Page 54 of Unraveled (A Kingdom of Beasts and Ruins #1)

They don’t return at nightfall.

The first night, I hardly sleep at all, just wait for them to come back.

Naheli remains by my side on the balcony as the storm rolls in.

I nearly catch my death that night and wake up to the icy drizzle that’s starting to feel like spring.

The wolf naps a lot more than normal, and there’s something odd to her energy I can’t place, as if it’s being disturbed.

She comes and goes from the bedroom as I regain fragments of my strength.

On the second day, I go to the training room and resume practicing magic.

It’s too difficult to stay in Ash’s bedroom when everything smells like him, and it’s a reminder he hasn’t returned home.

I know myself well enough to understand I’m one bad thought away from making a terrible decision and breaking my promise to him.

On the third day, I know in my gut that something has gone terribly wrong.

I focus on the emptiness around me as I try to find Naheli in the darkness of the training room.

We’ve been here all morning as I practice spells I might need later today, when I go after Ash and into the forest. My steps echo as I ease my way deeper into the shadows.

I’ve been here so many times, I know the nooks and crannies from memory.

I keep my eyes open even though it makes little difference, since I can’t see what’s in front of me, unless I use magic.

During the last couple of days, I’ve overcome my habit of relying on my broken amulet and instead trust in myself. The darkness in my fingers has extended past my wrist, and it’s halfway up my arm by now. It gets worse when I use excessive amounts of energy, even if I remain in control.

I study my surroundings, and I’m thankful whatever made me ill the day Ash left is fading away.

I take another couple of steps, running through my mental catalog of forbidden spells.

Most of them are useless to me right now.

Because even though in theory I know what they do, I’m never going to use a spell I can’t control again.

Only spells I’ve studied enough to truly understand.

And it’s not really the time to practice new spells.

So instead I focus on the same old enchantments I’ve been honing with Ash over the last few weeks. The revealing spell is bright as it travels through the room, lighting every nook and cranny where the wolf may be hiding. But I can’t find her anywhere. She isn’t here.

“Naheli, did you leave?” I ask the nothingness.

As panic rushes through my veins, I feel the shadow of the curse stir, liking my displeasure. Something nags at the back of my mind, the same feeling I haven’t been able to shake. I can’t stay here any longer. It doesn’t matter what I promised Ash.

I secure two daggers in the weapons belt I’ve been carrying since they left. Being alone in the castle, surrounded by cursed beings, meant I had to be alert and prepared.

A crash echoes from the tall ceilings, the distinct sound of metal warping.

My heart hammers in my chest as I run to the nearest window, pushing it open as the humid air hits my face.

Fog hugs the castle grounds so thick it’s hard to see much of what’s happening out there.

The metal spikes of the gate twist at strange angles, and beyond that, Finley’s wagon lies on its side.

My fingers twitch, and I’m running before I can think straight. They’re here! And if they weren’t hurt before, they might be now. Why didn’t the gate open? Did it have something to do with Naheli disappearing out of nowhere?

I rush down the twisting steps of the tower to the main floor. Air burns in my lungs as I run out the door and into the gray day outside. My skin shimmers, and I don’t know what to feel. Hope, excitement—worry?

Keeping my eyes on the moving shapes of bald lunargyres that stalk this place, I cut through the courtyard. So far, in the last couple of days, they’ve seemed unbothered by me, even when I got a little too close for comfort.

I cross the first, and its eyes narrow in my direction, but it doesn’t open its mouth at me. I don’t hear their thoughts or feelings like I do with some magical artifacts, not like what Nera described.

Sweat trails down my neck, rolling between my breasts and soaking my dress. I use the momentum of my swinging arms to propel myself forward.

Out here, the musk of roses grows thick, even though I’m running away from where they’re most concentrated in the castle. When I get to the gate, I see no one. One wagon wheel continuously spins. The other three look broken from where I stand.

I grip the bars, standing on my tiptoes to get a better look at what’s happening.

“Ash?” My voice catches in my throat, and tears spring to my eyes. “Are you there?”

Never have I felt such frustration at staying behind. After what I did with Nera, I was trying to be sensible and not put myself, and everyone else, in danger. I couldn’t go with him days ago, I was too ill. But what if... I could have made a difference?

