Page 52 of Unraveled (A Kingdom of Beasts and Ruins #1)
“I haven’t been entirely truthful with you,” he whispers, and his expression tightens with something akin to nerves. “The night we met, when you met my gaze, I took a part of your soul?—?”
“I know . . .”
“The thing is, when I stared into your eyes, you took a part of mine too.”
“Of your soul?” My heart fumbles as I search his face for a sign that this might be a joke and I’m falling for it. “I-I don’t understand?”
“When fae meet their mate, there’s a sensation as the bond sets in. It’s hard for us to find each other, especially in a world where so many of us are spread apart. It’s even rarer to find one in a human or a hybrid.”
My blood rushes to my face, and I can barely hear him with the loud thumping of my heart.
“When I broke through the veil, I was drawn to you even before you attacked me on that rooftop. I talked myself out of it, because I wanted nothing to do with Penumbra or a human. I told myself it wasn’t the right time to find you.” He takes a shaky breath and lowers his eyes to the ground.
I hold myself rigid, waiting for him to finish speaking as I remember how my world shifted when I saw him for the first time. Did I feel the pull too? My stomach hollows, and I take a step back, trying to sort out my feelings as they rage through me.
My ears buzz. “Does this mean I’m your mate?”
Like Nera with the king of the seelie? Something so alien to me, I can’t even begin to understand what it means. This isn’t something we’re taught in human cities, where we’re told the fae are gone.
“No—yes?” Ash clears his throat but visibly stops himself from reaching for me when I flinch back at his words.
“Yes or no?” I don’t mean to sound snippy, but I don’t know what’s happening other than that I’m getting more exhausted by the minute. Probably because of Finley’s inopportunely timed night brew.
Naheli huffs as she gets up, casting a shadow over us. She tilts her head at us with a judgy expression before she poofs out of the room. I would’ve laughed if my mood wasn’t so fragile.
“Our bond doesn’t match the typical mate-bond.
” His brows scrunch. It looks like he’s trying to find the right words.
“That’s why I didn’t tell you before. Usually mates have a connection from infancy.
Dreams, visions of one another. Sometimes they share a birthmark.
When we met, you stripped a piece of me like I did you, as if you were also hunting me.
Like you were part of the Wild Hunt and could trade a part of your soul for mine. It’s what happened when I met Naheli.”
My mind whirls, and as I take another step back, my calves hit the edge of the bed. Suddenly, the gown I’m wearing feels too tight. I can barely breathe. I was hunting him; I had to stop him to save Penumbra. Had I taken a part of him without knowing, like I did the curse?
My heart feels like it’s shrinking, and a wave of sadness floods me. “So we aren’t mates?” I hate that my voice comes out so pathetic. It shouldn’t matter. Before this talk, I didn’t even know that was a possibility, but for the briefest of moments, I thought perhaps we shared a sacred bond.
“Mia, even if you weren’t my mate, you would be the most precious person to me.
” Ash’s scent wraps around me like a cocoon.
“When I’m not with you, I’m trying to get back here, to your side.
You have stolen my every thought, my every breath.
From the moment you took a part of my soul, and every day after, I’ve been defenseless against you.
You’ve stolen my heart, and I don’t want it back. ”
My lips tremble. A path of fire burns through my veins, and I press a hand to my mouth to trap a small cry that escapes at his words. Ash wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me to him, horror painted across his features.
It makes sense that even something as straightforward as being mated would be confusing in our case. Our relationship has never fit into a neat box. We hated each other but became reluctant allies, and then more. Now, I feel cared for, loved, for the first time in a long time.
It all makes sense now. The secret conversations Ash and Nera had that I caught pieces of. The attraction I couldn’t escape even when I hated him. Even when I thought I shouldn’t.
“Please tell me those are happy tears?” Ash searches my face, looking as confused as I felt a few minutes ago.
I nod, laughing, and dry my face with my forearm. “Is our connection why Naheli came to me from the beginning? Why she acts differently with me than with everyone else and even brought me your special book of prophecies?”
Ash’s lips tilt into a smile. “That conniving spirit is always up to something. I may have written about you stealing a piece of my soul in those pages and was overwhelmed that you might have read it.”
I should be mad he didn’t tell me before, but I can’t be. Not when our relationship began how it did. I understand why Ash kept me at a distance. Me, a hybrid who coincidentally studied his stolen books.
And I guess me almost dying was a trigger for him. I cup his cheek in my hand, loving the rough texture of the shadow of his beard, and lift to my tiptoes to press a kiss to his lips. I won’t say I love him tonight. That little secret isn’t one I can part with yet.
It feels too soon. I’ve lost myself so completely in his world I never want to go back to what it was before.
A yawn tears past my lips, and my limbs feel heavy as I drag my feet back toward the bed. “I need to lie down again—Finley gave me a potion.”
One moment I’m shuffling back, and the next I’m in Ash’s arms as he carries me the rest of the way. My body sinks into the cloudlike feather top, and he lies by my side, resting his upper back against the headboard.
“It’s close to twilight,” he says, his eyes also hooded, and I shift closer, draping my arm over him and snuggling into his chest.
Someone would have to fight me to remove me from here, even if Ash is hardly the most comfortable pillow. My eyes slowly drift shut, and I’m off to a dreamless night.
“Thank you for saving Nera.”