Page 78 of Unraveled
“Your ring wasn’t necessarily hostile. Its alliance is to you, not me, which made it unhappy to be on my hand. I don’t know how it works, to be honest.”
“I’ve never met someone who can understand magical items as you seem to, but strange gifts are given to those with mixed blood.” He clears his throat. “Did mine tell you anything unusual?”
“No. I sense waves of feelings, and sometimes I can understand them. Like when my mother’s necklace refused to part from Nera the night she almost killed Ash, but it still helped me restrain her.”
Finley hums, not saying anything else. We stand in silence for what feels like an eternity, but I want to dance. Perhaps that’ll help drive away the tension in my body. I get theimpression he won’t ask me though—not after how hesitant he was when I held his arm earlier.
Finley stares over my head, and his skin has gone a shade of green. “I’m going to get us something to drink. Wait here.” It’s as if he found someone in the crowd. My heart leaps and I turn to follow his retreating shape, but I can’t see anyone in particular, and soon his body blends with everyone else.
Now that I’m alone, I can follow the pull of the strange voices. They feel distant yet persistent, coming from somewhere in this house. And I’ve heard voices like this before, back in the library when the stolen grimoires called to me.
What if there are fae books? I crane my neck to find Ash and Nera still spinning across the dance floor, whispering to each other. I stand there, hoping one of them will glance my way so I can beckon them over and share what I’m feeling.
But then, what if I’m wrong and I steal this moment away from Nera, this small reprieve from her reality, for nothing? I can’t trust I have a handle on whatever this is. I reach for the pin in my hair, and it buzzes against my fingertips, whispering something that feels like reassurance. Perhaps I just need to inspect the area casually, make sure I’m not imagining things.
He is here. . . they say.
I squeeze myself through the sea of people, across the dimly lit dance floor, following the voices blindly. I pass under an archway with ornate carvings painted in olive greens and into a wide hallway decorated with paintings of humans. Here, away from the crowd, I can hear their whispers more clearly.
My amulet vibrates against my skull as I step into the emptiness ahead.
There are no guests here, not even staff handing out glasses of wine, so it’s much easier to discern the strange pull that’s brought me to this place.
He is here.
Ours.
He’s here. Not a human language, but the same as the forbidden books in Penumbra.
I know without a shadow of doubt there are fae grimoires stashed away in this place.
My amulet’s shaking intensifies with every step that draws me closer. The hair on the back of my neck stands up as I reach for a door handle and push it open. The light of the hall spills into the dark room, illuminating carpeted floors, and a strange tangled sheet moving...
A moan pierces the shadows, and I freeze. Not a sheet, but almost-torn-up clothes. In the darkness, two bodies move together over the couch.
My face burns as I step back into the hall and close the door softly. I doubt I went unnoticed, they just didn’t care enough to stop. I press my cool fingers to my hot neck, and my helpful brain feeds me an image of Ash’s naked chest. And a memory of the softness of his lips.
I shouldn’t be here, prancing through the empty halls of a stranger’s home by myself, especially if they have stolen grimoires hidden somewhere. I make my way back to the dance. I should let Ash know what I’m hearing, and perhaps he’ll have a better plan for what to do. What if he gifted the grimoires to the owner of this place? I could get us kicked out of these celebrations and ruin Nera’s night for no reason.
By the time I’m back, three songs have passed, but the space is as busy as it was when I left. I spot Nera and Finley dancing, though they’re far from me and keeping their gazes cast down. I lift to my tiptoes and try to find Ash in the crowd. It takes embarrassingly little time to find him, leaning against a wall, drinking from a glass of red wine, and talking with someone.
He is a light, and I’m a moth drawn to it.
“What do you say we go somewhere a bit more private, Hellion?” the woman purrs, and her hand goes to Ash’s chest where she straightens his already-straight cravat.
Hellion? Isn’t that the kind of spirit Naheli is? My stomach hardens, and I’m walking closer even while my head shouts at me to turn around and go the other way.
From where I stand, he is the perfect picture of relaxation, shoulder against the wall as he leans down toward her. I watch as Ash’s nostrils flare, and then his gaze snaps to me. I freeze, paralyzed by his intense, unreadable expression.
With the glamour both fae royals used to blend in, their eyes changed from metallic shades to common human colors. His were brown when we left Finley’s manor, but now, they’re back to gold.
His jaw clenches as he tears his attention from me and returns it to the woman in front of him. I purse my lips and straighten my back, ignoring the ugliness brewing in my chest.
If anything, I should tell him about the crack in his glamour. Maybe he doesn’t know.
“Can I have a word with you?” I choose not to use his name, just in case there’s a reason he’s going by another.
The woman turns to the sound of my voice, sharply. If looks could kill, I would be dead now. And she looks and looks. From the tip of my boots all the way to the amulet resting right above my ear.
