chapter twenty-four
LUNA
The full moon was my favorite phase. We were made of more blood than flesh, and since blood was mostly liquid, the moon pulled and tugged at us just as it did the oceans, as if we were puppets and it our puppeteer. That was even more the case for me, her daughter.
I dressed in fighting leathers, the bottom hems of my tight breeches tucked into my tall boots. Straightening, I stretched and bent, making sure the outfit was flexible enough and allowed for every movement I anticipated, and even those I didn’t. My doublet fit like a second skin with long sleeves layered with thick patches made to look like dragon’s scales. I kept the small potion vial inside my clothes, near my heart. If she tried to cut it out, her blade would strike the glass, release the spell, and save me the trouble.
It has to be one of us who severs this tie.
I just hoped I wasn’t too late. Was Phillip still holding on?
My plan was to find him first. Malex could stay with him and keep her from using him in the fight that was about to ensue. Malex promised to shield Phillip for me, and then he once again reminded me of the favor I owed him. If he protected Phillip, I would owe him two.
I threaded sheaths onto my belt and inserted the daggers for which they were made. I couldn’t use fire or air once I threw the potion. I could only use my hands or a knife, if I was lucky enough to pull one before she did.
“You look like a warrior,” Malex said, stepping into the bedroom, startling me. I hadn’t heard his footsteps on the porch or the creaking of the hinges. He looked as he always did. He wore a rich suit that consisted of matching breeches and a coat. Stark white, embroidered with gold. Terrible and royal.
“You look like you’re about to be crowned,” I teased.
He tugged at his lapels. “I suppose I do.” We both laughed at that.
“You have the potion?” he asked, his eyes searching me for it.
I decided not to show him where it was. For some reason, I knew I needed to keep it hidden. “I do.”
Ember appeared behind him, squalling and arching her back. He stared at my familiar, unaffected. “Why don’t you like me, kitty?”
“She hates everyone. She and I are very much alike.”
“Ah, but you don’t hate everyone. You like Phillip.” He glanced at Ember. “And so does your familiar.”
“I hope we aren’t too late.”
He gave me a long stare. “You don’t love him,” he said.
“I’m not in love with him yet, no. But I do care about him.”
“You fear love. That’s interesting. Most women are in love with the very thought of it.”
“I’m not like most women,” I teased, tucking a blade into my boot.
He inclined his head, agreeing. “We can stay hidden in the woods until the eclipse begins.”
I grabbed my broom and turned to Ember. “Stay here. You’ll be safe.”
We walked down the steps side by side, the fae Prince and half-fae Princess, and I wondered again why he saw fit to help me and what favor he would ask. I looked up at the full moon, noting the colors and scars she wore proudly, and hoped she would be with me tonight. I would gladly accept any scars she gave me if she would see me through this.
Malex patted his jacket pockets and then jogged back up the steps. “I dropped something,” he muttered apologetically.
As I waited for him, my mind whirled with the heaviness of what I was about to do. I hoped I could do this. I wanted to save Phillip, which meant I needed to end the bond with my sister so I could destroy her. I wanted to save him from her toxin, the way I couldn’t save his brother. Even knowing William didn’t really love me didn’t take away my guilt. At the end of the day, William was human and he shouldn’t have tried to play games with the fae, but he didn’t deserve to die for it. And I should have been able to see through it all and protect him, regardless.
Ember squalled from inside, probably hating that she was in the cottage by herself with Malex.
Refocusing and trying to center myself, I raised my face to the moonlight.
I was more powerful than Aura.
It just took Phillip to show me that.
MALEX
I didn’t forget anything; I just needed to tie up a loose end. A witch was stronger with her familiar, and I had no doubt Ember would follow us to Virosa to help her master, despite Luna’s order for her to stay in the cottage.
Grabbing the cat by the scruff at the back of her neck, she clawed at me, but my coat’s sleeves were made of thick fabric. I forced the vial between her teeth and let the bitter liquid sting her tongue. She’d be dead in less than an hour, given her weight. She clawed at me again and I flung her across the room.
Ember landed on her feet, but her claws stuck into the floor boards. I saw the exact moment she decided to attack me, but then her eyes became heavy, and she tottered to the side and fell to the floor. Giving a dismissive sniff, I straightened my lapels and headed to the door.
Outside, Luna waited.
So trusting.
“Are you ready?” she asked expectantly.
“It isn’t me you should be worried about. The question is, are you ready, Luna?”
Her eyes snapped to mine. “Yes.”
LUNA
Malex sat behind me on the broom. His hands were larger than Phillip’s, his fingers longer. His grip encompassed my waist entirely, but his touch wasn’t that of a frightened man. Malex’s every move spoke of his sense of ownership for those who owed him debts.
I was no more or less than one of his subjects. I wondered if the only reason he was coming along was to collect his debt in case I died before it could be repaid.
We flew to the woods just beyond the palace yard in silence, and sat quietly as the sky lightened and the sun came closer to rising. When it did, I fell asleep next to him, but Malex woke me when the eclipse started, nudging my shoulder and calling my name.
Through the fog of sleep, I came to. It was bright. The sun was still strong and I was weak, too weak to fight. I felt too weak to stand.
“The eclipse has begun,” Malex said ominously.
Nothing looked different, but how else could I be awake during daylight hours? “How long will it last?” I asked.
Slowly, I felt her. The moon, lending me strength.
