Page 103 of Unraveled
Ignoring the protest of my sore limbs, I quickly make my way out of Ash’s chambers. My feet pound through the halls and down the wide steps. I’ve been in this place long enough to know where to go.
It takes longer than it should to notice the roses changing appearance. Ever since I accidentally touched them, they’ve been red. But now they’re all withering away, their petals scattered across the steps. Like a river of blood.
Holding onto the wall for balance, I run down to the second floor, following Naheli’s call.
I stop when I hear Finley down the hallway. “You can’t possibly think it’s a good idea to go on your own. It’ll be better if I come with you.”
I was on my way to the courtyard, but instead I follow Finley’s voice to the main floor and a part of the castle I’ve never been
The far wall is all windows, giving the space the appearance of a solarium. One that’s the size of an entire building.
Outside, nature overtakes the east garden. White bodies made of stone line the place. Not statues, but lunargyres, frozen in time, the weather chipping away at them while they forever slumber in their magical prisons. Life blooms from grayish stems of trees and bushes. Early spring creeps in, taking away some of the bite of our mild winter. My lungs burn as I try to catch my breath, and I move into a room covered from floor to ceiling in weapons.
Swords are arranged neatly on the walls, their mounts made of fine wood and carefully fashioned to cradle each weapon. Some blades curve, others are straight and narrow. Some glow with the magical markings of spells etched into their sides. Others are affixed to bone handles. And they all hang one above another, going up until I can’t distinguish their shapes anymore.
Ash secures a belt around his waist and reaches for a couple of daggers arranged on the small table by his side. I stumble into the light, and before I can take another step, Ash crosses the room with the aid of his wings, and grasps me by my elbow.
He wears all-black leather armor, and the small feathers that come up his neck blend seamlessly with his coat. But it’s not his strange outfit that stands out the most, but the golden tears streaming down his face, like the day we met.
“Are you leaving?” I blink, and the face of the curse flashes under my eyelids. Hovering underneath my skin, pulled like a magnet to Ash’s much larger fragment of it.
He places a hand gently on my waist. “You should be resting.”
“Naheli’s howling woke me up.” I frown. Why didn’t he answer my question? “Is there something wrong?”
As if summoned, Naheli’s moans travel the long halls to echo through the room, raising the hairs on the back of my skull. I reach for Ash’s face and trace my thumb over his cheek, but the line of tears doesn’t smear. It flows undeterred by my touch.
He covers my hand with his own, and when he touches his skin, the liquid gold clings to his fingers. “Every time a scientist in Penumbra takes a lunargyre, I cry their blood. It’s a burden only I can bear.” He takes a ragged breath and returns to securing the second dagger to his belt.
“What’s happening?”
“Nera is gone.” Finley’s voice wavers. He isn’t meeting my gaze, but he sets his shoulders like he’s readying himself for a fight. “We’ve looked everywhere, but since Ash is crying blood, he’s going out to the forest to make sure she’s alright.”
A stone sinks in my gut and I reach for the weaponry table, leaning against it as the ground moves underneath me. “You suspect the scientists took her?”
Ash’s brows furrow as he holds me by my elbows, steadying me. “It’s unlikely they’ll be this close to Aphelion so far from the blood moon. Are you feeling well, Monster?”
I nod, not wanting him to worry about me when something might be happening to Nera. “Why did she leave the castle?”
“She sleepwalks when she has dreams of her soulmate,” Finley says, his nose wrinkling. “It’s been five years since Nera had an episode, so we weren’t prepared.”
I think back to what Ash told me the night before, about the things fated mates share. Dreams, visions. “Why did she stop having them?”
“We don’t know,” Ash says as he finishes strapping on a shoulder guard. “I suspect it had to do with her shifting to stone, that it disrupted their bond.” His jaw ticks. “You look very pale.”
Who cares?
Nera is missing. She walked into a forest full of raging beasts, and scientists are hunting the fae again... “So what happens if they actually took her? Are you bringing Naheli?”
Surely, he isn’t thinking about going alone. I know he’s powerful, he almost took out the whole scientist quarters on his own, but if they’re coming all the way here, I bet they have something up their sleeves.
“No. Naheli has to stay in the castle to maintain the wards against—” The words die in his mouth, and his frustration is clear in his expression.
“Morla?”
He nods. “Just in case she gets any new ideas.” Ash’s eyes look past me, over my head to where Finley stands. “And Finley needs to stay to make sure your condition remains stable.”
My cheeks warm, and I hear Finley groaning behind me. I can’t blame him. Why would he want to stay behind to babysit me, and the consequences of my own actions, when his friends’ lives are in danger?
