“Whether you or I die, I’ll finally be rid of you,” Luna said coldly. Aura disappeared and with it, the scene of horror.
I swallowed, watching as Luna turned toward me. Her voice was empty when she told me, “Wake up, Phillip.”
When she woke at twilight, her first thought was of William. “Before I went to sleep you said you weren’t sure William deserved my revenge. Why did you say that about him?” she rasped. What she really wanted to know was if what Aura showed her was really William. If he’d lied and deceived her. I was positive he had.
“Because I knew him better than anyone. You were sixteen when he arrived at the palace, right?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Luna,” I took a breath, “what Aura showed you was the truth.”
“How can you know that?”
“Because I saw William with girls. In Grithim, if he wanted to bed a girl, he would act the same way. Get close to her. Pretend to be caring and devoted. He would even tell her that he loved her and that he would make her the Princess of our Kingdom. And when he got what he wanted from her, he left her behind to face the consequences of a ruined reputation.”
A tear slipped from her eye.
“I know you loved him, but William,” he paused, “was very good at playing the part in order to get what he wanted. He was a good liar, an even better manipulator of persons, but I never even heard him tell our mother—not even once—that he loved her. Those words meant nothing to him. He only used them if they could get him the thing he wanted most.”
“I was stupid.”
“You were young.”
“My sister was right. I was pathetic, falling in love with the first boy who spouted what I wanted to hear.”
I shook my head. “It was what you needed to hear, and he preyed on that because he thought he could somehow kill you and Aura and take Virosa for Grithim. If he had come home and told our father that he’d slain two fae Princesses and taken a Kingdom, he would have been heralded as a savior and made into a legend, which is what my brother always wanted.”
“And you? What do you want?”
“I just want you to be safe.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re my friend.”
“Friends don’t kiss each other the way we do,” she laughed, her eyelids drooping heavily.
I kissed her temple. “I know.”
This was too fast. Our emotions were heightened by the direness of the situation, of the web of truths and lies that we were trying to untangle. She was still only seventeen, and I was only twenty. She needed to find herself before she decided how she felt about me. She needed to untether herself to have the freedom to learn who she truly was.
Maybe that would be enough. If she were free, and if now she knew what William had done and who he really was, maybe she could forget about seeking revenge on her sister and just live her own life. Her way.
Maybe I could be a part of it.
The sleep walking and sheer emotion of learning the truth, that someone she cared for wasn’t perfect after all, had worn her out. Luna and I stayed in that night. She argued that time was running out and it was, but she needed to rest. The fact that she didn’t put up much of a fight meant she knew it, too. She couldn’t garner the magic she needed, couldn’t fight Aura unless she got her energy back.
So I cooked and we ate dinner. We talked into the early morning hours until I could barely hold my eyes open and the sun began to lighten the sky. Our night together came to an end, but it had been worth it. She knew that she had to do this for herself. Not for William. And Aura could no longer use him against her. She’d lost an edge over Luna, and I couldn’t have been happier.
chapter thirteen
PHILLIP
The following evening, I woke with claws around my throat. I opened my eyes, expecting to see Luna, but instead found a very angry male staring into my eyes. His golden cheeks puffed from exertion.
“What,” I tried to croak.
“Not a word, human. Or I’ll spill your guts on the floor.”
Luna’s bedroom door creaked as she opened it and took in the scene. “Malex?”
This was Malex?
“Let the Prince go,” she ordered.
“Prince?” he questioned. Malex squeezed my throat tighter, cutting off the air to my lungs. The only sound I could make was a high-pitched wheeze. I clawed at his hand.
Luna rolled her eyes. “Malex. I said stop. This is my cottage, not your palace. Here, I’m the queen.”
He turned his head toward her, gave a dashing smile, and let go of my neck. My knees barely kept me upright as I gasped for air.
“He’s weak, and I have other news about your little prince,” he said with a snarl in my direction.
Luna smirked. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were looking out for me.”
“I am.”
“Why would you?”
He scoffed, straightening his pale suit. “Because we’re friends.” His dark hair and golden skin somehow glittered. He wasn’t overly large, but there was no doubting his strength. Power radiated from him.
I immediately decided I hated the fae male.
He was as powerful as Luna, which meant he was whom she should want, even though I couldn’t stop my heart from wanting her, too. With him, Luna could be happy. She could be herself. And he could protect her. He could give her everything I couldn’t.
She had no life with me in Grithim. The prejudices the people held against the fae were too deep-seated to overcome. Even if they could see how amazing she was, they would still fear her.
She wouldn’t be welcomed by my family or fit into my life as Prince and one day King.
“Remember the other day, when I couldn’t quite place the other taste, the other flavor on your lips?”
I jumped to my feet, fists clenched. He wasn’t kissing her again.
“Do you have a point?” Luna snapped at him, warning me to stay out of this with a flick of her eyes. She nudged Malex. “Let’s go outside. We need privacy.”
She obviously didn’t trust me. In the dream, Aura told Luna she sent me to her as a gift, but she was a lying witch. I’d never been to Virosa, and had never seen Aura before in my life.
The two of them went outside, Ember scurrying out the door before they shut it behind them. I walked across the room, twisted the knob, and tugged on the door. She’d locked it. Hitting the wood with the heel of my palm, I cursed.
I had to show her I hadn’t been lying to her. She knew what her sister was capable of, and she had to know I had nothing but good intentions. I didn’t pretend to have feelings for her just to get close, like William did. I had no doubt that what Aura showed her was true. I knew my brother, the manipulative bastard. What she saw was what he wanted her to see. But Aura saw through his lies, probably because she was an expert liar herself.
And now she was going to tear me and Luna apart by lying about my involvement with a plot against her sister.
LUNA I explained to Malex who Phillip was.
“He smells like roses—the kind of blooms only found in Virosa, and so did you from being around him,” Malex blurted when we were far enough away from the cottage that Phillip couldn’t hear.