Chapter 119

AURORA

“Luna-heir, come quickly!” Trajan boomed from the door of my suite. “They’ve found Evander!”

I gasped and jumped to my feet. I’d barely seen Dane for days. I wasn’t sure why he’d started to ignore me, but I had to pretend to be grateful. It meant I couldn’t spy on him for Holden.

Instead, I’d kept to my own rooms, trying to force myself to understand more of the journal while Trajan kept me updated on the search. It was so hard to concentrate; I’d barely learned anything new.

I ran from my room and met Trajan in the hall. “Is he safe? Are the children with him?”

Trajan’s face was grave. “He’s in the infirmary. He’s… alive. But no, the twins weren’t with him.”

I gripped the pearl pendant, my grief and disappointment warring with relief for Evander. I’d found the necklace on my desk and put it back on after the ceremony. I suppose it always had been meant for me, just like I thought. Now, there wasn’t as much comfort in that as I had thought there would be.

I ran past Trajan, and he followed me to the infirmary. There were a few wolves there—I assumed the ones who had found him—Celia, the healer, was also there. As was Piper, still unconscious in her own bed.

I licked my lips, remembering what had happened the last time I was in this place. I wouldn’t go near Piper, but I had to see Evander. I ran over to his bed, and the wolves there stepped aside.

“Luna-heir, it’s…” Celia started.

I gasped when I saw Evander. Once, I had been poisoned with silver and beaten to within an inch of my life. They did it to trick Dane into thinking I was a victim, so he would be distracted by taking care of me, and they could sneak past him onto Montague land. The beating the Reeds had given me was nothing compared to what they’d done to Evander.

It looked like they’d shredded every inch of his skin. Blood was everywhere. The only reason I believed it was him at all was because he moaned and blinked open lilac eyes just like mine.

I grasped his hand. “Evander, what have they done?”

“Aurora.” He gripped my hand. Tears gathered at the corners of his eyes. “I was so close. I’m sorry. I failed…”

“No!” I said fiercely. “You’ve done nothing wrong.”

“The twins,” he whispered. Blood gathered on the corners of his lips. Something in me shifted and shimmered—a sense I’d never had before. But now it was like I could feel the life in his body, feel his injuries, and feel him slipping away. He was dying. That was the gift the moon goddess had given me. I could sense him fading.

“Evander, you have to hold on.” I placed my other hand on top of his, so I was gripping it in both of mine. Tears burned behind my eyes. “Please, you can’t leave me. I need you. The twins need you.”

“The twins,” he said again. “They’re…” He coughed, and droplets of blood flecked his lips. “The Reeds have them. They lied. They want…”

He coughed again. The new power I sensed in my body told me he was almost gone.

“Don’t talk. Please.” I glanced at Celia, but she shook her head. “He’s lost too much blood. His wounds are too deep.”

“No!” I closed my eyes. This gift from the goddess had to do more than tell me if someone was dying. I’d tried to make light of it, like Evelyn, and failed. I had tried to shift, but still had no wolf. I’d wondered if the goddess had tricked me and given me nothing at all. But now, here, by my grievously injured cousin, it was like my eyes opened. Camila told me I was a queen, but she had also used the word healer.

“Aurora, what the hell are you doing in here?” a deep voice snapped.

Dane! He’d be angry I was close to Piper after what happened with his grandfather. But I wasn’t going to leave my cousin.

I exhaled, feeling the cool sensation of my gift moving through me. Maybe, if I pushed it into Evander…

“Get her out of here,” I heard Dane say.

Hands closed over my arms.

“No! Evander!” I pushed harder, imagined the cooling water flowing from me into him, taking his pain, closing his wounds, becoming new blood to heal his injuries.

Celia gasped. So did Evander. I opened my eyes. Evander was glowing as if he were lit by swirling moonlight. He gasped, and this time he didn’t cough. Was it working? Was I actually healing him?

Dane stood nearby; his eyes wide. At the sight of him, something painful surged through me. My power leaped and skittered out of my control. The light around Evander grew and flashed bright. He cried out.

And then my power… jumped. It flew from Evander in a line like lightning… and sizzled to the other side of the room and hit Dane’s unconscious sister, Piper.