Savage Beauty

by Casey L. Bond

  “Only what I’ve seen of him with your help,” she gloated.

  “Why would a dark fae prince want your life unbound from Luna’s?”

  She stiffened and smelled the vial again. “What did he tell you this was?”

  “His blood. He said if I drank it, I would turn into a fae and it would save me from dying.”

  She commanded the roots to release my legs and I slumped to the floor of the balcony. Blood pooled in every hole made by her thorns. She crouched down beside me. “Well, Prince, it appears that he lied to you. And if you want to live, I’m the only one who can help you now. Tell me what you know, and I’ll consider it.”

  It felt like a betrayal, that I was going behind Luna’s back, but Malex was up to something and I needed to protect her. This might be my only shot. Whatever it was, she and Aura needed to stay bound to one another until we figured it out.

  “Don’t you already know everything? You’ve seen it through me, haven’t you?”

  “I don’t know everything. I sleep at night and can only see through you, and through Pieces, during the day, unless I can hook onto your mind right before I fall asleep. If I do that, I can see things for a while. I can even influence your feelings and manipulate your actions a little. That’s a new trick,” she said with a wink. “It’s how I almost made you throttle Luna that night when you didn’t know why you were so angry or why you wanted to hurt her.”

  I growled, remembering the strange feelings coursing through my veins and mind.

  “Now,” she continued, “even though I’m terribly smart and can piece things together, I need to know the details about what happened while I was asleep.”

  I told her everything. How he promised to help Luna when she woke this autumn, how he marked her, about the stupid favor she promised, the strange list of ingredients…everything.

  “Thank you for not making me forcefully loosen your tongue,” she said with a glint in her eye that said that what Luna had done to Terigon would have been child’s play.

  “I told you all I know. Will you save me?”

  She smiled. “Not yet.”

  I should’ve known not to trust her! I closed my eyes and breathed deeply, which sent me into a coughing fit. She sighed, crossing her arms. “But I will slow it down,” she offered.

  She waved her hand over me and the pain in my chest lessened. My heart felt strong, steady, and normal.

  “Thank you,” I said gratefully.

  “Don’t thank me yet. I still haven’t taken the toxin out of you.” She stood and straightened her gown, all business. “Come with me.”

  “I need to tell Luna about Malex,” I argued.

  “We’ll tell her together.”

  “She’s sleeping.”

  “Then we’ll go to her in a dream.”

  I felt a heavy blow to the back of my head, the sensation of being dragged by my arm, and then darkness took hold of my vision.

  chapter twenty

  AURA

  I tried to connect with Luna. I pushed myself into her consciousness, but was met with a dark, stone wall. Running my hands over its surface, it was slick and wet in the moonlight. I brought my fingers away and rubbed them together. Sticky and wet. Bloody. The coppery scent was overwhelming.

  This was what she wanted me to see; what she erected for me to find when I came to her.

  A defense mechanism.

  Stronger than I could bring down.

  Too slippery to climb.

  Too strong for my water to break through. I tried to upset the earth around the wall, but the stones were buried too deep. She’d effectively locked me out of her head.

  The blood was a metaphysical promise of things to come.

  I looked at the Prince laying on my bearskin rug, sleeping peacefully. His chest rose and fell softly.

  If I spared him, would it calm Luna’s hatred? Could he be the olive branch extended and accepted between the two of us, the one to finally end the war?

  Or was he just in the way, like his brother had been?

  MALEX

  By now, Prince Phillip knew that I lied about my blood. He was probably wondering if it would have worked in the first place. It would have, not that I’d ever give him a drop of what belonged to me. Including Luna.

  Phillip never said he would drink it, only promising to consider doing so, but I saw the hunger and desperation in his eyes. He wanted that vial when I held it between my thumb and first finger.

