Aura glanced furtively at Luna, but Luna’s eyes were fixed on my dagger.
I threw the attention back toward Aura. “You’ve done well. I love the rose garden. Excellent fertilizer, daughter.”
And then I threw Phillip over the balcony’s rail.
“No!” Luna screamed, instantly calling her wind power. She rushed to the rail, and while she was busy calling the wind to catch her lover, I grabbed her neck.
A thump and an Oof! came from the ground. Phillip groaned, but unfortunately, that meant he was still alive.
“Phillip!” Luna yelled, clawing to get to him even as I held the dagger to her neck. With my free hand, I reached into her doublet, scrambling toward the inner pocket to retrieve the potion. She stilled when my blade sliced into her flesh.
I yanked her hair back and she sat up on her knees. “Throw it at Aura,” I demanded.
“No,” she gritted.
I pushed the vial in her hand and twisted her hair. “Throw it!”
“I won’t,” she seethed.
“I’ll torture you both until one of you does,” I promised, whispering into her ear. In response, she tried to burn me with her palms. Little bitch. I had to weaken her.
I cut her throat deep enough so that her blood poured onto the balcony and dripped off to the ground below. She choked, blood gurgling in her throat.
Aura bellowed and ran toward her sister, hands poised and ready to blast me with water or call for the earth to help her. She had been blessed with the two weakest of the four elements. I used my fingers to swipe clean my blade, grabbed the tip, and threw it. The dagger found its mark, embedding into her sternum.
Both of the girls lay in a heap at my feet. Luna clutched the small bottle protectively. They would heal soon enough, but they would die a hundred deaths tonight if they kept testing me, each more painful than the last. I crouched between them.
“You’re both as stubborn as your mother was. She didn’t want me, you know. But she made a promise to me, and my magic sealed the vow. Just as yours has sealed your promises, Luna.”
Aura groaned and tried to push herself up, but fell down again. Her weight drove the blade further into her bone.
I waited until Luna pushed her upper body off the ground, her arms quivering with exhaustion. “You promised me a favor,” I reminded her. “I want you to throw the potion and break the glass in front of your sister’s face.”
She panted against the magic that pulled at her to honor our agreement. The stubborn witch wouldn’t yield, not even to her magic. It had to be painful, but maybe that was what she needed, to be broken. “I think you need more encouragement,” I added venomously.
Pulling her head back by her hair, the wound at her throat reopened. “Have you ever had your spine severed?” I asked conversationally. “It’s an interesting feeling. Excruciating. So many nerves in that area.”
I shoved my dagger into her spine at the top of her back. It got lodged between her vertebrae, and the sound it made when I wrenched it free even turned my stomach for a moment. Luna’s mouth was open in a soundless scream, but when she finally found her voice, it was music to my ears. She bellowed in agony, her legs going slack. I dropped her at my feet.
Aura rolled to her back and began to ease my blade out of her chest, her face wrinkled in pain. “It’s better to pull it out quickly,” I offered. “It’ll hurt, but not as long,” I said, smiling. Her fingers shook violently as she tried to hold the handle.
“Luna,” she said, her voice trembling.
Luna still couldn’t move.
“Luna?” Aura said louder.
Luna groaned in response. Bloody saliva trickled from her mouth onto the stones beneath her face, the ones already slick with her blood.
“You have to get up!” Aura cried, finally yanking the dagger out with a hollow sound. She breathed deeply as her magic began to heal her body. “Luna,” she croaked, crawling toward her sister, checking to see that the potion was still clutched in her hand.
Aura looked up at me. “Can I throw it?”
“She agreed to the blind favor. I’m calling it in. She sealed the deal we made with her magic. It will force her to uphold her end of our bargain.”
“She couldn’t have known you’d ask for this.”
“It doesn’t matter what I would have asked for: her first-born child, her soul, one of her extremities. Any of these, she would have to give to me – willingly – or she won’t be able to use her magic until she does.”
I saw the realization sweep over Aura. She and Luna couldn’t fight Malex unless and until Luna separated them.
“I’ll give you a moment to speak with your sister.”
But I would stay close. I’d need to kill them quickly once they were separated. The only way to get my power back was to end them during the eclipse.
AURA
Malex hovered nearby. A moment, my ass.
“Luna, get up.” I tried to help her sit up, but she crumpled. My wound sent lightning bolts of pain through my chest and arms. “You have to throw the potion.”
“No,” she muttered.
“Why not?”
“Can’t let…him win,” she panted.
I pulled her head up and put it on my chest, holding her like I used to when we were children and fire accidentally sprang out of her fingers and ignited the hanging laundry. She was afraid of herself, and afraid that people would call for her head. I would shush her and tell her that they’d have to come through me to get to her. It wasn’t much, but we always had each other.
Whispering in her ear, I told her, “We will be separated, but we’ll heal. You’ll heal and we can both still fight. Together.”
“Why?” she cried, her tears soaking my gown.
“Because we’re sisters.”
I sniffled, my eyes welling up just thinking about the pain she was in. “It’s his fault. He sent William, and then Phillip, to come between us and tear us apart. I mean, I admit I orchestrated a few things – dense fog and a beautiful stag near a cliff – and sent Phillip to you because I thought you were messing with me, but it worked out well,” I whispered. “You seem to like him, right?”
Luna nodded against me.
“Then let’s kick his ass.” I watched as Luna’s lips curled up at the ends.
“Well, isn’t this endearing?” Malex smarted.
“We have to be fast.” I warned.
I tilted her head until her eyes met mine. We could do this. “Get ready,” I whispered. “As soon as you do it, he’s going to attack immediately.”
With great effort, Luna uncorked the small bottle, held it to my nose, and I breathed it in. I felt the line between us break, like a rope holding on by frayed fibers that couldn’t stand the tension any longer. One moment we were attached, and the next, we were separate. Alone.
Luna sat up, her magic making her whole, but she needed more time to heal completely. He knew what kind of wound to inflict, the one that would take the longest time to heal.