chapter fifteen
LUNA
Brookhaven was asleep. No candles were lit in the windows of the houses, save one. “There,” I said, easing the broom to the ground. Phillip had been quiet on the trip, which was more than fine with me. A woman’s scream of pain came from behind the wooden door, an orange-yellow glow outlining it.
“I know,” he said quietly. “I’ll stay here and guard the broom.”
“Thank you. I won’t be long. The babe is crowning.”
“How do you—?”
I smiled and eased the midwife’s door open, startling both women and a burly, hairy man pacing in the corner. “What the ‘ell?” he yelled.
Staring at them, I let a glamour fall over the room. Not much, just enough to calm them. I didn’t want them to fear me. “Hello,” I answered calmly. “I need something that only you can give me.”
“You can’t have my baby,” the woman panted.
“I just want part of the cord tethering him to you.”
She looked at her husband, who pulled his pants up higher. “What’ll you give us in return?” he asked shrewdly. The midwife pushed on the woman’s abdomen, staring beneath the sheet tented by her knees. The mother gritted her teeth and cried out when a new wave of pain struck her.
“That’s right. One more push,” the midwife said.
The man looked at his son as his wife pushed him into the world. The midwife gave him a slap and the child began to wail. The mother cried, tears of joy and exhaustion streaming down her face.
“My God,” he said, moving to her and kissing her head. “You’re beautiful and strong.”
I swallowed, watching the scene. This was as close as I’d ever get to childbirth, but I’d just witnessed a true miracle. The midwife used a clean cloth to wipe blood and mucous from the child, stretching his arms and legs out.
She reached for a pair of scissors. “NO!” I shouted, raising my hand toward her. “Please. I need to cut it.” The father stiffened. “I need that cord, sir. Please. If you refuse, I’ll be forced to use magic and take the cord anyway, but I’d rather you give it to me of your own free will. Name your price.”
“Make him strong and smart,” the father said without skipping a beat.
I nodded. “I can do that.”
Moving across the room toward the child, I watched him cry. “Strength he will have till the end of his days, intelligence this witch bestow; guide these parents, show them the way, let the boy child flourish and grow.” As the magic left me and entered the boy, he quieted, staring at me.
The parents stared at each other and then looked back to me, wariness in their eyes.
“I won’t harm him. I swear. I did as you asked.”
The man looked at the midwife. She confirmed, “It needs to be cut, anyway. It won’t hurt your boy.”
The man stroked his fuzzy beard. “Very well.”
I took her shears, cut a small piece of umbilis, and tucked it into my bag.
“Witch?” the woman called out as I turned to leave.
I turned to her.
“Can you make sure he never goes near the roses?”
“You know about them?” I asked, surprised.
“Everyone does, and we’re all terrified. Can you protect us?”
“That’s why I needed the umbilis.”
She nodded, wisdom shining in her eyes.
“Look at me,” I said. “All of you.” When the three adults and child stared at me, I glamoured them to ensure I had their full attention. “Never step foot near the roses of Virosa. They’re deadly. Toxic. If you see a rose, you will run away. You won’t go near or pluck any bloom.”
I walked through the door and Phillip handed the broom handle to me. “Did you get it?” he asked.
“I did, and I didn’t even have to be mean about it. I did have to work a spell for them, though.”
He smiled. “Small price to pay.”
“Indeed it was.”
“See? There are other ways to go about things,” he said smugly. “Take Prince Terigon, for instance. I can help you with him.”
“How so?”
“I’m a prince. I can get us into the castle.”
I shook my head. “That’s a terrible idea. If we waltz in together and then cut out Terigon’s tongue, you’ll be hunted down.”
He waved it off dismissively. “You need it, so I’ll do it for you.”
“Thank you. I really do appreciate your willingness to put your neck on the line for me, but I have a plan.”
“What’s that?”
I settled on the broom and waited for him to clasp onto my hips. He did and we took to the sky. “I’m a woman, Phillip.”
His hands tensed on my sides. “You used my name.”
I swallowed. “Of course I did.”
He gave me a squeeze and I settled against the comfort of his back as we flew home.
Why didn’t Aura hide her deeds? The fact that everyone in Brookhaven already knew what lay beneath the rose bushes meant it was intentional. Aura wanted to frighten the humans. She wanted to send a message; a threat and a promise of what would happen if they crossed her.
I tightened my grip on the broom handle.
PHILLIP
For a moment while we were flying through the night sky, it felt like it was just me and Luna against the world. It felt like for once, our differences weren’t insurmountable. For once, it wasn’t her steadying me; we steadied each other. There was no one but me and her. No outside forces trying to force us apart.
But when we landed and our feet hit the earth, the gravity of the situation returned and the illusion was erased, the moment was broken. “I’ll take this inside,” she said, carrying her broom in and unfastening the bag from her waist.
She wouldn’t look at me, and I knew that when we went inside, this awkwardness would continue to grow and build unless I did something to prove myself and my feelings for her. I walked a few steps behind. Ember was on the porch, happy to see us, meowing loudly as Luna pushed the front door open and disappeared into the spell room.
My thoughts may have been scattered and all over the place, but they weren’t Aura’s. She might have given me false memories, or used me to spy on Luna, but the conversations Luna and I had and the feelings they evoked were mine. I just needed to show her that it was all real. It was all me.
“Luna?”
“Yeah?” She walked out of her spell room, eyebrows raised.
“I want to kiss you.”
She expelled a breath. “Why?”
I snorted. “Funny you should ask. I’ll admit my emotions have been all over the place.”
“That’s Aura’s doing,” she interrupted.
I walked to her and she sucked in a breath when I brushed her jaw with the backs of my fingers. “The way I feel about you? That is not Aura’s doing. Let me show you what you mean to me.”
“What do I mean to you?” she asked softly. There was fear and wariness in her eyes, and I wanted to erase every trace of them.
When she looked down, I nudged her chin up. “Look at me.” She fastened her yellow-green eyes on mine. “This is me. This is real.”
I slowly lowered my lips to hers, placing a gentle kiss on them. And then another. When she relaxed, I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close. She gently raked her nails through my hair. My tongue brushed her lips and she opened her mouth for me, exposing her heart to me as I exposed mine to her. I backed her slowly toward the wall, startling both of us when her back hit it before I realized it would. She smiled, biting her lip, and then pulled my head down to meet her lips again. I captured her bottom one with my teeth and she let out a low moan.
That was the moment when she placed me under her spell. It was one I never wanted to be released from.
LUNA
He was kissing me, and while I couldn’t feel the earth shifting beneath my feet, I felt it spinning out of control. There was nothing but him and me. The taste and touch of us. Together.
I raked my fingers over his stomach and tugged at the bottom of his tunic. He let my lips go only long enough to pull it over his head. I held my lips while I waited. I savored the stung, swollen feeling of my lips, but only had seconds to register the unfamiliar and warm feeling before his lips were on mine again.
As we kissed, he slowly walked me across the room to the chair next to the hearth—his chair—and settled into it. I climbed onto his lap and looked into his eyes as he unbuttoned his shirt, button by agonizing button.
“We don’t have to go any further—” he started.
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.