  The toxin would render him weak, if Aura didn’t find and tear him apart first. He didn’t know that she’d made the vines protectors of their blooms. The briars would grab and tear at him while the other flowers would retaliate against the one who plucked from their vines, releasing more of the deadly vapor that was already turning his organs to mush.

  He would die quickly, and when he did, he’d take my betrayal to the grave with him.

  In case Aura caught him and questioned him and he told her about me, I’d sewn other seeds, telling Luna how she could block her sister from her dreams and send her a warning at the same time. She had the power to keep her consciousness clear, to block her sister from invading her sleep.

  I was just being a good friend by telling her how to wield her power.

  Being alive for centuries taught me to always have a failsafe; layers of plans and deceit in place to account for inevitable changes and turns of events.

  I smiled and waited for Luna in the cave. Ready to be her friend, to hold her and tell her all would be well. I would lie and guide her through the spell she would cast with her power, because I had none of my own. She hadn’t realized that little fact yet.

  The day faded and twilight descended. By tuning into my mark, I knew she was awake and very upset. The pathetic amount of power I had was attached to her as well, just behind her ear. I would take it back. Soon, I would take everything from her.

  She’d awakened and found Phillip was missing from the cottage.

  She would be here soon.

  chapter twenty-one

  LUNA

  I woke with a start. Ember meowed loudly, nudging my legs toward the door as I stood and pushing me toward the kitchen. Phillip wasn’t in there. He wasn’t in his chair, either. The fool! Did he go outside?

  Ember meowed and jumped up onto the couch, grabbing the long stem of a blood red rose in her mouth and bringing it to me. I fell to my knees. “Did you get this? Where is Phillip?”

  Suddenly, I knew exactly where he was. “He retrieved the rose for me.”

  She dropped the rose into my hand and I closed my palm around it. He’d even removed the thorns.

  “Is he dead?”

  I felt through Ember that he wasn’t.

  “My sister has him?”

  She meowed loudly.

  Damn her.

  I felt her at my mental wall today. At the time, I laughed when she couldn’t get past the barrier, but now that I knew she had Phillip, the thought made me sick. I knew what she was up to. She would keep him alive and use him as a pawn until I came for her. I knew in my heart that if she made him whole, I wouldn’t use the potion. I would agree to remain tethered. I would give up anything if she spared his life. But if she refused to heal him, I had no other option but to make the potion. I would separate us and kill her to try to release him from her poison.

  I laced my boots, grabbed a large sack, and ran to the spell room to gather the ingredients. Then I flew as fast as I could to Malex’s cave, where he was waiting for me. He sensed my distress.

  “What’s wrong?” Looking past me, his brows furrowed. “Where is Phillip? Where is Ember?”

  “Ember is at my cottage, and Aura has Phillip.”

  “How did she capture him?” he asked, eyes wide.

  How did I tell him that Phillip had sacrificed everything to get the rose for me? “He retrieved the rose.”

  “Ahhh,” he said, nodding his head. “Because he was already dying. It was a very noble thing for him to do,” he said quietly. “P
oetic.” He licked his bottom lip and nodded to the bag. “You have everything?”

  “I do.”

  Malex waved me further into his cave, to a room that looked much like my spell room. On shelves along the cave wall were containers full of various ingredients. In a tall glass jar, a toad tried to climb the glass, sliding back down the sides. A cage of bats hung from the ceiling. No doubt he had plenty of supply in this place. There was a mortar and pestle, larger than any I’d seen. Herbs and liquids. I knew the names of many, but some I couldn’t place.

  In the center of the room, on the cave floor, was a stone circle with fresh firewood laid in it. A cauldron sat on stones atop the wood. “You have to light it,” he said. “All the magic we do has to come from you. I can guide you, but I can’t do it for you.”

  I nodded. I knew that. He’d said the same thing in the spring. I had to get the ingredients and work the spell, though he could help with the wording if I needed it. “We’re making a potion?”

