Page 22 of Unraveled (A Kingdom of Beasts and Ruins #1)

There’s magic I’m supposed to sense, and there is no way I’ll be able to do it if I let myself spiral into a panic attack. I take a deep breath and focus on finding a familiar gentle buzz of power. It should feel similar to when I’m near my mother’s necklace.

The subtle scent of pine needles and leather come with the shift of air right before his words break the silence. “If you don’t breathe, you’re going to pass out.” His breath washes over my neck, warm, sending a shiver down my spine. I spin, swinging my arms around, trying to smack him.

A chuckle pierces the space, but I find nothing but stale air around me. I whirl again and meet Ash’s gaze on the other side of the room. His smile is a sliver of white teeth that catch what little illumination is around us.

How could he be behind me one second and all the way over there the next?

“Don’t rely on your human senses. Feel the trace of magic I leave behind, nothing else,” he says, then whooshes back into the shadows.

The question must’ve been written all over my face, even from where he stood a moment ago. How did he know I would follow his scent? It doesn’t matter.

I told Skylar the night Ash took me, I’m not powerless. It’s about time I believe it too. Inside my mind, hiding in my memories, are all the strange spells I paged through once upon a time.

I could never really understand what the texts said as they were written in old languages, perhaps even in the tongue of the fae. But I could feel the meaning and what each spell would do. Ash doesn’t know this, but I once read a revealing spell. A casting that shows what one is searching for.

A mixture of exhilaration, adrenaline, and fear takes ahold of me as I debate whether I should use it now. Could I, even if I wanted to, without the amulet? Would my magic answer me?

Taking a deep breath to calm my erratic emotions, I focus on the memories of reading that spell. On how it felt when the grimoire’s power graced my skin. Surely a revealing spell wouldn’t cause harm. It shouldn’t do anything other than show me where Ash is hiding, which is what he tasked me with.

I can almost smell the scent of freedom as I picture the words—the feelings—in my mind. I recall the warmth of the grimoire’s magic wrapping around my fingers as I paged through it. Blocking out all distractions is easy since I can’t see much.

My skin glows in sputtering tones of gold, and when I reach my hands out in front of myself, I empty my thoughts, except for those of what lies within the room. I want to see every dark corner and crevice where he might be.

A wave of bright yellow light explodes from my hands.

I hear a distinct pained sound from somewhere in the distance, though I can’t tell if it’s me.

The exhilaration I felt before vanishes, and panic takes over my body.

The spell doesn’t stop. My skin burns, and I’m blinded by the light as it continues pulsing through me.

I shut my eyes, but inside my head, I can see every detail of the room. The roses that climb the walls in every direction. Broken furniture piled up by the walls. Dusty curtains hastily closed over boarded windows.

Ash is running—no, flying toward me, cutting through the space with the precision of a bird of prey as I flounder back two, three steps. My back hits a column, and something wet runs down my cheeks.

A high-pitched scream pierces the room, tearing through my eardrums. I press my hands to them, trying to drown out the sound right as something heavy crashes into my side.

We tumble onto the hard ground, and a cocoon of dark feathers wraps around me, sheltering me from the bright light that continues shining on.

“What the fuck are you thinking, Mia?” I can hear his snarl far from me. My head hurts so much, but I welcome the reprieve from the brightness inside his protective embrace. Even if everything hurts. “The grimoire didn’t seem dangerous when I studied it.”

I didn’t intend to say that out loud, but I’m too scattered to really make much sense of anything.

“What does that mean?”

When I open my eyes, Ash is pinning me to the ground with his significant weight. Our faces are close—too close—and my thoughts clear instantly. I feel the quickness of his breath against my skin, and his scent is exhilarating.

The brightness of the revealing spell fades slowly, and the room returns to darkness. He eases his body off me and gets to his feet.

“I-I guess the training is officially over,” I whisper. My heart is still beating so fast. I gather my strength to get up, but my arms feel heavy.

Ash snaps his fingers, and light flickers on in every candelabra and lamp around us.

I swallow thickly. “I found you. Does that mean I won?”

He looks anything but pleased when he gestures to me where I still lie on the floor. “I literally took you down. I asked you to focus on the trace of magic I leave behind, not to use enchantments you don’t understand.”

“I tried, but I felt nothing.” I’m fed up with feeling like a failure everywhere I go. Like I disappoint everyone that matters. Irene, my father—him. Too many emotions swirl inside me, and my head threatens to split open with the migraine that follows.

“Did you?” he asks. “Or did you give up trying because you thought you couldn’t do it?”

I wince and fight the urge to shield myself from his scrutiny.

Ash sighs, making his way back to the double doors we came in through. “I hoped my assessment of your nature wasn’t correct, and you wouldn’t be irresponsible enough to do something so idiotic.”

I frown and follow him. “So was this a test to get me to perform a forbidden spell, like I did the night we met?”

“The spell isn’t forbidden. When used properly, it reveals hidden items. Even if they are spelled to remain so or the room is dark. But you are an untrained human, and using fae magic like that could kill you.”

I fight the need to hug my body to warm myself against the chill crawling over me, the shame of being the way I am.

Irene has been telling me I’ve become impulsive, but I always told myself I was doing it for her.

To protect her. But I never intended to cause harm to others, like almost killing Ash, much less myself.

The spell left me drained.

“You don’t know what kind of magic you learned, what enchantments you’re unleashing upon others. It’s the first rule of spell casting, Monster, to never use magic you don’t understand. Your precious librarians should’ve taught you that.”

I want to defend myself. He’s no one to tell me what to do or how I should’ve been taught magic. But I was never taught these. I stole moments with forbidden books and somehow, against all odds, I learned.

We weren’t allowed to use this sort of power, and I’m not sure people like Harper even could. One librarian wasn’t dangerous. We did parlor tricks, like Skylar so gracefully pointed out. But I craved more. I wanted to make a difference and learn the truth.

Shame weighs me down as we leave the dark room. I missed the chance to learn something new, like detecting magic waves, when I defaulted to old habits.

“Where are we going?” I ask Ash as we head a different direction from where we came.

“The library. There’s something I need you to do.”