Savage Beauty(63)

I saw the realization sweep over Aura. She and Luna couldn’t fight Malex unless and until Luna separated them.

“I’ll give you a moment to speak with your sister.”

But I would stay close. I’d need to kill them quickly once they were separated. The only way to get my power back was to end them during the eclipse.



AURA

Malex hovered nearby. A moment, my ass.

“Luna, get up.” I tried to help her sit up, but she crumpled. My wound sent lightning bolts of pain through my chest and arms. “You have to throw the potion.”

“No,” she muttered.

“Why not?”

“Can’t let…him win,” she panted.

I pulled her head up and put it on my chest, holding her like I used to when we were children and fire accidentally sprang out of her fingers and ignited the hanging laundry. She was afraid of herself, and afraid that people would call for her head. I would shush her and tell her that they’d have to come through me to get to her. It wasn’t much, but we always had each other.

Whispering in her ear, I told her, “We will be separated, but we’ll heal. You’ll heal and we can both still fight. Together.”

“Why?” she cried, her tears soaking my gown.

“Because we’re sisters.”

I sniffled, my eyes welling up just thinking about the pain she was in. “It’s his fault. He sent William, and then Phillip, to come between us and tear us apart. I mean, I admit I orchestrated a few things – dense fog and a beautiful stag near a cliff – and sent Phillip to you because I thought you were messing with me, but it worked out well,” I whispered. “You seem to like him, right?”

Luna nodded against me.

“Then let’s kick his ass.” I watched as Luna’s lips curled up at the ends.

“Well, isn’t this endearing?” Malex smarted.

“We have to be fast.” I warned.

I tilted her head until her eyes met mine. We could do this. “Get ready,” I whispered. “As soon as you do it, he’s going to attack immediately.”

With great effort, Luna uncorked the small bottle, held it to my nose, and I breathed it in. I felt the line between us break, like a rope holding on by frayed fibers that couldn’t stand the tension any longer. One moment we were attached, and the next, we were separate. Alone.

Luna sat up, her magic making her whole, but she needed more time to heal completely. He knew what kind of wound to inflict, the one that would take the longest time to heal.

I glanced up, noting that the sun was half-covered. We were running out of time. We had to kill him before the eclipse was over, or else slumber would claim Luna again. I would be left to fight Malex on my own, and Luna would be vulnerable to his attack.

“Luna, get up,” I whispered. “We have to fight him. We aren’t bound, but we can still fight!” I yelled, blasting Malex with a plume of water, shooting into his mouth. He turned his head, but I twisted the water into a globe of water that filled his lungs. Fae might be immortal, but this one had no other power. Malex admitted he was weak, almost mortal. It made me wonder how mortal he actually was without his magic.

Mortal enough to die, I hoped.

I called for my roses. Thorny vines wrapped around his wrists and ankles, holding him in place. Binding him. This was only a temporary measure, as I knew he would be able to break free. He lacked elemental power, but he more than made up for it in determination, strength, and cunning.

“I’m weakening, Luna. The moon has almost eclipsed the sun. Please!” I shouted. “Help me.”

Luna pushed herself up and took a steadying breath. “I’m not sure I can do this.”

“We have to do it all at once,” I pleaded. “All the elements together. Can you try?”

She nodded.

“Good. Carry us to the ground.”

“But Phillip is down there,” she argued.

“Farther, then. Take us into the garden.”

“I have to let his arms and legs go. Blast his dagger away,” I told her. It seemed he had a never-ending supply of blades. When he lost one, embedding it into my sternum, for instance, he just grabbed another from somewhere on his person.

Luna sent a gust forceful enough to open his hand, and the dagger plunged into the earth below. Then she called another, larger gust that took the three of us to the center of my garden. Malex had been waiting, and in that time, plotting. My water died out, my power waned. I wasn’t sure if it was the fact that the sun was being blocked, or the fact that my sister and I weren’t bound. Did we draw more power from each other than we did individually? Her wind held him for a moment longer, and then she sent a fiery wall to separate him from us. When Phillip cried out for her from behind us, she lost her focus.

Damn him for loving her.

From behind the inferno, Malex was ready with another dagger.

He gripped the tip.

Aimed at Luna’s back.

And threw.

But I was faster.

I threw myself in front of Luna instead.

When the blade pierced my heart, I stared up at him, mouth agape, panting with disbelief, numb for a moment.

All I could see was our father with his face contorted in hatred and rage. I’d seen those things in me.

But now they were gone. Released.