Savage Beauty(61)

“I’m fine. Aura healed me.”

I ran to him, felt the scruff of his jaw, and ran my hands over his chest and back, brushing my thumb across his lips.

“It’s really you. I’m not dreaming,” I exclaimed, tears in my eyes.

He shook his head in wonder. “I can’t believe you’re awake during the day! And Aura’s telling the truth. She healed me, and Malex is a liar.”

“Why did you do it?” I asked my sister, questioning her motives.

“Purely as a measure of good faith,” she clarified. “But just so you know, I think Malex is behind all of this. Think about it, Luna. Someone sent William here. Even Phillip said he wouldn’t have just ridden off to Virosa without letting someone from Grithim know where he was going. He was responsible, smart. If he’d been glamoured and sent here, though... Well, it would explain a lot of things. Phillip only came here because someone told him William was here, and I think Malex orchestrated all of it.”

A slow clap came from the doorway. All three of us whirled around to see Malex leaning against the door jamb.

“So nice of you to try to pin all of this on me, Aura of Virosa. Has this been your plan all along? To throw suspicion away from yourself long enough to make Luna hesitate, so that your dagger can pierce her? I’ll bet you mean to take her power for yourself, too.”

My eyes snapped to Aura. Was that her game?

“You can’t honestly take this faery’s word over mine!” White-hot rage burned across Aura’s features and she turned it upon Malex. “I can’t take her powers,” she seethed.

He stood up straight. “But you can. Once your bond is severed, and one of you dies, the surviving princess will inherit the powers of the fallen one.”

“And I bet,” Phillip interjected, “that anyone who happens to be around to kill the survivor will gain the powers of both. Right, fae Prince? Isn’t that why you’re here? You know what’s interesting, is that I’ve never seen you work magic. You order Luna around, you know ingredients and spells, and yet she’s the one doing all the work. Is it because you’re powerless?” he asked harshly. “And desperate?”

Malex growled and stalked toward Phillip. “I should have had her cut your tongue out.”

I felt as if someone punched me in the gut. “It’s true,” I breathed out, tucking the vial back into the pocket inside my doublet. Malex lied! It wasn’t his anger that was his tell, it was the way he raked his teeth over his top lip, the way his hands flexed at his sides. He wanted to kill Phillip right where he stood, which meant that Phillip hadn’t just insulted him, he’d struck a nerve. “You want our powers,” I said slowly. “But why?”

Malex smiled wickedly. “Because they aren’t yours. They’re mine. You took them from me the night you were born.”





chapter twenty-five




MALEX

I shrugged off my coat and rolled up my sleeves. My words had rendered both of the witches speechless. “You half-fae, witch abominations are my bastards.” I paused a few moments to let the words sink in. “When I sired you, my powers—all of them—were somehow transferred to you, divided equally. I lost every ounce of magic I had, and for years I was so weak, so... mortal, I couldn’t do anything about it. When I came to get them back, you were naught but girls, but you were already wielding the elements and could have easily killed me. I saw that you were loyal to one another, and knew there was only one thing that could tear two women apart: a man. When I met William of Grithim, I knew he was the one who could do it.”

And he almost succeeded, I thought.

“He wanted Virosa. He thought it was a wasted kingdom after I told him it belonged to two half-fae witches. Did you know his hatred of the fae ran so deep? He hated me as well, but he was willing to overlook our differences to get the information I had to offer on the pair of you. He was the one who came up with the plan to wedge himself between you; wooing you both at once and then turning you against each other. I didn’t even have to suggest it. He did a good job, but Phillip was something else entirely. William made a fissure, but I was certain Phillip would cleave the pair of you in two. Aura would hate the younger prince because she knew what his brother truly was, and Luna would defend him because she loved his brother and didn’t know about William’s true intentions. But, alas, nothing has worked the way I planned for it to, and now I’m tired of waiting. So if you don’t mind, I need you to give my powers back.”

Luna scrubbed at my mark on her neck. “You kissed me, you sick, dirty—”

“Don’t finish that sentence, little one, if you want your precious Phillip to live.” I might not have power, but I did have superior reflexes and a dagger at his side in no time. Phillip tensed, his jaw ticking back and forth. I pushed the blade into his tunic, tearing through the fabric and pushing the tip against his skin. He sucked in a breath. “The blade is coated in poison. The same kind I gave your familiar, Luna.”

“You poisoned Ember?” she exclaimed, her eyes on my blade.



To Phillip I whispered, “Help me, and I’ll bring your brother back from the grave. You and he can return to Grithim as heroes, having slain the twin fae witches who’d held you hostage for so long.”