Page 48 of Unraveled (A Kingdom of Beasts and Ruins #1)

“But what if?—?”

“Every human and hybrid affected by the curse died within a month,” he says. His eyes glide over my face. “There are no exceptions, Mia.”

“But Finley isn’t dying.”

“He’s never met the curse directly through reflection. The effects he feels are directly correlated to his connection to me.”

He doesn’t know that, back in Hedrum, I used my amulet to deflect his curse when it jumped at me. I may have broken my hairpin, but I still did it. I open my lips to tell him as much when the clopping of hooves over gravel echoes from outside.

Ash’s head snaps to the window, and he’s a blur of black feathers as he presses his entire face against the cloudy glass. The fog parts as a carriage enters through the metal gates out front. Finley and Nera are finally here.

By the time we’re outside, Finley’s already out of the carriage.

His face is strained and filthy. There are scratches on his chin, and oil shimmers over his forehead and cheeks.

The beasts pulling the carriage breathe loudly, foaming at their mouths while their reddish eyes pin me down.

The glamour has faded, and they no longer look like stallions.

Instead, long teeth protrude from their small snouts. Like a bald horse mixed with a boar.

“Finley, what happened?” Ash opens the secondary door, checking on Nera, who I presume is inside. I keep my distance from the beasts, my hair rising as they follow my every move.

“We waited at the manor for as long as we could. I gathered some of our things to give Mia a chance to return, but when she didn’t come back, I assumed something happened.

” Finley’s amber eyes land on me, wild and unfocused.

There’s a small growl from inside the carriage, and when Ash pulls back, I know Nera isn’t herself.

“What happened to her?” Was that my voice? I can’t tell from the adrenaline rushing through my body.

“Whatever reversed the glamour at the party also affected her—conscious state. She’s been fading since yesterday.”

I walk around the beasts, getting closer so I can see what’s happening to Nera while my heart aches for the devastation in Ash’s features.

Both doors to the carriage are open wide, and Nera sits, unmoving, inside.

Her wings press against the ceiling, and some of her stone feathers have pierced through the wooden roof.

I freeze when her head snaps to the side, her red, milky gaze pinning me down. Her mouth opens as she snarls at me. Ash’s golden magic blooms out of him, enveloping her right before he presses a finger to her forehead, and before she can leap out to chase me down, she slumps back. Asleep.

Ash wraps an arm around Nera’s waist, sparing me a glance over her body. The agony in his expression is so intense it takes my breath away. His arms shake with strain as he hoists her up before walking back into the small house with Finley following closely behind.

I wipe my wet cheeks and notice the tremble in my hands.

Nera is losing her consciousness, even though we’re at least two months away from the blood moon.

This is the reason she wanted to come to Hedrum.

One last chance to have fun before she loses her mind for good.

She didn’t think she’d come back from it again—and I can’t let the curse take her.

It’d destroy Ash to lose her, and she deserves better.

I stand still, thinking of ways I can help, going over old spells I once studied in my mind. But I don’t really know enough magic for something like this. The librarians made sure we were kept ignorant. I look at the carriage, and something nags at the back of my mind.

Finley said he gathered some of our things before leaving Hedrum. Perhaps that includes my traveling trunk, where I hid the mirror. I run around the back to the storage compartment and try the handle. Locked. Finley’s green magic is all over it.

White magic circles my fingers, and I ignore the pressure in my stomach, its weight like stones. The unraveling spell bursts through me, and the brass lock clicks open.

Inside, there are two trunks. Nera’s and mine. I reach for the leather handle, and my muscles scream as I drag it out of the tight space, scraping smooth wood off the sides. Inside, it smells mildly of dust, roses, and traces of magic. My own? It’s hard to tell.

I shift through the layers of lacy underthings and dress skirts, and find the silver oval shape closer to the bottom.

I can’t break Ash’s curse today, even though I want to. I don’t know how. But what if I’m able to free Nera from her much smaller shadowy monster? It seems I’m the only one who can see them.

When Ash had me frozen the night we met, I asked the spell to release me. I did the same last night with my father’s spell, and regained some of my memories. I might have a chance out of this mess. The prophecy flashes through my mind again.

Only when the king who cries tears of gold loses all,

will there come a new hope, and the one with the black rose will fall.

Not today. Ash can’t lose everything before the day is done.