  “A difficult one, but not one you can’t handle. Most potions are meant to be ingested, but something tells me our little Aura would spit it back out. We’ll have to make one that, much like her toxin, can be inhaled. She doesn’t have to drink, but she does have to breathe,” he added with a devilish wink.

  “I wish I could break the curse of slumber. I have a feeling this fight will last more than the hour we share just before dawn and at dusk.”

  “I haven’t found a spell to break that curse, but I do have one that might be helpful for a few hours. It’s an ancient spell, as old as the original fae Kings.” His tone set me on edge. “It calls for the moon to appear during the day and eclipse the sun. It will cause complete darkness for only a few moments, but you’ll be free from slumber during the whole celestial event, and so will Aura.”

  “I want to do it. Do you think she’ll keep Phillip alive that long?”

  He nodded. “I do. I think she’ll use him as a shield against you, and she’ll probably slow the effects of the toxin so she can. He’s her biggest weapon in this fight.”

  Malex was right. “I want to call the moon,” I decided.

  He inclined his head. “After we make the potion,” he promised.

  I stared at the firewood and it ignited, flames licking up the cauldron’s sides. The water inside looked dark and oily. Malex grinned, standing across from me. “Let’s begin,” he said ominously.

  I untied the twine around the bag, memories fluttering through my mind.

  After Aura killed William, I left Virosa, flying into the forest. The only things I saw other than a palace larger than ours was woodland, until I saw the clearing and dipped low enough to see a crumbling, abandoned cottage.

  I made it my home. I readied it for summer when I would be sleeping, and for a year lived as peacefully as I could, physically away from Aura’s presence. Last spring, one year to the day that William was killed, Malex showed up at my doorstep and introduced himself as the fae Prince who ruled over this forest and owned every structure in it—including my cottage.

  Ember didn’t care who he was. She tried to claw him apart. Her reaction was so violent, I had to lock her in the bedroom. In awkward silence, Malex and I listened as she slowly but determinedly shredded the door.

  Malex was definitely fae, but I still didn’t know if I could trust him.

  He said that I was welcome to stay as long as I told him why I was there. I told him I’d tell him if he proved he really was the fae who ruled the forest. The fae were tricky and liked to play games. And even though he claimed to be a prince, to me he was a stranger.

  Malex invited me to his palace, so I flew us there. It was clear he hadn’t lied about his identity. His servants bowed to him graciously, offering kind smiles. He proved he was exactly what he said: a fae prince. That night, he sat on a throne in a glistening great hall as faeries of every kind came to him for help. Forest fae, fae of the water, fae of the air, and of the seasons. Seelie and Unseelie. He helped them all in exchange for favors and for their pledged fealty.

  They all respected him. They trusted Malex.

  It was also clear, as he dealt with his people, that he had an uncanny ability to discern truth from lie. So I decided to be honest when I told him about myself and my sister, of our powers and the curse of slumber that we suffered from.

  He was royalty and his subjects seemed very loyal; reverent, if not afraid. But he wasn’t cruel. His decisions were fair and he didn’t turn any of his subjects away, even when the night grew long and he must have grown tired. When the palace was finally quiet and the great hall sat empty, Malex gave me a tour of his home, asking if I was now confident about his identity.

  I was sure he hadn’t lied and glad I had someone to confide in who understood some of my powers and the situation I found myself in with Aura.

  On the way home, just before the sky began to lighten, he showed me the place most important to him: his cave. It was where he went to escape the expectations of being a fae prince for a little while. He and I seemed more alike than we were different, and it was Malex who gave me hope in breaking the tie and curse.

  “Where is your father?” I asked curiously. “Why are you holding court instead of him?”

  “The fae courts do not work the same way as the human courts do, Princess. I rule the land surrounding my palace. My father rules over many lands, including mine; however, he’s far too busy to deal with mundane tasks such as listening to his subjects.” He winked. “He leaves that to me.”

  Another similarity. We had both raised ourselves, it seemed.

