Page 41 of Unraveled
“I saved you three times. Once in the forest, once in the courtyard, and once today when Nera almost got you,” he explains, counting them on his fingers.
“Right,” I say bitterly, and shove all the medical supplies back into the box. “She isn’t a bird-beast like you. Does the curse present differently for everyone?”
“Nera started like me—just a lot of feathers. For a time, I was hopeful the curse would spare her from the worst of it. But five years ago, her body began shifting to stone. Three months ago, during the last blood moon, she lost herself completely, much like you saw, and became a?—”
Ash doesn’t have to say it, because I read the words in his horrified expression. A rabid lunargyre.
“Why was she in your office if she’s dangerous even to you?”
“Because I can put her into another deep slumber if I have to. I don’t want her to be frozen like an actual statue, but it’d be worse if she went outside and was captured by your people.”
Ash trapped her in a magical sleep to save her from my sister. I look away from him as shame takes all of me. He’ll do anything to protect Nera. Like I tried to do for Irene.
“Is she the reason you stormed into Penumbra a week ago? It had nothing to do with the stolen grimoires, did it? But everything to do with Nera.”
“For her—and my people.” His jaw tightens before he speaks. “I’ll storm that city, destroy the veil, and recover what’s mine.”
“If you release me and tell me what grimoires you need, I’ll bring them back to you,” I promise, and when Ash stares at me, I think he understands I’m speaking my truth.
“I was being honest with you when I told you I didn’t want you here, Monster. But I can’t let you go either. An ancient bond tethers you to me, has ever since you met my gaze. And it’s one I’m bound to follow. If you leave, I’ll come to get you, even ifI want to let you go. My nature demands it and overrules any rational thought I may have on the matter.”
“And there’s no end to it?”
He hesitates and then sighs, loudly. “You’ll be mine until the end of our lives, or the next Séance happens, which will be in a century—or so.”
Mine. I hate that word. Hate that alongside the dread tightening around my lungs, there’s also a small part of me rejoicing at being his. What the hell is wrong with me?
“The Séance?” I drawl. Thinking back to my old studies. “The meeting with the ancient spirits? You can’t be serious.”
“I’m afraid I am.” When he looks back at me, a shadow of remorse shines behind his eyes. “Taking humans and their souls was a practice my ancestors started when they wanted to ride the Hunt across the human lands. I haven’t participated in a long time, but we can only change the rules when we meet with the ancient spirits and the seelie court. Of course, that hasn’t happened in three hundred years.”
“Is there any way for you to let me go without waiting for this meeting?”
I have read hundreds of books about the fae and the history of the world. In my twenty-five years of life, I spent a significant amount of time learning all manner of exciting things about lost civilizations. I know the fae like to bargain. Anything that might allow them to change their hand for the better. A chance to be cunning.
They don’t like to lose. But I bet I can entice him with a better arrangement. They usually can’t say no—or so the writings say.
“Can I buy my freedom?”
Ash tilts his head, the haze of drunkenness clearing from his eyes. He stares at me for so long, I think he might not answer me at all. But when he speaks, his voice is rough and sends ashiver down my spine. “There is a way, but I don’t think you’ll like it...”
“Try me.”
“You must give me one hundred souls.”
I drop my hands to my sides and stare at him, at a loss for words. “One hundred... How could my soul be worth that many?” Panic seizes me inch by inch until I can’t breathe past the knot that’s grown in my chest.
“I didn’t make the rules, but I’m bound to tell you the stipulations. Let me make one thing clear: I don’t want your soul tethered to mine, much less one hundred more. I didn’t live most of my life avoiding the Hunt for this to happen. So you’ll stay and drop this nonsense.”
“What if I help you with the curse? Would that be enough to let me go?”
He growls deeply, and I can hear steps coming down the hall outside his room. “I don’t think you know what it takes, what you’re offering.”
I take a stuttering breath and meet his golden gaze. He is too beautiful, and deadly. I should heed his words and live the rest of my life in peace—until he loses his battle with the curse and a mindless beast kills me. “Would you release my soul if I help you break the curse?”
He straightens where he sits and reaches for the discarded shirt he tossed to the side earlier. Perhaps I’m imagining the waves of golden magic that radiate from him.
“It’ll make it harder for me to let you go...” he mutters, and stands, wincing as he seems to have forgotten Nera stabbed him less than an hour ago.
