I covered his lips with mine, letting my fingers feel the scruff of the stubble on his jaw, and listened to the noises he made for me.
All for me.
His chest was warm and muscled, and I reveled in the way it rippled when he used his arms to hold and touch me. But he was ever a gentleman. He obviously needed a nudge.
I sat back and slowly tugged the strings holding my bodice together. He swallowed, watching the motion, the silken strands gaping open. “Are you sure?” he asked hoarsely.
I smiled. “I’ve never been so sure about anything in my life, Phillip.”
“Good.”
I loosened the strings and his strong hands clamped down on either side of my waist, pulling me in to his lips. Then those sumptuous lips found my chest, moving slowly, languorously, dragging across my heated skin. Head back, eyes closed, I just felt. Felt him. Felt his warmth. His tongue on my flesh. Felt his love.
He was hard beneath me. His hands carved a gentle path over my hips and then found my thighs, pushing the hem of my skirt higher. His thumb on my legs almost set me on fire. I could feel it thrumming beneath my skin, leaving a burning path of ecstasy with every touch.
My breasts were heavy, begging for attention, but he hadn’t given them any yet. Right as the request started to spill from my lips, he started coughing violently. I climbed off his lap as a fit wracked his body, a cold sheen of sweat breaking out on his forehead.
Something was terribly wrong.
He tried to stand and fell to his knees. I dropped to mine beside him. “Phillip!”
“I’m okay,” he panted between coughs. But I knew. It wasn’t just the scent of roses filling the room. It was the roses’ toxin.
Aura had poisoned him. She must have slowed down the effect on his body, and it was just now manifesting. This was the first sign, but I knew the progression. I knew what would follow, and I knew where it ended.
My heart was breaking. Tears filled my eyes and I let out an agonized scream.
After a few moments, Phillip recovered and I helped him into the chair again. “Sorry,” he said sheepishly. “I don’t know what happened.”
I knew what happened. My sister. And if she took him from me, I would never stop killing her. If the spell didn’t work and I was tethered to her forever, I would kill her every night in her dreams. I would rejoice each morning because it meant she would be brought back just so I could kill her again. I would never let her rest. She would rue the day she met and used Phillip of Grithim against me.
I laced my bodice, tying it tightly, trying to smile so he wouldn’t know I was falling apart inside. “Would you like some water?” I offered.
“That would be good,” he said, resting his head on the chair back. “So sorry,” he muttered, closing his eyes. His head lolled to the side.
I walked calmly outside to the well, every muscle in my body on fire and ready to beat the fuck out of my bitch of a sister. Tear her to ribbons. Gut her and hang her from the highest window in the palace. And that was just for starters.
Malex suddenly emerged from the darkness. “What’s wrong? You went from...err, happy, to distraught in an instant.”
“It’s Phillip,” I said flatly. He tilted his head in question, and I wrung my hands as I explained what she’d done. “Aura used her toxin on him. He’s going to die, and it’s all my fault.”
Malex muttered a curse. “It’s not your fault, Luna. What she does isn’t your doing. When are you going to realize that?”
“Not tonight, apparently, because Phillip is in there. He could barely breathe, barely stop coughing, and then he got the cold sweats. They’re the first signs.”
He gave me a sympathetic look, even though I knew he didn’t care for Phillip at all. But in his own twisted way, he did care about me. Malex was strange. He didn’t love me, but he did seem to like me. He also liked my power and thought that if we were together, he could use it. I knew the game he was playing.
Malex was keeping an eye on me for no other reason than that he didn’t want anyone to gain more power than he had. No fae liked to be weak, especially fae princes. And he hated that two Halflings were very close to surpassing his own abilities. Close, but not quite, he would remind me if I brought it up. He was nervous about us reaching maturity, though. It could tip the scales in our favor.
“I can try to find a way to remove it,” he offered.
“At what cost?” I gritted.
“No cost. I’d do it for you.”
“I’d appreciate that, Malex.” He offered a small half-smile. “I have some information about our friend Prince Terigon as well.”