“Six hours, at the most. You’ll be strongest during totality, when the moon completely blocks out the sun. The earth will become dark as night, and in those few moments, you will thrive.”
I nodded in understanding. “In order to sever the bond, I need to release the potion before the moment of totality.”
He nodded. “And kill her during it.”
I blew out a tense breath. I’d been working toward this for what felt like an eternity. What if I failed? I didn’t want to consider what it would mean for Phillip if Aura killed me instead.
“I’ll know if you’re in distress,” he said, brushing his thumb over the mark on my neck.
A shiver crawled up my spine. Stepping away from his touch, I shook my hands out. I’d been waiting for this since the moment she tore William apart. “In case something happens, will you take care of Ember?” I asked quietly.
“Consider it done,” he said solemnly.
“And no matter what, protect Phillip. Even if you sense my distress, protect him.”
“Of course. That’s what I’m here for. Well, that and moral support,” he added, clapping my shoulder.
The memory of William’s death surfaced, taunting me, telling me that Phillip might suffer the same fate. But if he was still alive, and I felt that he was, I’d be damned if I let him face the same fate as his brother.
If something happens to him...
I squeezed my eyes closed.
“How will you break through the barrier?” Malex asked.
It might have been daylight, but every moment I was awake, I could feel the powerful moon in the sky. She was lending me her energy so I drew on that, closed my eyes, and concentrated. I smiled and held my palm out, calling on the power of air. A tiny twister formed in my hand, growing stronger and hungrier by the second.
I crouched and placed it on the ground, where it grew taller and more violent. Taking in a breath, I blew it toward the wall, toward the rose garden and palace, watching as it tore through the stones, the earth, and the bushes. Petals were sucked from their stems and the twisting funnel turned red. It roared to the palace door before I willed it to dissipate.
The twister did its job. It tore a savage path, scalping grass, dirt, and everything in its way, all the way to Aura’s doorstep. It took away the bone dust from the land it ruined. Now, Aura was free; free to use her powers of water and earth against me. The only reason the dust worked in the first place was because it blocked my sister’s power over the earth wherever it was sprinkled. I gritted my teeth and walked toward my home. In letting Malex in, I’d left the door of her cage wide open.
“Luna,” my sister growled from her balcony. She stared at me as she gripped the railing so tight, I saw her white, strained knuckles even where I stood at the edge of the woods.
Malex stared at the path of destruction that led straight to her, his eyes glittering in the surreal lighting. He gave me a confident nod as if to say, You can do this. And I could. I took a deep breath, leaving him behind and walking determinedly toward my sister.
She called a storm that built in a fraction of a minute, and before I could cross the wall, torrents of icy, fat droplets rained down on me. I called my wind and turned it all to snow, just like in our dream. Flakes fell to the ground, melting as soon as they touched the still-warm earth.
“We need to talk!” she shouted. She sent the storm clouds away, revealing the partially eclipsed sun once more.
I was done talking with her. She only understood one language: violence. Funny enough, it was the only conversation I was interested in having with her today.
She gathered the earth and formed it into a great, protective wall, taller than the palace itself. I punched through it easily with wind, but when I stepped through, the earth beneath my feet turned to mud. Trudging through it slowed me down enough for her to call on her water power again, and I had to fight to keep my head afloat as a flash flood swept over my head. Silt and sand filled my mouth and nose. I coughed and fought to swim, clawing at the surface.
Don’t panic!
I called my wind and parted her water, the muddy walls soaking the palace’s exterior. In a flash, she drained it. Would she try something new, or was she just tired of stalling the inevitable?
The face of the moon was slowly becoming soaked with blood. Inch by inch, a tiny sliver at a time. Running toward her, I caught movement from my periphery to the right, a flash of black and gold. Malex slipped inside the palace’s front doors, quiet as a mouse.
I called the wind to carry me up to my sister. As I landed on the balcony, she looked me over.
“What the hell are you wearing?” she spat. “No wonder you almost drowned. You’re so dramatic, Luna.”
“And the dress you’re wearing isn’t?” I retorted.
She looked like a peacock in teal, complete with feathers from the fowl. “I know how much you love animals,” she teased.
“Nocturnal ones. Is Pieces offended you didn’t have a dress made from her feathers?”
Aura’s smile faded away when I pulled a dagger from its sheath. “We need to talk,” she rushed out.
With my free hand, I took the potion out of my tunic.
She backed into her chamber. “Malex is lying to you!” she whispered urgently.
My hand gripping the glass, I pulled back my hand, ready to throw it to the ground.
“Phillip didn’t turn into a faery after drinking the ‘blood’ Malex gave him,” she said hurriedly. “Actually, nothing happened. It was tinted sorghum. Nothing more.”
I paused with the potion raised above my head. Tinted sorghum? “Why would he lie?” I asked, suspicious.
She rolled her eyes at me and threw up her hands. “Because he wanted Phillip to die.”
I narrowed my eyes. “You’re lying. Malex has only ever helped me, whereas you... You’ve always destroyed everything I held dear, and now you’re terrified I’m going to destroy you.”
“Ask him yourself,” she said, motioning to her wardrobe. The doors parted and Phillip stepped out.
He raised his hands to calm me, but there was no mistaking that he’d been healed. Phillip was well. Tears teased at the corners of my eyes. “You’re okay?” I asked incredulously. He was more than okay. There was color in his cheeks. He looked strong and solid and perfect, and for a shaky minute I thought she’d killed him and was bringing him to me in another of our sleep walks.
“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.”