Page 30 of Unraveled (A Kingdom of Beasts and Ruins #1)

“You took her to the city. What were you thinking, Finley?”

“For the last time, it wasn’t his fault.” Nera’s voice barely registers over the beating of my heart. I snuggle closer to the coolness enveloping me, and the burning inside me eases.

Everything hurts, and through the webs of my cloudy mind, I remember. The light of my power wrapped around me back in Eponde, taking every ounce of my energy.

But . . . I’m not dead, at least.

“When was the last time anyone but you could stop Nera when she set her mind to something?” I hear Finley’s voice in the distance, like he’s rooms away. Maybe I’m dreaming this. “Not all of us can simply put a high fae—who’s turning to stone—to sleep, nor do I want to.”

I open my eyes when thunder cracks. Rain pads against the windows, and a dull headache beats any cohesive thoughts out of me.

The scent of pine, leather, and frankincense assaults my senses.

Somehow, the smells and shapes around me calm the adrenaline coursing through my body as I take in my surroundings.

Naheli is by my side. I know not because I can see her with my blurry vision, but her familiar warmth and the ease of her breathing soothes me. As my vision clears, the shapes of tree roots weave together, forming a dome shape over me. This is not my room.

My head spins when I sit up and take in Ash’s chambers and the purple covers draped over my legs. Nera, Finley, and Ash are talking in hushed tones by the door. All I can see are their fuzzy shapes as they all turn in my direction at the same time.

“You’re awake,” Ash says, unfolding his arms from across his chest and striding toward me. He’s wearing a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up, which lets me take in the light sprinkle of feathers that remain on his forearms.

“Why am I here?” I croak and shift closer to the edge of the mattress. It doesn’t matter how much my body screams to remain here and rest, I need to be out of his bed. When my feet hit the ground, everything around me spins, forcing me to remain seated or I might lose the little food I’ve had.

Naheli’s head presses against my shoulder, and she growls. A warning to remain seated. I’m not sure how I know this. I’ve stopped trying to make sense of it.

“It seems I need to lock you in my room if I’m to keep you safe, Monster. I can’t even trust my family when I’m out.”

My cheeks burn with embarrassment, anger—and desire. “I’m not staying here.”

“Really?” He lifts a brow and steps closer, reaching for a glass of water on the nightstand, before handing it to me. “I have all night long to see how you will leave. This should be interesting.”

There is a challenge in his eyes that pins me down, and my throat feels so dry I’m reaching for the water before I can talk myself out of it.

I have long accepted that I’m an impulsive person. Why stop now? “I would like to know how you plan to stop me when you’re slumbering?”

Ash’s brows shoot up, and I hear Nera snickering in the background. Ash glares in her direction, and the buttons of his tailored shirt strain when he crosses his arms back over his chest. “Your loyalty is at a low point right now, Nerala.”

Ash turns back to me, ignoring his sister. “I figured that’s how you’re escaping your room, but the question is, how did you learn about the slumber?” His eyes narrow as he watches me.

Morgana’s face flashes in my mind. I haven’t seen her—nor the dresses she promised—since that first morning. She’s been leaving my food in front of my door, though I guess I don’t technically owe her anything.

I bring the glass of water to my lips to prevent myself from dragging her into this mess, and the cool drink eases the burning in my throat.

I jut my chin up and don’t elaborate further. We stare at each other in silence. His pupils enlarge right as his eyes dip to my lips. Thankfully, he is far from me. Not sure why it feels like that detail will save me from a true disaster, like throwing myself at him.

My heart soars, and heat pools in my stomach. The same ridiculous reaction I had before, when he took my book away, right before he told me he didn’t want me.

His words sting as much now as they did when he said them.

“Do you know what almost happened to you today?” He leans on the bed, and the mattress dips as he puts pressure on the edge. “When you followed my little sister into our fallen city, did you think you might die?”

“What? No.” Though I’m thinking of myself as the worst of weeds, that not even monsters and beasts can kill me.

“You’re being an asshole,” Nera hisses. “Sure, it was irresponsible to go to Eponde, and bring Mia, but I needed to see what happened there, and I thought perhaps she could get some ideas about how to help us.”

“It looks to me like she almost killed herself with a power she has little control over.”

I open my lips to protest, but the pressure in my stomach is a reminder that he’s right.

