Page 105 of Unraveled
One, Naheli has stopped howling.
Two, that felt a lot like a goodbye.
Three, even though he wasn’t sure the night before, he just spoke inside my thoughts. A magical connection.
Ash is mymate.
Chapter 35
They don’t returnat 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 nooksand 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 ofwhat’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 putmyself, 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.
