Savage Beauty(62)

Phillip’s teeth were going to grind to dust, the way he worked them back and forth. “My brother is dead,” he panted.

Elbow around his neck, I wrenched him backward. “Perhaps you don’t understand, Prince. You see, with my powers restored, he doesn’t have to remain so.”

He shook his head. “He wouldn’t be the same.”

I smiled. He had me there. No, if I brought William back, he would not be the same. He’d be much better, or worse, depending on the way you looked at it. He would be a fury upon the earth, and no human would be safe from him.

Luna and Aura looked at each other. I could tell they were about to combine forces and blast their anger upon me, but their bond needed to be broken today, during the eclipse. I walked Phillip toward the balcony. He walked stiffly, trying to keep my blade from piercing his skin.

“The first thing you two girls should’ve been taught is not to let a man come between you. You’re sisters first.”

Aura glanced furtively at Luna, but Luna’s eyes were fixed on my dagger.

I threw the attention back toward Aura. “You’ve done well. I love the rose garden. Excellent fertilizer, daughter.”

And then I threw Phillip over the balcony’s rail.

“No!” Luna screamed, instantly calling her wind power. She rushed to the rail, and while she was busy calling the wind to catch her lover, I grabbed her neck.

A thump and an Oof! came from the ground. Phillip groaned, but unfortunately, that meant he was still alive.

“Phillip!” Luna yelled, clawing to get to him even as I held the dagger to her neck. With my free hand, I reached into her doublet, scrambling toward the inner pocket to retrieve the potion. She stilled when my blade sliced into her flesh.

I yanked her hair back and she sat up on her knees. “Throw it at Aura,” I demanded.

“No,” she gritted.

I pushed the vial in her hand and twisted her hair. “Throw it!”

“I won’t,” she seethed.

“I’ll torture you both until one of you does,” I promised, whispering into her ear. In response, she tried to burn me with her palms. Little bitch. I had to weaken her.

I cut her throat deep enough so that her blood poured onto the balcony and dripped off to the ground below. She choked, blood gurgling in her throat.

Aura bellowed and ran toward her sister, hands poised and ready to blast me with water or call for the earth to help her. She had been blessed with the two weakest of the four elements. I used my fingers to swipe clean my blade, grabbed the tip, and threw it. The dagger found its mark, embedding into her sternum.

Both of the girls lay in a heap at my feet. Luna clutched the small bottle protectively. They would heal soon enough, but they would die a hundred deaths tonight if they kept testing me, each more painful than the last. I crouched between them.

“You’re both as stubborn as your mother was. She didn’t want me, you know. But she made a promise to me, and my magic sealed the vow. Just as yours has sealed your promises, Luna.”

Aura groaned and tried to push herself up, but fell down again. Her weight drove the blade further into her bone.

I waited until Luna pushed her upper body off the ground, her arms quivering with exhaustion. “You promised me a favor,” I reminded her. “I want you to throw the potion and break the glass in front of your sister’s face.”

She panted against the magic that pulled at her to honor our agreement. The stubborn witch wouldn’t yield, not even to her magic. It had to be painful, but maybe that was what she needed, to be broken. “I think you need more encouragement,” I added venomously.

Pulling her head back by her hair, the wound at her throat reopened. “Have you ever had your spine severed?” I asked conversationally. “It’s an interesting feeling. Excruciating. So many nerves in that area.”

I shoved my dagger into her spine at the top of her back. It got lodged between her vertebrae, and the sound it made when I wrenched it free even turned my stomach for a moment. Luna’s mouth was open in a soundless scream, but when she finally found her voice, it was music to my ears. She bellowed in agony, her legs going slack. I dropped her at my feet.

Aura rolled to her back and began to ease my blade out of her chest, her face wrinkled in pain. “It’s better to pull it out quickly,” I offered. “It’ll hurt, but not as long,” I said, smiling. Her fingers shook violently as she tried to hold the handle.

“Luna,” she said, her voice trembling.

Luna still couldn’t move.

“Luna?” Aura said louder.

Luna groaned in response. Bloody saliva trickled from her mouth onto the stones beneath her face, the ones already slick with her blood.

“You have to get up!” Aura cried, finally yanking the dagger out with a hollow sound. She breathed deeply as her magic began to heal her body. “Luna,” she croaked, crawling toward her sister, checking to see that the potion was still clutched in her hand.

Aura looked up at me. “Can I throw it?”

“She agreed to the blind favor. I’m calling it in. She sealed the deal we made with her magic. It will force her to uphold her end of our bargain.”

“She couldn’t have known you’d ask for this.”

“It doesn’t matter what I would have asked for: her first-born child, her soul, one of her extremities. Any of these, she would have to give to me – willingly – or she won’t be able to use her magic until she does.”