Page 104 of Unraveled
I reach for Ash’s arm and squeeze tightly. “I doubt Finley can do much for me, unless he’s come up with the cure for the curse and hasn’t told you anything about it?”
“Exactly,” Finley says. “If this wasn’t something to worry about, you wouldn’t have sent Naheli to warn everyone whostill has consciousness and bring them inside the wards. You think something’s wrong and are marching to your own death. Willingly.” I hear something metallic crashing against the table, and Finley’s face has gone completely red with fury... and something else I can’t place. “You’ve given up.”
I whirl toward Ash and try to see if what Finley says it’s true. What I find is a broken monarch who’s determined to not let any more of his people die.
Why would someone who’s given up fight an entire group of hybrids and try to destroy their death machine? Why take the grimoires from the Hedrum house and alert everyone he was there? Why protect the castle from a scorned friend who cursed him?
Ash slams his hand on the table, and every blade shakes. Some even tumble to the ground. “I have told you many times I haven’t given up. While you may have lost your faith in your king, I happen to still have mine.”
“Then I beg you, take the spirit with you.” I could be imagining things, but I swear I see a flash of guilt in Finley’s eyes. “Mia and I will be fine. I doubt Morla will come for us.”
“And leave Mia unprotected when she just absorbed Nera’s curse?”
“Don’t leave Naheli here because of me.” As if on cue, a wave of nausea rolls through me. I press my hand over my mouth, breathing in and out in long draws, hoping to stave it off for just a few more minutes. Ash reaches for my hand, and I hope he can’t feel how cold and clammy it is.
Naheli’s howls come again, a sound pained and haunted.
Ash doesn’t look away from me as he says, “I need to go alone because even though the hybrids from Penumbra rarely come to Aphelion, they may be here now. Nera is powerful, but after she shares a connection with Sylas, she’s in a trancelike state for a few hours, which makes her easy prey.”
Finley reaches for a blade on the back wall. “I’m coming, with a tracking charm. I’ll follow right behind you on horseback. If you’re right, and Nera is safe, I’ll return as soon as I see you’re on your way back.”
I meet Ash’s gaze with a plea in my own. “Let him. Please. You never know what kind of weapon they may have.”
“Like a hybrid who wields fae magic she doesn’t understand?” he says. “I think there is only one of you, Monster.”
Monster. When he began calling me that, he said it with such disdain... Now, the way his voice shifts with a touch of adoration makes my stomach flutter.
“They have guns,” I say.
“Alright, Finley. You may use your tracking charm and follow behind, but I won’t wait for you.” Ash presses a kiss to my forehead and remains by my side for a long time, longer than normal. I glance over his shoulder and watch as Finley leaves the room to get ready to accompany him.
“Do you remember what we thought about the grimoires and my suspicions?”
I nod, and he pulls back but hovers a breath away from my skin, leaning just a little over my cheek. “No one can know that having the grimoires helps them control an ancient spirit tied to a soul weaver, not even Finley. A spirit like Naheli can cause destruction in the hands of the wrong person.”
Ash hasn’t told anyone about why he truly thinks the hybrids are stealing the books. Not even his friend.
“I should come with you . . .”
“You know you can’t, not like this.”
“Well... if trouble were to arise, how would I come to help you?”
He hesitates, his jaw working. “Would it make a difference if I asked you not to?”
“No.”
He sighs, but a shadow of a smile appears on his lips. “If I don’t return, Naheli can bring you to me. She can’t go into Penumbra, for the reason I stated before, which means you shouldn’t come unless you’re sure I’m gone and you aren’t cursed anymore.”
“I’m not waiting until you’re dead, and if you’re afraid that’ll be the case, then maybe don’t go?”
As soon as the words leave my lips, I know they’re the wrong ones. Of course he has to go. Anger and fear blend in a horrible cocktail of emotions that worsen my nausea. I open my mouth to tell him... something, but he’s already pulling away from my weak grip.
He pauses right under the archway that leads to the massive solarium and turns to look into my eyes. “Stay out of trouble, Monster. I’ll see you at nightfall.”
Ice travels through my veins. His expression says so much more than words ever could. He knows something I don’t, and it’s clear in his eyes. I hear his voice in my mind like I’m listening to a conversation through a wall.Don’t trust anyone but Naheli.
It’s then that I notice three things.
