I could to Malex’s cave, where he was waiting for me. He sensed my distress.