“What’s that?”
“He’s going on a hunt two nights from now. He’ll be in the forest west of his palace.”
I didn’t ask how he knew, but Malex was never wrong. He had eyes and ears everywhere. If he said Terigon would be in the forest west of the palace of Ringsted, Terigon would be there. It would be easier to corner him in the forest than in his castle, anyway.
Suddenly, my limbs felt too heavy to move, letting me know dawn was coming. “Thank you. I’ll be there,” I promised. I still hadn’t figured out how to get a rose during the daylight, but I supposed I could always find a human and make them do the chore for me.
“Would you like me to look at him?” he asked.
“Not yet. It’s still early. But when the pain hits...” I couldn’t finish, the words choking me.
“I’ll help when you need me,” he promised.
“Thank you.”
The sky was no longer sapphire. It had turned to pale periwinkle, puffy clouds with gilded bottoms staring back at us. The sun would be up far too soon.
“Go back to him.”
Ember would watch Phillip during the day. If his condition worsened...
“I’ll check in on him midday,” Malex offered. “I’ll bring something to make it look like I have a reason to visit. He doesn’t have to know yet. And I’ll try to find a way to draw the toxin from him, an antidote. Maybe we can heal him before he gets any worse.”
I swallowed and nodded once. Malex turned on his heel and strode back into the forest on bare feet, the lapels of his bright white coat flapping as he went. When he was out of sight, I drew water and filled my pail, taking it in to Phillip.
He was asleep in the chair, his chest rising and falling, mouth slightly gaped open. I wanted to touch his hair but was afraid to wake him. So I sat at his feet and waited while the first rays of sun struck the stained glass window panes, casting color throughout the room.
“Goodnight,” I whispered before sleep claimed me.
chapter sixteen
AURA
My moony sister was finally asleep, which meant it was time for us to have a heart to heart. I stood over her. “This fae, Malex, is becoming a real thorn in my side.”
As soon as Luna opened her eyes, they clamped on me. Then she bared her teeth and launched herself at my throat. Her claws slashed through the air and I jumped back just in time to miss her swipe. I conjured and threw a ball of warm water, soaking her from head to toe. She stilled for a moment, but re-doubled her attack, striking out again and again, tearing toward me in a feral rage. She wasn’t bothering with her elemental power. Luna was out for blood.
“You can’t kill me, sister. It won’t work!” I yelled, evading another slash.
“I don’t care! I hate you, and I’ll spend eternity making sure your life is hell!”
Her claws grazed my elbow as I swiveled to protect my face from her. How did she have this much energy in a dream? Luna’s energy was increasing, if anything, while I felt myself weakening, which shouldn’t be the case unless...
Unbelievable. “You bitch! You’re drawing energy from me!” I stopped playing defense and covered my skin with thorns, slashing out at her this time.
“You poisoned him!” she screamed, ducking to avoid my skin as I swiped toward her head.
“I did poison him, but it was only because I thought yo
u sent him to me, first! I thought you were toying with me,” I said, and in my defense, I was being honest. My muscles started to grow tired and I strained to keep her at bay as she struck out at me again, thorns be damned.
“I would never have sent him to you,” she growled.
Luna slashed at my throat, but my forearm took the brunt of her slashes as I raised it protectively. Fire burst across my flesh and my blood immediately rose, trying to douse the flames. Her arm was bleeding, too, soaking into the dark fabric of her sleeve. She was insane! She was willing to hurt herself just to get at me.
“Stop this.” I backed away from her carefully, my bloody arm outstretched.
“Stop the toxin,” she volleyed, prowling closer.
“Not until you stop trying to untether us.”
“Why?” she screeched.
I kept a few feet between me and her, but I knew she was going to pounce. I could see it in her eyes. “Because as soon as we’re unbound, you’ll try to kill me, and then I’ll have to defend myself. I don’t want to kill you, Luna. I want to live peacefully with you,” I pleaded.
