Savage Beauty(52)

“What’s wrong?” Looking past me, his brows furrowed. “Where is Phillip? Where is Ember?”

“Ember is at my cottage, and Aura has Phillip.”

“How did she capture him?” he asked, eyes wide.

How did I tell him that Phillip had sacrificed everything to get the rose for me? “He retrieved the rose.”

“Ahhh,” he said, nodding his head. “Because he was already dying. It was a very noble thing for him to do,” he said quietly. “Poetic.” He licked his bottom lip and nodded to the bag. “You have everything?”

“I do.”

Malex waved me further into his cave, to a room that looked much like my spell room. On shelves along the cave wall were containers full of various ingredients. In a tall glass jar, a toad tried to climb the glass, sliding back down the sides. A cage of bats hung from the ceiling. No doubt he had plenty of supply in this place. There was a mortar and pestle, larger than any I’d seen. Herbs and liquids. I knew the names of many, but some I couldn’t place.

In the center of the room, on the cave floor, was a stone circle with fresh firewood laid in it. A cauldron sat on stones atop the wood. “You have to light it,” he said. “All the magic we do has to come from you. I can guide you, but I can’t do it for you.”

I nodded. I knew that. He’d said the same thing in the spring. I had to get the ingredients and work the spell, though he could help with the wording if I needed it. “We’re making a potion?”

“A difficult one, but not one you can’t handle. Most potions are meant to be ingested, but something tells me our little Aura would spit it back out. We’ll have to make one that, much like her toxin, can be inhaled. She doesn’t have to drink, but she does have to breathe,” he added with a devilish wink.

“I wish I could break the curse of slumber. I have a feeling this fight will last more than the hour we share just before dawn and at dusk.”

“I haven’t found a spell to break that curse, but I do have one that might be helpful for a few hours. It’s an ancient spell, as old as the original fae Kings.” His tone set me on edge. “It calls for the moon to appear during the day and eclipse the sun. It will cause complete darkness for only a few moments, but you’ll be free from slumber during the whole celestial event, and so will Aura.”

“I want to do it. Do you think she’ll keep Phillip alive that long?”

He nodded. “I do. I think she’ll use him as a shield against you, and she’ll probably slow the effects of the toxin so she can. He’s her biggest weapon in this fight.”

Malex was right. “I want to call the moon,” I decided.

He inclined his head. “After we make the potion,” he promised.

I stared at the firewood and it ignited, flames licking up the cauldron’s sides. The water inside looked dark and oily. Malex grinned, standing across from me. “Let’s begin,” he said ominously.

I untied the twine around the bag, memories fluttering through my mind.



After Aura killed William, I left Virosa, flying into the forest. The only things I saw other than a palace larger than ours was woodland, until I saw the clearing and dipped low enough to see a crumbling, abandoned cottage.

I made it my home. I readied it for summer when I would be sleeping, and for a year lived as peacefully as I could, physically away from Aura’s presence. Last spring, one year to the day that William was killed, Malex showed up at my doorstep and introduced himself as the fae Prince who ruled over this forest and owned every structure in it—including my cottage.

Ember didn’t care who he was. She tried to claw him apart. Her reaction was so violent, I had to lock her in the bedroom. In awkward silence, Malex and I listened as she slowly but determinedly shredded the door.

Malex was definitely fae, but I still didn’t know if I could trust him.

He said that I was welcome to stay as long as I told him why I was there. I told him I’d tell him if he proved he really was the fae who ruled the forest. The fae were tricky and liked to play games. And even though he claimed to be a prince, to me he was a stranger.

Malex invited me to his palace, so I flew us there. It was clear he hadn’t lied about his identity. His servants bowed to him graciously, offering kind smiles. He proved he was exactly what he said: a fae prince. That night, he sat on a throne in a glistening great hall as faeries of every kind came to him for help. Forest fae, fae of the water, fae of the air, and of the seasons. Seelie and Unseelie. He helped them all in exchange for favors and for their pledged fealty.

They all respected him. They trusted Malex.

It was also clear, as he dealt with his people, that he had an uncanny ability to discern truth from lie. So I decided to be honest when I told him about myself and my sister, of our powers and the curse of slumber that we suffered from.

He was royalty and his subjects seemed very loyal; reverent, if not afraid. But he wasn’t cruel. His decisions were fair and he didn’t turn any of his subjects away, even when the night grew long and he must have grown tired. When the palace was finally quiet and the great hall sat empty, Malex gave me a tour of his home, asking if I was now confident about his identity.

I was sure he hadn’t lied and glad I had someone to confide in who understood some of my powers and the situation I found myself in with Aura.