Page 56 of Unraveled (A Kingdom of Beasts and Ruins #1)

“Hybrids are part fae and part human, and they’re the ones running Penumbra under the guise of protecting our people.” I wish I wasn’t so skeptical of everything she said or did. “Can you do magic, with or without an amulet? Was that also a lie?”

“You know well I can’t,” she snarls.

“Mia,” Finley groans from the ground.

I rear my head back as Ash’s words come through my mind. Don’t trust anyone but Naheli .

Did he know something was wrong with Finley? Perhaps his insistence on coming along alerted Ash of something. Perhaps he was wary of how ill I was after drinking that potion. Though, admittedly, I was ill before that too.

Naheli’s growls slip through the air, and I can feel her presence all around me, as if she is the forest itself. My hair lifts with the static of her power.

Irene pales and moves away. “What was that?”

“That’s the spirit that protects the castle,” I say. “She will kill you. It’s better if you go now.”

“What about you? Won’t you come with me?”

“Back to Penumbra?”

“Yes, of course. You always loved the library.”

I remain silent for a few moments before I speak. “I’m going to Penumbra tonight. But not with you.”

Hurt and understanding flash across her face. “You’re going to save him, aren’t you?”

I say nothing, but feeling Naheli behind me after thinking she was gone has pushed some of the hurt away. I take a step in the wolf’s direction, facing my sister in case she decides she’d rather have me dead than helping the fae.

“Why?” she asks.

“Because...” My feelings for him are not something I want to speak out here in this bloodbath with people who betrayed me. “They deserve to live.”

“Do you love him?” Her voice is all but a whisper, yet those words pull at something in my heart. I shouldn’t have stayed. I should have gone with them, even in sickness.

“You lost your right to know who I love the moment you manipulated me.”

“They’ll kill you if they catch you.”

“I know.” I’m that fool who runs into impossible situations when those I love are in danger. But this time I have more information. I also have more power and a bigger task. But mostly, I’m not alone.

“At least take these,” Irene says and digs her hand into her cloak pocket. I jump back and cover my chest with my arms, expecting another weapon that she’d use on me.

She presses her lips into a fine line and pulls out a ring with dozens of skeleton keys that shimmer as they catch the dim rays of the sunset spilling through the canopy. “You thought I was going to hurt you?” There’s shame in those dark eyes.

“Can you blame me?” My voice trembles, and I glow like a flame. But this time, I’m not afraid. I feel powerful, even in my heartbreak.

“For what it’s worth, Mia, I’m sorry this happened.

I never thought Skylar would make a deal with the sorcerer.

Or that you would grow attached to the beast.” She extends the ring of keys toward me, and they jingle as she shakes them in the air.

“These will let you in the building without triggering the alarms. You’ll have to go down to the basement.

We keep them in cages that cancel out their magic until.

..” Her voice trails off, and I think I see traces of horror in her face.

As if talking about it with me is making her realize how truly despicable they are.

I watch as she swallows deeply. But I don’t approach her. I don’t want to be anywhere near her, just in case she has something up her sleeves that might make it impossible for me to go.

“She isn’t a beast,” I say.

“Who?”

“Nera, who you took to kill in that machine our father helped build.”

Naheli’s growl is so deep, Irene falls to her knees, pleading to the darkness.

I don’t need to turn around to see the horror behind me, for I’ve seen how the ancient spirits look when they run wild.

My sister always thought the lunargyres were the monsters, but the true nightmare is standing right behind me.

And she is furious.

“I’m so sorry, Mia. I didn’t know the fae could form such connections with humans.

I would’ve— The king, he bargained for the princess’s release.

We were supposed to let her go, but Skylar didn’t.

” Tears spring to Irene’s eyes as she tosses the keys with enough strength they land by my feet.

“I was so shocked he’d been tracking Mother’s pendant, I didn’t know what to do. ”

She swipes her face and sniffles. “I saw Finley turn back and suspected he was coming this way, so I told Rick and Alan there would be treasures here and convinced them to come with me. I had to come save you. I thought he had you in the dungeons or something, and it was my only chance to find this castle before the beasts took over.”

I don’t take my eyes off her as I crouch to pick the keychain out of a pile of rotten leaves. She can cry. She can say the perfect thing that once would’ve made me bend backward to make her happy again, and I still wouldn’t trust her. “And Skylar let you come to save me?”

“No. He was so preoccupied with the king, he didn’t notice we left. I swear it.” Irene shakes her head. She looks so much like her younger self, before whatever corrupted her made her who she is now.

“I never thought there would come a day where I wouldn’t want to see you again.” I hate how my voice breaks, that my heart crumples when my sister sobs at my words.

And for a second, I feel like I’ve taken it too far. But then, the moment is gone and I turn around, ignoring the burning sensation in my eyes, and walk into the shadows where Naheli awaits me. I hear my name and pause.

When my eyes fall on Finley, my heart bleeds again. He presses a hand to his wound and gasps in pain.

In the house in the Crossroads, I could see the imprint of Ash’s magic in the wards in the bedroom—but not Finley’s, even though Ash said he frequented the place. I should have said something then... but I never suspected this.

“Mia, please...” Finley’s sorrowful eyes land on me as he tries, but fails, to sit.

I hesitate, wanting to leave.

Something breaks inside me. I grip the keys in my hand, shove them into the pocket of my cloak, and make my way to him. I pause a few steps away, glancing down at the bed of leaves around him, and the blood soaking into his olive-green clothes.

My blood curdles. “What do you want?”

“To say I’m sorry.” Blood stains the inside of his lips.

“Save it for Ash when he returns.” The fae are wicked, but somehow I doubt Ash would truly hurt this man, even after his betrayal.

“I thought this was the only way I could save Marlena. I thought Ash had given up and there was no way to break the curse?—?”

“But you knew it could be done. You saw what I did with Nera and still fed me the night brew and didn’t warn him when you left.”

Except somehow, Ash seemed to know.

Finley’s arms shake as he pushes himself up, holding my gaze. “I told him what I did right before we got to Nera. He put me to sleep, and when I woke, I was hidden away and they had already trapped him.”

“He’s in there because of you.” My voice shakes with fury and I turn to Irene. “And you. Be glad that I’m not as horrible as either of you, or you’d already be stone, just like him.” I point at the scientist that remains paralyzed, his body now made of smooth marble.

Naheli’s lying on the ground and tilts her head to greet me. Her expression says nothing, but I can see the edges of her body are slightly fuzzy and fading away. Which has to mean Ash is hurting badly.

She tilts her head to me and growls loud enough I hear Irene’s shaky breath in the background. Unlike my sister, I can read the spirit’s emotions.

I climb onto her back using her folded leg, and hold on to the fur on her shoulders. It doesn’t take long for the mist to turn into a saddle right under me.

The cool mist that makes my wolf friend wraps through my fingers like ropes.

I turn to Irene before leaving, knowing well I may not see her again. “If for once you want to do something for me, then you have to help him.”

I pointed at Finley, hoping she understood he mattered, even in his betrayal.

When my sister nods Naheli runs. The trees part to move out of our way. We jump off boulders and large hills, and we ride through the night under the stars.

At twilight, I don’t slumber like most beasts, and I have no one here to ask what that means.