  “There is a way to sever the tie between your lives,” he offered as I was preparing to leave his cave. “I can help you, but not until you awaken in the autumn. You will have to gather what I need and your magic must be used to end it, not mine. I can guide you, though.”

  “How will I find you?” The following night was the last night of spring.

  “At my palace or here. Sometimes I travel to nearby villages, but only on occasion. If you want to find me, I have complete faith that you will, sweet Luna.”

  “What will it cost me?” I asked, fully aware of his proclivity to amass favors.

  “I have an entire summer to think about that.” The possibilities running through my mind made my palms sweat. “The sun is about to rise. I will come to your cottage tomorrow night and give you bone dust and a sealing spell. With it, you can make sure Aura can’t leave the palace grounds if you seal her inside them. It might spare some human lives.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Thank you for trusting me with your secrets,” he said as I sat on my broomstick.

  I flew away from his cave as fast as I could, but I had lingered too long. When the sun came up, I was still a league from home, but that didn’t matter. I crashed to the earth and fell into a deep sleep in the middle of the dark forest. Rumors swirled about me from that day on.

  Fae and human alike were terrified of the powerful witch of the dark forest, who hovered above the ground in a deep, enchanted sleep.

  When Malex asked for the dragon’s egg, I shook off the memories and tried to focus. I removed it from the bag and walked to the cauldron.

  “Crack it and let the slippery yolk slide into the water,” he instructed.

  It took a couple of tries, but the membranous shell gave way and the yolk slid out of its shell and into the water. The surface bubbled and hissed, steam rising and dampening the air around us.

  “Dragons are the fiercest of creatures. May your heart be as strong and sure, and fearsome as a dragon, Luna of Virosa,” he said.

  “What’s next?”

  “Add the eye of the wolf.”

  I hated the feel of eyeballs. Grimacing, I pulled the gelatinous orb from the bag and chucked it into the cauldron, watching as it sank to the bottom.

  “May you have the sight and wisdom of the wolf as it hunts,” said Malex. “Add the blind man’s eye next.”

  I threw it in as well, wiping my hand on my
skirts.

  “May Aura be blind to your intentions,” he said reverently.

  “She already knows I’m coming.”

  “Ah, but she doesn’t know when, or that you can summon the moon to help you in your quest. The spirit is next.”

  Grabbing the corked bottle, I submerged it in the water before pulling the cork out. The spirit swam, trapped by the water’s surface.

  “May the spirits guide you, Luna, and may you send your sister to the Underworld.”

  I took a deep breath as I thought about Aura. Then about Phillip, hoping he was still okay.

  “Next, add the siren’s voice.”

  When I added it to the brew, the smell of wet wood filled the air.

  “May you control Aura with your voice and lure her to do your bidding.”

  He watched the brew with a smile and called out the next ingredient. “Tongue of Prince,” he added with a slippery smile.

  I removed Terigon’s tongue from my bag and threw it into the mixture.

  “May you be as silent as our mutual friend is now,” he said cheekily. “And may Aura speak no spell against you.”

  There were only two ingredients left. I held the piece of umbilis in my right hand and Aura’s rose in the left.

  “Throw in the rose,” he ordered.

  The watery scent of the siren’s decay was erased as the pungent scent of rose filled the room.

  “Now Aura cannot use her roses against you after you’re severed.”

  “Will it take the toxin away from Phillip?”

  He shook his head. “I’m sorry, no.” Pity shone in his eyes.

  I threw in the umbilis.

  “May your tie be severed for all eternity,” he said, his eyes turning darker. “I’ve guided you through the basics of the spell, but you must speak from your heart, now. The words must come from you.”

  I closed my eyes. Darkness was all that I could see. Comforting darkness. The sound of boiling water, the hiss of steam when a droplet struck the fire, Malex’s steady breathing.

  I concentrated on the ingredients and asked for their help, as Malex had guided me.