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Rush might try to join her in the kitchens if she took too long, but she couldn’t wait until tomorrow and have the opportunity be ruined. If he decided to go to the cellar in the morning, he would certainly notice the key gone unless she was able to sneak it back into the book. She had to take her chances now.
Pulse thumping, Aura passed the kitchens and went down the hall leading to the first locked door. She hurried inside, then descended the staircase, the air damp. As she reached the next door, she prayed Astor wouldn’t be in there, but when she opened it, she found the room blissfully empty. Letting out a relieved breath, she locked the bolt behind her.
Mint combined with lemongrass permeated the air of the large room. Besides glass vials cluttering a table and the curtain she’d seen briefly, shelves lined the walls. Jars and metal devices were scattered across them. Opposite a worn, leather chaise, a desk, beautifully handcrafted, rested in one corner, books stacked atop it. She darted to the desk first, setting down the lantern to shuffle through the tomes. All of them were about sorcery. She yanked open a drawer, finding spare quills and ink. In the one below that was another stack of books. She drew them out. More tomes on sorcery, except for one near the bottom—her hand stilled on the leather cover. Ajournal.
Aura opened it and scanned over the first few entries. This certainly belonged to Sorcha as the princess discussed her parents continuing to make her practice the piano even though she wanted to learn more about how to help the court, things that mattered. Then Aura became lost in the pages as the content grew deeper. Sorcha spoke of a boy who was several years older than her and how she yearned for him to notice her. How her heart grew more and more in love with him each time they spoke. And then the day came when he finally noticed her after grieving the deaths of her mother from the sweating sickness and her father from a hunting accident.
Page after page, the man’s name was never explicitly revealed, however, in the last entry, Aura knew precisely who it was and her stomach sank, the room seeming to topple over.
I loved him more than anything, and foolish me, I knew he was betrothed to another. Her name is Aura and he chose her over me. Yet they have never once met! He promised me we could be together, even if his father disowned him for calling off the engagement. Then he betrayed me and crushed my heart by breaking his promise. He claimed he never wanted the marriage, that he loved me, and I believed his venomous lies. I thought he would care for me and our child. I cried tears and tears for him, yet now I only loathe him. I’ll make it so he never sees me or our child ever again.As for Aura, she’ll get the life I had always dreamt of.
Aura’s hands shook as she clenched the journal. Sorcha had known her because she was in love with the Prince of Starnight, and Aura had been betrothed to him. The princess’s beloved was Pax all along. Thebastard. That was why Rush hated him so much, hated Aura since Pax had chosen her over his sister. But had he really? Pax still tumbled women behind Aura’s back. The relationship between Sorcha and Pax must’ve been kept a secret from everyone, including Rush. Yet Rush held his sister’s secrets now—he knew everything.
Aura set down the journal and went toward the red velvet curtain, drawing it to the side. Before her rested an old spinning wheel, its wood split in a few areas. Behind it hung another curtain. “Strange…” she murmured, studying the spindle, its sharp point. A pit formed in her stomach as she thought about all the times her finger had stung before and at the end of her dreams. She reached out to touch the spindle, and it was as though a wall was blocking her from doing so.Magic…
Biting the inside of her cheek, she yanked her hand back, then pushed the next curtain aside. Aura gasped and stumbled back in horror. As she clenched the thick fabric, her hand trembled at what lingered before her. A girl lying on a bed, pink silk blankets beneath her. She wore a pretty blue dress with gold stitching, and her hair was as wild as when she first saw the girl in her dream. The small bump on her stomach unnoticeable beneath her dry garments, but Aura knew it was there.
Sorcha.
She was beautiful and serene. No rot. No sickly scent of decay. Only the princess whole, her eyes shut as if she slept. Perhaps she wasn’t dead at all… She rushed forward to check on her, pressing her fingers to the princess’s neck. No pulse and cold to the touch. She wasn’t alive. Up close she wasn’t as perfect as Aura had thought, her skin too pale and her lips slightly blue. But still, she’d been dead for several years and looked like this?How?
Footsteps echoed behind her and Aura whirled around as the curtain lifted. Her gaze met Astor’s worried stare, then, over his shoulder, Rush’s stony one.
“What isthis?” she hissed, her voice shaky. “Why do you have your sister’s body down here preserved as if she were atrinket?”
Rush’s response was muffled when the sharp prick to her finger came and sleep pulled her away from this nightmare.
Chapter Twenty
Rush
What is this? Aura had asked, horror etched into her heart-shaped face, a look Rush wished he could unsee. But rage boiled within him—she had snuck into his private space, a place she knew was forbidden. Fordaringto touch Sorcha’s journal with all his sister’s secrets that included Aura’s fiancé. And then she’d discovered Sorcha’s body… A twinge of shame washed over him.
How had she found his key? She had just been in his bed, the one he allowed no one in, letting him take her virginity. Had she fucked him to gain access to the library? But that didn’t explain how she knew where the key was…
Aura’s eyes fluttered shut, then she swayed and stumbled forward.
“Fuck.” Rush shoved Astor aside and bolted for her. He swept her into his arms just before she collapsed to the stone floor, asleep. The fucking spell had pulled her into its clutches at the worst possible moment.
“That’s one way to avoid your wrath,” Astor drawled.
Fuck.He tightened his grip around Aura, torn between attempting to shake her awake and tucking her carefully into his bed. Of course the first was pointless and the latter only made him want to shout at her more. This was a betrayal of his trust. Ofhim. But… But he couldn’t blame her for her curiosity either. It wasn’t as if he’d been forthcoming.
“Astor,” he growled. Since the spell wasn’t complete, it could be days before she woke again and he would be damned if he waited that long to confront her. Beneath his anger grew a numbness that would only fester if he didn’t speak to her. He knew it well—thepainhis mind hid from him.No.This conversation needed to happen now, regardless of her slumber. “Do you have any more of the potion to visit Aura’s dreams?”
“Enough for a single use,” Astor replied.
With one apologetic look toward his beloved dead sister, Rush turned on his heel. “Bring it to my room,” he ordered while carrying Aura from the cellar.
He took the most direct passageways to reach his room as quickly as possible. Once there, he kicked the door shut behind him, thebangechoing off the walls. The bed was still rumpled from their rigorous fucking.
After setting Aura carefully on one side of the bed, he tucked the blanket over her. Her soft lips were parted, even breaths escaping, and he brushed a loose lock of golden hair from her forehead. This was his folly. Letting her get to him. Allowing emotions to overcome sense. He was supposed to hate her, just as he had for the past couple of years, when he’d read her name in Sorcha’s journal. After he found his sister dead, he went to her room, searching for a letter as to why she’d drowned herself. And instead, he’d found the journal that not only answered his question but so much more. The reason his sister was dead had been because fucking Prince Pax had chosen Aura over his sister. If the damn spell had worked the day she arrived, then—
Someone rapped on the door, pulling him from his thoughts. “Astor?”
“Yes,” he called through the walls.
Rush hurried to crack it open just enough to snatch the potion from him. “Remain there. Be sure that no one comes in until I’m awake again.”