She let out a low laugh. “Peacefully? You poisoned Phillip and then sent him into my home to spy on me! You made him love me, and now that I feel something for him, you’re tearing him apart, too. Only this time, it’s slow and painful. You say you want peace? Well, that reeks of lies, sister.”
I held my hand up, trying to stall her as she stalked forward. We were going around and around in circles, literally and with our conversation. The dream itself was empty, since neither of us had exerted any energy or attention to crafting our surroundings. We were surrounded by white as far as the eye could see with no sky or ceiling, and only my blood droplets on the ground beneath our feet as a guide.
“First, I don’t apologize for anything,” I informed her. “Like I said, I thought you’d sent him to me first. And secondly, you’ve held a grudge since William, but you never let me explain why I tore him to pieces! I killed him for you! For us. To protect us. I’ve always protected us. The people in my garden were going to tear our palace away. They were planning to cast us out of our homes. They told lies about you and said you were cursed and dangerous. They wanted to hunt you down and kill you, sister. I couldn’t let that happen.”
Luna snorted. “They couldn’t have killed me or you, and you know it. Our bond wouldn’t have allowed it, so don’t try to use your undying love for me as an excuse for your depravity.” Her feline eyes flashed. “Reverse this curse, or I swear that every day, I’ll bury you. I’ll cut you apart – cut myself apart, if need be – until nothing remains, and I will laugh each time we both die.”
I pinched my lips together in consternation. She simply refused to listen to reason.
“Reverse it!” she screamed, finally leaping toward me. We fell in a heap and the breath escaped my lungs in a loud puff when my back hit the ground. She held my wrists at my side, struggling to keep her grip because of our mingled blood. It was slick and smeared all over both of us now.
I pinched my lips together, staring at my sister. Despite her theatrics, I had no plans to stop the toxin.
“I didn’t send him to you,” she gritted out.
“I believe you, but I won’t reverse it until you stop trying to separate us.”
“I won’t, Aura. I’ll never stop trying to rid myself of you.”
I shrugged dismissively. “Then Phillip will die.”
She climbed off me and I watched her hands return to normal, but then she conjured fire and formed it into a ball, launching it at me. “You will reverse the effects, Aura,” she demanded.
I rolled to the side to try to avoid the direct hit, but wasn’t fast enough. I was too tired and she was too strong. Siphoning my energy? I had to give it to her. That was a smart move, and it made me wonder how she managed to conjure the spell.
Probably Malex.
When she conjured another fiery ball, I jumped to my feet and ran as fast as I could, pumping my arms and pushing my legs hard until they burned. But again, I wasn’t quick enough. Flames and pain burst across my back as I tried to escape. I cried out as the pain washed over me, my clothes singing and burning away, the flesh of my back blistering.
“We need to talk about this!” I shouted, trying to make her see reason.
In response, she hurled two smaller fire balls. I managed to escape the first, but the other one burst on my lower leg. Both of us cried out from the pain, which told me it hurt her just as badly to create them as it did for me to receive them. I sent water walls into the air to shield myself, but she gathered the air around us, blowing holes through the water large enough for her fireballs to fit through.
Finally, exhausted, I exited her dream and left her there to think about what she’d done to us. My dress smelled like burning fabric and hair, even though there was no sign of scorching on it. I could already feel the blisters on my back and leg bursting, the fluid running down my skin, and I bit back a curse. Damn Luna and her stubbornness.
Still, there was one thing I didn’t understand.... If Luna didn’t send Phillip to Virosa, who did? And this Malex character… Was he strong enough to cure Phillip before I could make my stubborn ass of a sister see reason?
One thing was certain: someone other than Luna wanted our bond severed, which would be dangerous for both of us. Luna and I were strong when we were united. Separated, both of us would be vulnerable, weak enough for someone to cut us both down.
That was something I couldn’t allow.
