Page 51 of Unraveled (A Kingdom of Beasts and Ruins #1)

I fade in and out of consciousness for hours—maybe even days? Time doesn’t seem to matter. In my dreams, feathers rain from the sky, turning into a beast equal parts beauty and horror. It looks like the shadows of the curse, and when I welcome it with open arms, it spares a life.

Molten heat runs through my body, and distantly I hear Ash’s voice. “She’s burning up. Do something.”

It takes a while to understand the patterns of my strange dreams enough to know when a day begins and when it ends. Pain seeps inward from my skin all the way to my bones. But I’m never alone. Nera speaks to me—about me—somewhere in the distance, asking someone questions.

Naheli visits me in my dreams too. There she speaks with a voice that sounds an awful lot like my mother’s. Though perhaps that’s a part of my delusions, since I can’t quite remember the sound of her voice.

“That was reckless, even for you, Miale.”

Miale? I haven’t heard my full name in an eternity. It sounds like coming home. I must be going mad—I guess that aspect of myself isn’t new.

“Am I dead?” I ask.

“No, but you trapped the curse in your body.” Naheli doesn’t sound amused, and she moves like mist in the darkness.

“Am I going to die?”

“Not today.” I can’t see her anymore. “Darkness now lives within you. Don’t let it take over.”

I open my eyes, and it takes a while for my vision to adjust to the new light and surroundings.

I’m not in the house in the forest, but lying in a familiar bed with a tree above.

I feel terrible. Weak and aching all over.

The scent of healing magic lingers around me, notes of menthol and something sterile that pushes away the earthy tones of Ash’s scent.

I hate it.

“You’re awake,” Finley says from the foot of the bed. We’re alone, and judging by the orange light of the sunset seeping past the window, it’s late. “How are you feeling?”

“Like the Wild Hunt ran me over,” I groan, and press my fingers to my eyes, willing my vision to stop spinning.

It’s then I notice my skin feels odd, coarse, like charcoal.

Pulling my hand away, I gasp as I take in my new black fingertips.

The color fades into the tan shade of my skin around my wrist. It almost looks like I was burned to a crisp, except I don’t feel that kind of pain.

“Does it hurt?” Finley’s brows furrow in the middle as he takes a seat beside me, handing me a glass of water that tastes of wild berries and herbs. “We’ve been trying to figure out what happened and how the curse will affect you. So far, no human has reacted to it this way.”

“H-how is it affecting me?” I smack my tongue to the roof of my mouth to figure out why my water tastes different.

“Only time will tell how it’ll show itself.”

“I didn’t expect it to rebound to me,” I admit, feeling too tired to even muster embarrassment. “Is Nera doing well?”

“She is better than well. In fact, she’s perfect. You saved her.” Finley takes the glass from my hand, fills it again, and presses it back, as if he can read how thirsty I am. However, this time I hesitate, eyeing the glass with suspicion before glancing up at him.

“I added a few drops of night brew to your water to help you rest tonight. It seems you slumber a bit uneasy. All lunargyres do as the blood moon grows closer.”

Horror washes over me as I settle back on the bed. My limbs feel numb as I stare at a point on the wall. Questions swirl in my mind, and I no longer feel as sluggish as before. “How long have I been sleeping?”

“Four days,” he says. “You don’t have to worry about turning. The blood moon isn’t for nearly two months...”

I bring the glass to my lips, taking a small sip and trying to ignore the burning in my eyes. At least Nera is alright. Better than that, according to Finley. “Where are they?”

“Ash is walking the perimeter alongside Naheli. Nera stayed here with you until I sent her back to her room to rest. There’s no need for all of us to be here. Besides, she’s extra loud, and I can’t hear myself think, let alone help you .”

“Naheli told me I’m not dying.” I hide my blackened hand under the sheets and meet his gaze.

“She spoke with you?” He lifts a brow. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised anymore. What else did she say?”

“That I shouldn’t let it take me over, and I don’t want to, but honestly I don’t feel any different...” Other than pain everywhere.

Worry still marks Finley’s features, even as he tries to smile.

Steps from outside call our attention, and Ash comes through the open door a few seconds later, followed closely by a giant spirit made of stars and night, shaped like a wolf.

His hair is standing up in waves of disarray, like he’s run his fingers through it multiple times.

“You’re awake.” He pauses in the doorframe, staying perfectly still as if moving might make me crumble.