Nera’s usual graceful movements look so much slower as she steps closer to the bed, like her stone limbs weigh her down. And for once, I hear the marble scraping together. “I need to live before I’m gone. You can’t stop what’s happening to me. I’ve accepted it.”

“I’m not giving up on you.” Ash’s raw pain taints his inflection.

My throat closes as he moves toward Nera, lifting a hand and gently cupping her face.

“We can’t go to Hedrum. It doesn’t matter what other suicide mission you’re ready to drag Finley or Mia into”—Ash isn’t looking at her.

His eyes are fixed on me, and I find myself unable to look away—“I’m going to protect you until my last breath. ”

I have a feeling he wasn’t only talking to his sister, and my blood burns again, but for a very different reason.

“It’ll be my last breath, not yours,” Nera rages and points at the corner of the room.

I gasp as I take in the rose vines that have overtaken the ceiling. I’m fairly certain those weren’t there before.

“Even if I said yes, have you seen how we look? We don’t fit in Hedrum, cursed as we are. If we go, you won’t be able to enjoy your day. We can do something else. Anything .”

“I may be young compared to you, Ash, but I have been listening during this last decade. I know our people are hiding behind glamours inside Aphelion. In small towns or even in our ruined cities. They are hiding in plain sight, and we can do the same. You and Finley can figure out an enchantment that will keep us hidden long enough. I get to decide how I spend my last weeks of sanity, and it’s not inside this castle.

You have the choice whether you’re going to spend them with me or not.

I’m done waiting, and I’ll leave without you. ”

Ash presses his fingers to the bridge of his nose as Nera bolts for the door. The silence descends on those of us who remain.

He moves forward, picks up a golden plate from the nightstand, and places it on the bed beside me. Naheli lifts her head, sniffing at the food and eyeing it curiously.

“Eat, Monster, you used a lot of energy earlier.”

“So what, now you’re taking care of me?” I don’t mean to sound snippy, but the way my traitorous heart somersaults keeps me on edge.

“It seems I have to?—?”

“Why?” I cut him off. Frustration seeping into my words as my hands shake. The water inside the glass I still hold sloshes over my fingers. “Why do you need to keep me alive when you clearly think I am— What was the word you used? Ah, yes, a pest.”

If I hadn’t been staring at him, I may have missed the subtle hitch of his shoulders as he winces. Like he isn’t proud of his outburst from before.

“You called her that?” Nera’s voice turns high-pitched from the door.

“I thought you were leaving after making your point?” he says to his sister, who huffs and exits the room.

When he glances back to me, there is a softness to his brows.

“I didn’t put my best foot forward yesterday,” he says, rubbing his temple.

“I’m not used to having a human—let alone a hybrid—walking the castle and getting into my things. ”

It wasn’t quite an apology, and I shouldn’t care. All I have to do is find a way to unravel the curse so I can leave.

“If I’m actually going to help you, you need to be truthful with me.

” I hold my half-full glass between my thighs, and the layers of my full skirt do a somewhat-decent job of keeping it straight.

Then I reach for the food on my golden plate and take a slow bite of the buttery biscuit.

The salty flavor coats my tongue, and I have to bite back a moan.

“I guess it’s as good a time as any to talk about this.” Ash scrapes his raven hair back with a groan and moves across the room, sitting on a massive wingback chair in the corner. “Ask your questions...”

“Did you know what I am?”

“Yes.” He crosses a leg over his knee and leans back, draping both arms over the armrests. He is the perfect image of relaxation. “I suspected you were a hybrid the moment you used fae magic in Penumbra.”

It’s not surprising he knew, and it makes sense why he asked all those questions the night we met. Why he had so much hatred toward me, which I returned. But I didn’t know the entire story then. I feel different now.

He continues, “It quickly became clear you didn’t know what you are or what happened here.”

“What gave it away? I could’ve been acting...”

He lifts a brow, like that’s the most ridiculous thing he’s ever heard.

Naheli shifts forward a bit, her snout inching closer and closer to my plate, her mouth making wet sounds as she salivates over my food.

I shift the plate away from the gluttonous wolf.

I might lose my old identity, my home, my bed, my sanity—since apparently I find the king of beasts insanely attractive—but I’m not losing my gods-damned biscuits.

The spirit’s four yellow eyes meet mine, and I narrow my gaze at her in a challenge, then I quickly pick up the second biscuit and consume half of it in one bite.