PHILLIP
Luna panted heavily as if she were running, and then four bright red gashes formed across her forearm. Blood welled up like a river on her skin, dripping onto the floor, and I ran to get a cloth to stop the bleeding. Ember squalled, pacing back and forth agitatedly next to her. Rushing back to Luna’s side, I held pressure on the wounds. Suddenly, her breathing calmed and her muscles relaxed.
I eased the bloody cloth away and saw that her wounds had already sealed, leaving behind four translucent scars.
Something was burning. I sniffed the air and looked around, but didn’t see anything. Luna whimpered in her sleep, although her body stayed still. My muscles relaxed when she let out a sigh and the tension in her body fell away.
Blotting the blood from the floor, I shook my head. What the hell was that?
The front door opened and Malex stepped in. “What happened to her?”
“I don’t know,” I answered, forgetting to be annoyed by his presence. “She was asleep and started thrashing around, and the next thing I knew, she was bleeding.”
He looked at her arm and asked for a fresh, damp cloth to clean it off with, muttering things in a language I didn’t understand. I sniffed the air again, glancing around to make sure I hadn’t moved anything too close to the fireplace.
“It’s her skin you smell. She’s been burned, but since it was her own flame, her body will heal quickly,” Malex offered. He eased her skirt up to wrap a cloth around the lower half of her right leg. “Her back is burned, as well.”
I dipped a fresh cloth in a basin of water and brought it to him. My head felt light, strange and fuzzy, so I sat down for a minute and let him clean Luna’s wounds.
“Are you feeling well?”
“Yeah,” I replied. “It’s probably just seeing the blood.”
“The sight of blood bothers you?”
“Not normally, no.” I thought of my fallen horse Blackheart and the crimson river that poured from his neck when I had to put him down. Did that really happen? I wasn’t sure if Aura hurt me, dropped me at the cottage, and implanted the memory, or if she merely sent me and Rolfe into the forest on the hunt, knowing I’d fall, and somehow guided me to her sister.
“You can’t be with Luna, you know,” Malex said flatly.
“What?” Where did that come from?
“She’s half-fae. She has enough power in her sneeze to crumble all your bones to dust. She can’t be with a human.”
“I’ve only
known her a short time, so I’m not sure we’ve quite reached the part where we decide on happily ever afters,” I snorted.
“There is no decision. You can’t be with her. She does seem to fall in love easily, but it took weeks for her to fall for William. His death still haunts her. So I wonder, since you’ve been here such a short time, if Aura is behind this mutual attraction that seems to have ignited between you and Luna.”
I gritted my teeth, both from the insinuation as well as my fear that it was true. “Aura does not control my feelings.”
“No? Have you ever thought about hurting Luna? Have you ever felt yourself battling for control of your extremities or emotions?”
Yes, I’d felt those things. “I wouldn’t hurt her,” I said stiffly.
“Not intentionally, Prince, but Aura’s intentions are quite different from yours, and you are under her control, whether it feels like it or not.” Malex tossed me the used rag. “But there is a way, if you truly want to help her and protect her.”
“And I’m sure that you’ll jump to tell me, so I’ll be out of the picture and you can move in.”
“She owes me a favor,” he said with a wicked smile. “What do you think I’ll ask for? Your heart?”
Shaking my head, I threw the towel into the basin. “You wouldn’t hurt her like that. She’d hate you for it. Besides, you need her power, which means you need her on your side. But why? You’re a fae prince. Won’t you inherit your own kingdom one day? Why are you so fixated on Luna and the Kingdom of Virosa?”
He smiled. “The fae are immortal, young one. My father will never die, and so I won’t inherit anything from him. He built a palace for me, but it’s nothing but a hollow shell of marble and gold. I want to feel alive again. Needed. Wanted. Revered.”
“And you think Luna can make you feel that way?”
“Maybe,” he answered, shrugging. “It’s worth a shot. I have nothing but time. I hate Aura, so Luna is the obvious choice between the two. And Virosa is a beautiful kingdom. The fae love all things beautiful and luxurious.” He toyed with a strand of Luna’s hair before standing abruptly.
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