“Ash?” I call again.

A horse whinnies in response from where it remains pinned under the weight of the carriage.

The other is already running down the road, so far away it’s all but a shadow.

I look around for a way out. My attempts at opening the gate are futile.

It won’t budge no matter how I pull and push.

The iron doesn’t react to my fire spell, and I can’t pick the lock with my blades.

I could climb, but that is unlikely to go well. This gate isn’t Penumbra’s library sturdy shelfs. I look at the bars with apprehension. They twist where the carriage hit them.

It’ll be a tight squeeze. I shed my coat, my weapons belt, and my dress, until I’m left only with my cotton slip and my undergarments.

As I push through the bars, I find a barrier holds me back. A shield that’s too similar to the veil. My breath fogs in front of my face as I press my body against the thin membrane, and the morning dew clinging to it seeps over my skin like a kiss of ice.

I close my eyes and feel for the makings of this ward. It whispers to remain inside. It sounds a lot like Ash, and it makes me more determined. Pressing my hand to it, I unravel it, like cutting through strands of twine, until the shield has broken away enough to let me through.

No one is in the carriage, though I find traces of blood in the driver’s seat and in the back where a large imprint marks the place a body lay over a handful of empty sacks.

I help the horse next, lifting the weight of it with trembling arms and a push of the same wind spell that saved my life so many months ago.

The darkness in my arm grows an inch, and I swallow, going back for my cloak so I can hide the traces of the curse taking over my body.

I find four fresh sets of tracks by the edge of the forest, trailing along beside the castle walls.

One set of smaller feet, likely Nera’s, and three larger ones.

I frown as I lean down to study them. I have no clue how to make sense of where they’re headed, nor have I ever hunted for anything in my life.

But what I lack in skills, I make up for with determination.

If the wards didn’t allow Ash in, for whatever reason, I can undo a section of it and grant them entrance. He can lecture me about leaving after they’re inside.

I hear voices in the distance as I approach, keeping myself carefully hidden by the darkening skies of early afternoon and our misty surroundings.

Finley is the first one I see, specifically his coat and the gentle slope of his wide shoulders.

I rush forward, and adrenaline makes my senses sharp with every little twig that snaps under their feet or mine.

My heart leaps to my throat as I draw closer and don’t find Ash’s wings. Nor Nera’s slim body. And the voices are less familiar.

I pause, shifting behind a tree trunk as a crawling sensation runs down my back. Staying in the shadows, I move in, getting closer and closer.

“You almost killed us running that carriage against the gate,” a man wearing brown trousers and a white shirt sneers, brushing a hand over his bald head.

I press my body against a tree, attempting to calm my loud breathing as I try to understand everything unfolding in front of me.

“It usually opens for me,” Finley says, and his expression is strained as they continue walking the perimeter. “You weren’t supposed to come here. The castle won’t let you in, I told Skylar as much.”

Finley’s working with the scientists? I peek out from behind the tree and my heart tears. Had he betrayed us all along? Or was he taken hostage in the forest?

“It will let us in, eventually. The broken king has little time left.” A second man laughs, and the sound brings ice to my veins. “We want the gold, and if you want your niece to keep her manor—and you, your freedom—then you will get us inside.”

So, that’s why we ended up in the strixes’ house that night in Hedrum. It’s likely why Ash’s and Nera’s glamours had disappeared. It wasn’t a coincidence. Nothing ever is. I grab at my throat and remember drinking the night brew he gave me, and how ill I’ve been for days.

“I’ve paid my share for that freedom.” Finley’s jaw tenses, and I see licks of green magic hover around his fingers. “Nera was off-limits. I only gave her Mia’s necklace for you all to locate the castle. Nothing more.”

“The bargain wasn’t for the princess’s life, it was for your niece’s,” Bald Head says before spitting to the side.

“I have to admit, I was surprised she wasn’t a beast anymore...”

My blood freezes as I listen to a voice I know well. I shift in my spot, trying to keep my feet light as I peer around the other side of the tree trunk. I’d recognize Irene anywhere. Even deep in a fae forest, hidden under the layers of a thick cloak.