Kissing Phillip was a colossal mistake. Even if it was perfect, and even if I loved it. Even though it had been explosive in a way I didn’t expect, sending sparks from my scalp to my feet. The memory of Phillip erasing Malex’s mark from my skin was enough to send goosebumps over my body. However, the mere mention of Malex made Phillip cold.
The flight back to the cottage was silent. There were no warm whispers at my ear. His grip on my waist was tense and as harsh as the words he’d spewed when he found out that Malex had to help me.
If there were any other way, any other option, I would take it, but this was the only way I knew to take.
When we landed, Phillip wouldn’t look at me. He waited as I climbed off the broom and together, we walked to the cottage as the coming dawn began to paint a watercolor sky. “You said you’d tell me,” he said sternly.
A weight fell on my chest. I had promised, and I would tell him, but it would hurt. It would hurt me to relive it, but worse than that, it would hurt for him to imagine it. In the end, the truth might be the wedge that separated us.
Ember was waiting at the door. I sank onto the porch steps and waited until Ember came to me. I stroked her fur to thank her for keeping watch over the place, and to calm my nerves. Phillip settled beside me, arms braced on his knees.
“I want you to know this will be the most difficult thing you’ll ever hear, and I’m sorry.” I took a deep breath before continuing. “I’m sorry it happened, and equally as sorry that you have to hear it from me. But I’d rather it be me who tells you, than someone who will lie to you about the details. If you want this truth, I’ll give it to you, but I won’t be able to spin it into something lovely. There’s no other way to describe William’s death but tragic and brutal.”
“Very well,” he rasped, staring at the sky.
I cleared my throat. “As I started to tell you before, William and two of his men came to Virosa the spring before last. Eighteen months ago. He said he’d accidentally strayed onto our land and hunted from our forests. He said he came to apologize and ask if he could repay the debt. It was only a bear and a few stags, but William was upset that he’d taken them from us.”
Phillip turned to me, his brow furrowed.
“My sister and I forgave him. We thanked him for being forthcoming, and told him he was welcome to stay for as long as he liked. He was troubled. He wanted to make his father and Kingdom proud, but wasn’t ready to be King.
“He sent his men back home with their kills, but asked to stay with us for a few weeks to clear his head. During his stay, the three of us became close. William liked Virosa, and he liked my sister and me. During his stay, he learned of our strange... habits. And while he spent time with Aura during the day, he would often stay up late to speak with me at night.
“William and I had a special bond. While he said he only considered Aura to be a friend, he felt somewhat differently about me.”
Phillip stiffened beside me. “He fell in love with you.”
“Yes.”
“And you with him?”
“Yes,” I said softly.
“Aura discovered us. She told me she felt nothing for him at all, but she lied about her feelings for him. It turned out that when she uttered those words, she was testing me. She knew we were spending time together. She could smell our scents mingle. It was just before dawn when Aura woke and flew into a rage when she caught William kissing me goodnight.”
“How did she kill him?”
“I was weakening by the second.” I swallowed the tears clogging my throat, but couldn’t stop the ones that escaped my eyes. “Aura smiled this insanely bright smile, her lips red and teeth sparkling, but it wasn’t pretty. It was sinister. She suggested that we share him. I thought she meant that we could both spend time with him, but Aura was being literal. She backed us onto a balcony where her roses grew high up a trellis, and then she used the thorns to latch onto his arms and legs. The vines literally tore him in two, splitting him up the middle, and when he was halved...” I choked up, pausing a moment to regain my composure. “She told me to choose which half I wanted, and left me there with him as the sun rose. I tried to heal him, but couldn’t. That’s one power I don’t have. I was cut when I unraveled the thorns from his wrists and feet. The sun sealed the scars,” I said, motioning to my face.
Phillip was quiet. I sat with him until the sun began to rise and I began to slump over beneath its warmth. He carried me inside.
I reached out for him, grabbing his hand. “I’m sorry.”
“For loving him? Don’t be.”
“For not being able to save him. But I will get revenge for him. I promise.”
“I’m not sure I want you to take that risk, Luna. I’m not sure William was worth it.”
PHILLIP
The sun rose and Luna released a pent-up breath, slumping into my shoulder. I lifted her and took her inside to her bedroom, placing her on the mattress. Slowly, she rose and levitated above her bed as I eased the door mostly closed behind me. I needed to fix the hinge for her before I left.
Scrubbing my hands over my face, I leaned against the wall, a bundle of rosemary tickling my ear.
My brother never could have loved Luna. He was cold and calculating. The only person William cared about was William, but he could be charming when he wanted to be. It was an act, of course, but he was a very skilled actor. Or maybe not as good of one as he thought.
The spell room was open. I took her diary and settled by the fire, flipping through until I found the section about William’s arrival at the palace of Virosa...
We entertained an unexpected guest today. Prince William of Grithim. He is the first born son of King Edmund and Queen Catherine...
It was exactly as she’d told me. He showed up to apologize, acted like he was overwhelmed, so they offered him a room and to let him stay for a time, which he accepted. My stomach turned, wondering what my brother had done to them.
I flipped ahead.
William is nothing like I expected. He projects a proud and strong manner, but when we talk at night, he’s tender and understanding. He listens. He never interrupts and seems to want to know everything about me. Not that there’s much to tell. And he knows about the curse of sleep and about our parentage. Better yet, he doesn’t judge or hate us because of those things.
He doesn’t want to be King yet. He feels uneasy about being responsible for a kingdom and its people.
LIE. My brother loved the thought of being in control.
He told me I was beautiful. I told him that meant he thought Aura was, too, and while he didn’t deny it, William said that I had something my sister didn’t. When I asked what that was, he put his hand over my heart. I thought it would flutter away. No one’s ever looked at me the way he does. No one’s ever seen me before.
I’ve always been the afterthought. Aura is to be Queen. I am just here because I’m tethered to her. But that doesn’t mean I couldn’t live somewhere else, or be someone else. It’s silly, but I wonder if he could love me. If he might ask me to be his queen one day.