Page 29 of Unraveled (A Kingdom of Beasts and Ruins #1)

“Not all the high fae were on board, and many helped hybrids escape to find refuge from the Kingdom of Aphelion in nearby neutral cities like Hedrum and all the way south in Caliban. Many fae fled their homes with their humans. However, if they were found, those fae were tried for treason,” Finley says as we pass under a streetlamp covered in spiderwebs and dust.

The farther into the city we go, the more I feel my power pushing against the insides of my body. Could the hybrids that escaped be responsible for the curse?

“I didn’t expect this... emptiness,” Nera admits by my side, hugging her body with both arms.

Finley slams an abandoned carriage door shut, and the sound echoes indefinitely down the long street. “This is what you wanted to see. The destruction of your people. Your little rebellious birthday present to yourself.”

I watch as Nera swallows but straightens her back, glancing around with false detachment. “I wanted to see what’s coming for me—for all the unseelie in hiding that may be affected by the curse.”

Nera doesn’t believe there’s a way out of this mess.

Eponde isn’t larger than Penumbra, but somehow, it feels vast and tiny at the same time. There are no birds singing. No children playing. The devastation holds on to every brick and cobblestone that lies in our path.

The first statue we encounter is of a fae woman with large wings and a slender figure completely bare of clothing. Like she went out on a stroll naked, and never came back.

Her arms are elegant, and her long claws catch the drab sunlight that sneaks past the thick cover of rain clouds. Her mouth is a horror of jagged teeth that could rival a creature from nightmares.

She looks so similar to the way Nera did the night I met her.

“Have you had enough now?” Finley asks from behind us. His expression is somewhere between compassion and resignation.

But Nera is staring at the fae woman with a consuming sadness that pulls at strings in my heart. The energy buzzing through me thickens, and a spark flies out of my fingers. I shove my hands into my pockets, taking deep breaths to calm myself.

I must focus on the icy wind hitting my face, how it smells like a winter morning and something old and sinister that holds on to the makings of the buildings.

“She won,” Nera whispers, and the tears she’s been holding back finally drag down her face. “They destroyed us all with her help. Even those of us who got them out. Even those of us who fought for union. Even those that were innocent.”

She won ... I tuck that little bit of information away in the crevices of my mind.

“I think it’s best if we return now. You had your—strange—fun, but this isn’t good for you. Nor for the curse.”

I open my lips to agree with Finley, but shut them again when I find more statues on the street ahead. Gray and blending with their surroundings but visible now that I know what to look for. Hundreds of them. My skin itches, and I can no longer push the power bursting inside me out of my mind.

There are always innocents on either side of a war, even one fought with secret curses and veils that slowly leech living beings dry. My energy burns hotter under my skin as my panic rises. But thankfully, neither Nera nor Finley seem to notice.

Ash’s reasons for attacking the scientist quarters are hard to ignore now.

I understand him, and that makes me hate him just a little less. Even though he’s still an asshole. But he has to be in order to save his sister—and perhaps he isn’t too late to save his people.

We walk down the city streets until my feet ache and my eyesight blurs with unshed tears.

I like Nera, even though we started our strange friendship with violence.

“Fine, we can go back.”

Magic buzzes through my veins, and I don’t feel my fingers anymore, but I continue walking between them, trying to calm my breathing and appear normal as I struggle to ease my anxiety.

A low fog hugs the road by the time we make it all the way back to the carriage, and something I can’t see spooks the monstrous horses.

The pressure in my gut builds, and I’m scratching my skin like my insides are clawing their way out. Everything itches, or burns, it’s hard to know.

Nera glances at me. At first, her face is still sad. But then her brows pinch in the middle. “Mia, are you alright?”

I hate being part of the race who caused this. I don’t know how to help them and break this curse. All I want to do is claim I’m fine, just a little cold, but the noise that comes out of me is something between a moan and a sob.

She steps forward, her stony hand wrapping gently around my shoulder, careful to not pierce me with her deadly nails.

I think I hear her saying something, but I can’t be sure with the rushing of blood in my ears. Because behind her, there is an unbroken window, the glass shiny enough for a semblance of her reflection to peek through the layers of dust.

One where she doesn’t look like a statue but a pale, beautiful fae with auburn hair that falls to the middle of her back. Behind her, there’s a squirming, dark figure clinging to her body.

The curse?

I blink, and my skin crawls with the sensation of ants all over me. I cry out again and the dark figure snaps its shadowy gaze to me, and it’s then that my magic bursts out in waves. My vision goes white and I’m falling.

Glass shatters. Finley urges Nera to get me back home. The carriage rumbles under me, and it makes the feeling of my bones melting worse.

We jolt to a stop, and the door creaks as it opens before the cool air from outside hits my face.

“Mia.” Ash’s voice is a rumble

And then my light envelops me, and everything around me fully disappears.