Page 58 of Unraveled
“Because fae become more animalistic during that time, and let’s not forget, humans seek the Hunt.”
“What?” I blink before glancing at Finley and remembering what he told me a day ago. He’d stayed out when he knew the fae were coming, hoping to gain power.
He clears his throat and peeks behind the curtain at the ruins of the fae city we’re approaching. “Humans born during the blood moon are blessed with magic.”
My mouth falls open as I catch on to the implication. “The blood moon makes a sorcerer?”
They nod at the same time, and Finley says, “Only if they are born on any of the three nights it lasts.”
I let my body sink into my seat as I digest every morsel of this information. “So it has nothing to do with parentage?”
“Genetics do play a part, but there’s a higher chance for a newborn to be blessed with the magic of the spirits if the Hunt rides close to your home the day the baby is born. So you can imagine all the humans, and their children, that were claimed by the fae for that very reason.”
The carriage slows as we roll into the dead city. No life remains inside the tragically beautiful gray stone buildings that greet us on either side of the road. It’s a pit of nothing, and it digs a matching hollowness into my stomach.
Finley helps me out of the carriage. Leaves float past, over what must have once been a busy street. Nature has reclaimed this place. No matter how much I rub my arms, I can’t seem to bring the warmth back into my body.
“What are you thinking?” Finley asks me.
The knot in my throat makes it hard to speak as I take in the trees growing out from between the cobblestones. Climbing vines snake up the walls and into the open buildings. I swallow before I push the words out. “I am part fae, yet I feel lost in this world.”
“Hybrids and fae have a complicated relationship. In a way, you were safer growing up away from this kingdom,” Finley says.
The energy in my stomach flutters again, burning hotter just as wood shutters slam against the walls with a sudden gust of wind that howls past us. “A hybrid?”
Finley rubs his brow bone with one finger, looking miserable to be stuck in this city and talking about this. “It’s what we call those who are of mixed blood.”
“What do you mean by ‘complicated relationship’?”
He makes way for Nera to exit the carriage onto the desolate street and sighs. “The fae are bound by the bond to care for their humans, but in fae society, it was expected for humans to remain servants. So when the offspring of forbidden relationships showed incredible power, some groups arose and riled up enough followers to track down the hybrids and kill them.”
Was that why my parents hid in Penumbra?
“And so the first war of hybrids began.” Nera cringes as she studies the drab surroundings of what once was the illustrious fae city of Eponde. A place I’d only seen in illustrations in books.
Ice rushes through my body as I stare at her—and at everything else—stuck in this horror. “Why?” The question leaves my lips before I can stop it.
This entire history lesson leaves me speechless, and the pressure in my stomach stirs again. I’ve been trying to ignore it all morning.
“Because the power some hybrids had could’ve challenged the position of power the fae held among other communities,” Nera answers, misunderstanding my question.
I wasn’t asking why things went wrong for the hybrids of old, though I guess that also crossed my mind. But I want to know why this destruction happened. Are all the fae cities the same, or just Eponde?
“Not all the high fae were on board, and many helped hybrids escape to find refuge from the Kingdom of Aphelion in nearby neutral cities like Hedrum and all the way south in Caliban. Many fae fled their homes with their humans. However, if they were found, those fae were tried for treason,” Finley says as we pass under a streetlamp covered in spiderwebs and dust.
The farther into the city we go, the more I feel my power pushing against the insides of my body. Could the hybrids that escaped be responsible for the curse?
“I didn’t expect this... emptiness,” Nera admits by my side, hugging her body with both arms.
Finley slams an abandoned carriage door shut, and the sound echoes indefinitely down the long street. “This is what you wanted to see. The destruction of your people. Your little rebellious birthday present to yourself.”
I watch as Nera swallows but straightens her back, glancing around with false detachment. “I wanted to see what’s coming for me—for all the unseelie in hiding that may be affected by the curse.”
Nera doesn’t believe there’s a way out of this mess.
Eponde isn’t larger than Penumbra, but somehow, it feels vast and tiny at the same time. There are no birds singing. No children playing. The devastation holds on to every brick and cobblestone that lies in our path.
The first statue we encounter is of a fae woman with large wings and a slender figure completely bare of clothing. Like she went out on a stroll naked, and never came back.
