Page 29 of Unraveled
Never look a fae in the eyes.
Did he know the beasts are fae?
Alaris pauses in front of the stove, blinking his bulging eyes slowly and taking in every word Ash says. After a moment, he places a large cast-iron pot over the orange flames and continues his task.
“We think you’re all gone,” I argue, quiet enough so only Ash can hear, and tear a chunk off the bread, eyeing the butter in front of me.
“Is that supposed to make it better? Should I look the other way and not destroy the veil because the citizens are ignorant? Let your people continue to kill mine?” Ash taps the wooden table. A smile twists his thick lips, but the gesture doesn’t reach his eyes.
“N-no. What’s happening is terrible. If you let me go, I’ll talk to my sister. She’s reasonable. She’ll stop them from taking the lunargyres to feed the machine.”
“Before the night we met, I never considered Penumbra anything I needed to worry about. It’s far enough that the lunargyres shouldn’t travel there.” Glancing away, as if lost in thought, Ash takes a sip of his tea. “But someone was taking them—killing them—so I went to investigate and found the veil...”
“We have it to protect our people from yours. If you’re able to put a stop to the lunargyres, then the veil will cease to be necessary,” I say, and drop the bread onto my plate.
“If you believe that, then you are more naive than I thought.”
I couldn’t even argue with that. If the elders know the beasts are fae, but aren’t discouraging the rumors of their race being dead, something’s up.
“A beast killed my father in front of my sister a year ago, and it took a week for me to muster the courage to clean his blood and guts from the sidewalk,” I say. “We aren’t making up how the beasts kill us every blood moon.”
“I don’t deny that. But that doesn’t mean the veil was created to protect your people from us. There is something they’re protecting, but it’s not your people.”
The night we met, I got the impression Ash didn’t think highly of humans. Of the people of Penumbra. At the time, I didn’t understand why, but it makes sense now. I didn’t know then that he was a cursed king of a failing kingdom whose subjects were being harvested by scientists.
I can understand where he’s coming from, but that doesn’t mean I’ll sit here and eat buttery potatoes and wait for him to destroy my home.
My goal is still the same. I have to leave this place and warn the scientists he’s coming. The kitchen door slams against the wall, and the pots hanging over the kitchen island shake with the force. Finley rushes in, and he’s completely soaked, like he was just in a river.
His eyes shift nervously from me to Ash, and then across the room to where Alaris is drying his claws and limping away.
“Are the wards still standing?” Ash asks, and from the corner of my eye, I catch him placing a steaming sweet roll on my golden plate.
A ward? Like the ones the head librarian maintains around our building to protect the grimoires from thieves?
Our town attempted to use wards to repel the monsters—but we quickly learned wards didn’t keep them from entering.
“Yes,” Finley sighs, and sits next to me. He drags a hand over his dark blond hair, sending droplets of water falling to the table. His face is strained, exhausted. “There’s a small tear on the west side. I patched it with the last yellow crystal. It should hold her back... for a time. But I’ll have to leave for Hedrum in a few days to get supplies, just in case.”
Hold her back? Is this a result of me touching the roses? Is that why Finley didn’t chase after me? He had to inspect a possible faulty ward?
I bring the roll to my lips and chew slowly, unable to taste much as I process the new information. The town of Hedrum sounds familiar and pulls at a distant memory. Probably something I read in a grimoire.
“I’m sorry, Ash. Naheli let Mia out, and I wasn’t prepared for that.” Finley’s grimace deepens, and his eyes flash to me.
Guilt churns in my stomach. How silly. I don’t even know him or owe him anything—well, except for saving my life...
“Of course she did.” Ash glances to the window where rain now pours down. His jaw tenses as he leans back in his seat. “That wolf has her own agenda.”
“Is the crack related to me?” I ask before I can stop myself, and both their gazes fall on me. I fight the urge to squirm by reaching for my glass of water and taking a big gulp.
“I might answer that question if you tell me what you are.”
“I already told you,” I say, frowning. I’m thinking that whatever Ash believes I am is something else. Something I’m not. That must be why he’s keeping me alive.
“A librarian?” Ash uncrosses his legs, looking at my barely touched food. I wonder if he’s going to take it away now that I’m not giving him what he wants. “I’m older than you. A librarian keeps books. They don’t cast magic the way you did.”
“I had an amulet, which you took away.”
