Page 76 of Unraveled
I shrug, not trusting my voice as we cross a plaza on a beautifully paved path between two rows of large trees. His arm brushes against mine, and our hands linger so close—I want to close the gap but hold myself back.
“Why is it such a big deal if someone recognizes you?” I ask instead. “Finley mentioned in the carriage Hedrum is more neutral toward the fae? I’m sure there are people here who support you.”
He nods, but we walk quietly for almost half a block before he speaks again. “It was safer at the beginning, but now, Hedrum is crawling with hybrids, which is why I didn’t want Nera to come. They hide as nonmagical humans. Usually they’re trying to find a fae who hasn’t perfected the glamours. Those who weren’t close to me when the curse took effect. It makes them easy prey.”
“Is that why you stopped coming here five years ago?”
It smells of campfire, like everyone in town has their fireplaces lit. I enjoy that, even with two cursed fae hidden behind enchantments, the night remains clear of rain.
“No. It’s because Nera turned to stone and lost her mind briefly during that first blood moon. After that, I focused all my time on trying to break the curse and avoided the politics of it.”
“I never expected the fae to become prey for humans. You always seemed so powerful,” I confess as we turn to go down a hill. Street vendors have set up carts between the shops oneither side of the street and are selling flowers, food, and various knickknacks.
“Perhaps that was our downfall. We believed ourselves to be untouchable for so long we grew too comfortable. But the power that lies within a repressed society, power willing to incite organized chaos? That’s enough to bring a kingdom to the ground.”
I mull over his words and feel empty. There’s no good side to a war when innocents die for the decisions of those who hold power.
“Are the seelie also affected by the curse?”
Ash is quiet for so long, I don’t know if he can say anything about it. It might be a detail in the confines of the curse... but then again, if I ask the right question, it seems they can answer me.
“No,” he says at last. “It only affects the unseelie of Aphelion.”
His kingdom. An act of war to eradicate a race shouldn’t be so specific to him. Not unless it’s personal. I tilt my head and drink in his expression, the shine behind his eyes. He wants me to keep asking questions. I’m getting somewhere.
“Is the curse directed at your family?”
He looks around us, but we’re mostly alone as we walk down the street, and those who are nearby are shouting at each other and laughing drunkenly. “Yes.”
My heart lurches.
Continue, his eyes beg me, though his lips flatten to a line. I think back to the prophecy.
The hybrids will come under a blood moon to the unseelie halls.
At first, I thought it referred to a mob who marched into the castle and brought dark magic with them, but what if the person was already inside? What if they were close to him?
Another tribute of the blood moon, like me. What if the prophecy refers to the both of us? Two hybrids coming to the castle, though I’m not intent on their destruction. Quite the opposite.
“Was the hybrid someone whose soul you took?”
Even under the pale light of the full moon, I see how every ounce of color in his cheeks fades. “Yes.”
Adrenaline rushes through me as I open my lips to continue my line of questioning, but something moves behind him in the window. Black swirls form around his blurred reflection, like what I saw in Eponde. Long, fingerlike, and drifting closer and closer to me through the surface of the glass.
I turn back to Ash, then to Nera, who still holds Finley’s arm, but they both look normal. Glowing even.
“Is everything alright, Monster?” Ash lifts a brow and searches my face. I’m afraid if I tell him what I see, he’ll pull me away when I’m so close to finding something. I suspect what I’m seeing in the reflections is a manifestation of the curse itself.
There has to be a connection with the lack of mirrors in the castle. What if the hybrid got rid of them all? What if I can use a reflection to break them free? I just have to figure out how to sever whatever connection there is.
A group of young men stumble around us, breaking my line of vision to the shadowy figure. I watch them stroll down the street, abusing their massive jugs of wine. The last one from their group turns to Nera as he passes, howls at her, and moves on with a manic cackle.
“Drunken humans are so predictable,” Ash says flatly, and offers me his arm. “Come, Monster, let’s get you an artifact that actually works for you.”
Chapter 26
I shiftmy new amulet in my hands, feeling the gentle power that graces my fingertips. The small voice differs from my old necklace, but it’s warm and friendly, unlike Finley’s ring. I never expected magical jewelers could craft a sorcerer’s amulet into something as simple as a hairpin. I’m happy I was wrong. Smiling, I trace the gold petals that make a flower with a beautiful ruby set in the middle. It’s fitting that somehow I ended up with a magical artifact shaped like a rose.
