Page 72 of Unraveled
“That mouth of yours is dangerous,” he purrs, and traps my chin with two fingers and his thumb, examining my face like he’s trying to find something hiding there.
My blood sings at how right this feels. I have never reacted this way to a simple kiss, so heated I’m ready to throw caution to the wind.
Someone hoots in the distance, and Ash pulls back just enough that I can drink in the sharpness of his cheekbones and his plush lips right before they tighten into a fine line.
“Let’s get you something to eat before we need to head to our cabin for the night.” His jaw clenches as our surroundings come back into focus. The sound of cutlery scraping over ceramic plates. The slurping of beer. The cook shouting at the server.
Droplets of rain cling to his raven hair. My body is hot, my cheeks flushed with embarrassment, as I come back to my senses and force myself to let go of his coat.
I kissed the beast I’m supposed to hate, and he kissed me right back like I’m air and he’s been drowning for years.
Chapter 24
We didn’t makegood time, like Finley hoped when we left the castle. Instead, we stayed a second night at a dingy roadside inn. At least no hybrid would suspect the king of the unseelie to lodge there.
By the time we arrive in Hedrum in the late afternoon after three days on the road, I am too tired, dirty, and slightly itchy to think of my stolen kiss. Nor do I think about what it might mean for me and my changing feelings.
Sure, magic compelled me to ignore my rational thoughts and instead follow my irrational hormones. But when Ash glances my way and my heart skips a beat, it’s nothing. I’m just intimidated. When he helps me out of the carriage and our hands linger for a little too long, it means nothing... until it does.
He doesn’t come to find me again. In fact, I suspect he’s avoiding me, which I guess after I kissed him only complicates matters in our hate games.
Hedrum is unlike Penumbra in every way that matters. It’s bright and colorful with a blue sky that’s now tinted with oranges and sunflower yellows as the sun begins its descent behind the mountains.
The clip-clopping of hooves is our company as we travel narrow streets that wind up and down the hills. Carriages pass by, some horse-drawn others pulled by steam engines. The homes in the distance look deceptively small, though it’s a trick of the eye since they grow to two stories high when we finally cross in front of them. Painted in saturated colors, this town stands in rich contrast to the green forest in the distance.
As we enter a small estate hidden behind tall hedges and ornate metal gates, the carriage shakes over the crushed granite path, waking a slumbering Nera.
“We’re here.” Finley pulls the curtains to the side as the estate comes into view behind the golden trees lining the road.
The wheels screech as we slow to a stop, and the pressure in my gut increases, burning through me as I twist Finley’s ring over my thumb, again and again.
“Is it getting worse?”
When I meet Ash’s gaze, the longing swirling deep inside me is reflected in his expression. But only for a moment, then he schools his features.
“The ring doesn’t like me very much,” I admit, and continue with the twisting, hoping it will stop sending out these unpleasant waves of energy and instead help me ease the discomfort. “It’s feeling temperamental right now. If I listen to the small voice inside the green stone, it feels cheated to not be on Finley’s magical hand while inside this manor.”
“You can hear it?” Finley looks panicked, and his gaze shifts to the ring.
“I, uh— Yes? Can’t you?”
Finley takes a sharp breath, and his brows pinch. “I don’t hear a voice, or feel any obvious intentions. Not like it’s alive. I just feel an affinity toward it, which lets me know it’s mine.”
Nera strokes my old pendant through the layers of her high-neck dress. “I can’t hear them either.”
I sink into the bench, but no matter how small I make myself, I can’t escape their scrutiny. Why am I always the strange one? Even surrounded by magical beings.
“Let me make sure Marlena knows what to expect,” Finley says, already halfway out of the carriage before I realize what’s happening. For the first time in the entire trip, it’s he who leaves first. I guess he’s eager to be out of this box and inside his home.
The gravel crunches under his boots as he rounds the vehicle, and Ash reaches for the black handle, clearing his throat before speaking. “Nera, I know this is our estate, but it’s managed by Finley and his niece. You may remember Marlena. She isn’t particularly fond of the fae.”
“Oh, I very much know who she is,” Nera says. “I think she dislikes all beings that aren’t human, no? She hates hybrids too. So this shall be fun.”
“But isn’t Finley a sorcerer?”
“Yes,” Nera says. “But he is all human, Mia. It’s the fae blood she doesn’t like, not the magic.”
Ash rubs his temple like a migraine is building. “She’s Finley’s only living relative. Be nice, you two.” Then he swings the door open and steps outside, where a lady in her fifties awaits, already talking to her much younger-looking uncle.