There are dark circles under his eyes, and I wonder if he’s rested at all since we returned home from our travels.

Butterflies flutter in my stomach, and everything but him falls away as he crosses the distance between us with long steps.

I scoot my body to the edge of the mattress, and as soon as I swing my legs over to meet him, he’s by my side, picking me up before I can stand and pulling me against him where his lips crash into mine.

A soft noise leaves me, and I wrap my arms around his neck, enjoying the way our lips explore each other. I hadn’t realized how much I thought I was going to fail, and that perhaps I would never get to kiss him again.

Distantly, my mind registers steps fading away as Finley leaves the room, allowing us some privacy.

“What were you thinking?” Ash whispers against my lips. “What happened in there, Mia?”

There is so much to tell, so I start at the beginning, when I saw the shadow around Nera’s body in Eponde. Then I tell him about the night we escaped Hedrum, when his curse leaped at me.

Ash only lets go once he seems sure I won’t drop to the ground. Then he pulls away from me and studies my face. “I didn’t think about the reflection in the window...”

“I didn’t mention it because I thought it might be a dark creature, like you said when I went to Eponde. But it attacked me, and my instinct was to ask my amulet to suck the creature in.”

“Is that why your amulet stopped working?”

I nod. “When I saw Nera, how she looked when she arrived, I had to do something.”

“I thought I was going to lose you.” His eyes grow wide, and he gently caresses the side of my face. “No human or hybrid that’s seen my reflection has survived the curse for long.”

I swallow, feeling a prick of worry in the back of my mind. Shifting my gaze to Naheli, I find her lying by the foot of the bed. She barely glances up at me when she feels my attention and huffs before closing her eyes and going back to sleep. So helpful.

“I’m not sorry for trying to save Nera, but I am sorry I didn’t tell you my plan. And that I hid the mirror from you. I thought you wouldn’t let me do it if I told you my intentions.”

“I was so enraged about what Marlena did, I almost burned my manor to the ground. Then I promised the stars that if you came back to me, I wouldn’t go back to Hedrum and show her what it means to stare at my reflection.”

A chill breaks over my body at the menace in his voice, and distantly, I make a mental note to not involve anyone else in my schemes. Ash reaches for my black hand, lifting it before pressing a gentle kiss to my knuckles.

“Mia, why do you think your life is worth less than those around you?”

“I don’t believe that,” I say, pulling my hand away from his just enough to clear my thoughts. “It wasn’t about believing Nera’s life is more important than mine, but that I knew how to help her, and that if I waited, it could cost her everything.”

“And what if the curse killed you? Would that have been alright because Nera survived?” He presses on.

“This seems like something you do often. Didn’t you go to that scientist building—or whatever you call it—to save your sister, even though it meant risking your life?

Did you ever consider that you’re important?

That those who love you want you to live ? ”

I open my mouth to tell him that, if the tables were turned, Irene would have done the same, but close it as doubt creeps in. Would she?

“Nera tried to stop me. She didn’t want me to get hurt.” It’s hard to breathe around the pain that settles in my heart. “Irene didn’t. She never asked me to stop, even though you were clearly dangerous.”

Was I so lonely in Penumbra that risking my life for her approval was worth it? I blink at the prickling in my eyes, and I can’t speak—not for a while.

I’d foolishly gone to the scientist quarters to make sure she wasn’t hurt, but I was manipulated into doing what Skylar wanted. And now that I know hybrids exist and stole the grimoires, I can’t help but wonder if Irene is a strix—like our father.

I don’t regret trying to prevent my sister from being eaten by a beast, even if she wouldn’t do the same for me.

Nor do I regret saving Nera. But the haunted expression on Ash’s face makes me want to be better.

I should be careful about my self-sacrificing ways, because while trying to help others might feel right in the moment, it may also hurt those I love.

“It’s easy to see why you don’t know your worth when your family treats you like you’re disposable.” Ash struggles to hide the anger flaring in his eyes. He steps closer, eating up the distance that separates us. “But you aren’t in Penumbra anymore, Monster. You’re here, and you matter to me.”

Tears spring to my eyes, and before I can get a word out, he’s kissing me again. He cradles the back of my head like I’m something fragile. And right now, that’s exactly what I need.

He keeps me close as his soft lips glide over mine in a dance that makes my toes curl. When we part for air, my mind is swirling with emotions I’m too scared to voice, even to myself.