Page 50 of Unraveled (A Kingdom of Beasts and Ruins #1)

I take a deep breath and lift the mirror to catch Nera’s reflection. While to my eyes she looks like a sculpture made of white marble, the mirror shows her as that beautiful fae I saw in the hybrid house.

Her brows pinch with worry as she looks at me, clearly thinking this is the worst idea ever.

The mirror is small enough that I can only see her, until I shift it slightly and catch the shapes of a creature made of nightmares.

It holds onto her auburn tresses, and I watch the shadows elongate, forming a narrow face with sharp teeth and red eyes.

The curse snarls at me with a gaping hole for a mouth. The sound pierces the room, but Nera doesn’t flinch, which must mean she can’t hear it.

I don’t cower. Instead, I tighten my hold on my amulet and let out a slow breath. I’m afraid of the curse, but the monster should be more afraid of me and my magic.

I’m the one determining how much I let out.

I’m the one in control.

The pressure in my stomach loosens as I picture Alana, the head librarian, when she told us to never enter the forbidden area. I let that anger feed my power, and it flows freely through my veins.

The memory of Skylar as he loaded his pistol with lead and pointed it at Ash flashes through my mind.

Then Irene, telling me the beast in the chamber looked just like the one who killed Father.

I remember my father taking away my magic and memories.

I’ve been manipulated throughout my entire adulthood.

This is my choice, and with my temper fueling it, my power comes out in slow bursts. The glow that was previously contained to my fingers stretches up my arms.

I meet the curse’s gaze with a challenge. “ Don’t be shy now. Come out .”

“Mia.” Nera’s voice shakes with fear. “What language is that? Who are you talking to?”

It’s easy to ignore her when the curse tilts its head. Surprised I can speak to it.

“ She sees us ,” it says, then unravels its clawlike hands from Nera’s hair and shifts away from her.

I glance away from the reflection and toward the space between Nera and me. It’s empty of monsters in the real realm, but when I look back at the silver surface, the curse is crawling toward me, trailing slimy strings of blackness over the rug.

I ready myself for its attack, calling on my amulet like I did that night in Hedrum. I ask it to trap the curse. Keep it away from me. The stone vibrates in my hand, fast like my heartbeats.

Nera leans over the table, bracing herself with one arm and holding her stomach with the other as the polished surface of her marble body shifts. She’s trembling, barely staying upright. “What’s happening to me?”

The curse jumps forward and crashes into the reflective barrier between us. Hundreds of cracks spiderweb over the surface as the mirror shudders in my hand, but I feel no fear. Just pure determination.

“ You are ours ,” it roars, and the cracks deepen and expand.

Thin strings of black poison reach out toward me.

And I learn two things: One, Ash’s curse?

It never leaves the primary host behind.

The larger part of the spell always remains with him.

In order to save Nera, I have to trick this smaller fragment into leaving her body entirely.

And two, I can read its feelings. The curse must have an imprint of how Morla felt when she cursed the fae king. Alone and angry.

The mirror isn’t magical, so I can’t hear its laments as the curse breaks it apart. My amulet shivering in my other hand sounds scared, but determined to keep me safe.

“ I’m not yours ,” I say in that strange language. My tongue feels heavy. “ But if you leave your current host behind, perhaps I can speak with you more. She can’t do that .”

I don’t know how I do it, but as my whole body shakes, my skin lights up like a candle’s flame. Flickering on and off in a rhythm that seems to put the slimy black monster in the mirror into a trance.

It blinks its red eyes as if confused. It doesn’t like it, and I feel its displeasure.

“ If you come with me, you won’t be alone anymore .” I ignore Nera calling my name and the steps that rumble outside.

“Mia!”

I shift my eyes from the mirror to Nera as she flops onto the table. Her arms have shifted from white stone to beige skin. Her fingertips grow pinker.

“ Yes !” it hisses, and chaos erupts around me.

At first, the shadows push out in an explosion of poison that’s only visible to me, shattering the reflection as the curse escapes containment and moves in a cyclone toward me.

I stumble back to the chair behind me, and my world tips on its axis as black swirls of magic crawl over my glowing skin, burning me. Before they can go back to Nera, I lift my amulet to catch them.

Please, hold it , I ask the beating stone in my hand, and it vibrates in my grasp as it begins to suck in the blackness of the curse.

Nera groans, and Ash is almost here. His magic is warm and pushes against the darkness that’s extended from the broken mirror.

Every inch of my skin that thing touches burns like acid. I think I hear myself scream, but it might be Nera as she quivers and collapses on the ground. Her skin is no longer stone.

The darkness holds on to my amulet and clings to my skin. Someone calls my name. Ash bursts into the room, his face contorting in horror. The magic around us keeps him back.

My amulet keeps absorbing the curse until I hear the stone crack.

A screech pierces the dining room, and this time, even Ash hears it. He pales and pushes against the dark shield of pressure with his own magic. I can’t get distracted by him, instead I let another wave of my anger feed my power. My body glows brighter.

I will do this.

The shadows sneak out of my pin, but instead of letting them return to Nera, I slam my hand over the amulet and grab the slimy mist with my heated fingers. Another screech pierces the room. The voice of the curse dims. It feels pleased. My fingers and hands turn black.

“No!” Ash screams, slamming his whole body against the shield of dark mist.

“ Stay ,” I command the curse, and to my shock, it stops trying to escape my broken amulet. The rush of adrenaline fizzles off, and my legs shake as the shadows retreat.

The room spins above me. It feels like I’m falling off a precipice and unable to reach the ground.

Warm arms catch me by my waist and pull me against a hard mass that smells of pine. The pain holding my limbs hostage doesn’t ease, even as my heartbeat slows. My vision narrows to nothingness.

“Mia, love, what did you do to yourself?”