Yazmin’s wide smile burned brighter than the gems in the trees. “Yes, but it won’t be easy.” Something foreign flickered through her gaze, and her grin faltered. “The beast in question resides near Silvis’s Ruins, but the taming process is…complicated.”
She handed me the sealed parchment, and I had to fight to keep my fingers from ripping it open. “How so?” Behind her, Eilan and Raven peeled off and disappeared down the same corridor Kaori had exited through, leaving Gaige in an animated discussion with Tristan.
A soft hum worked its way through Yazmin’s lips. “You’ll need a rare ingredient to lure it out. That ingredient can only be found in Oslo’s Ruins just north of here.”
Anxiety gripped my stomach and twisted. Oslo’s Ruins to the northwest, Silvis’s Ruins to the northeast. We’d need days of travel time. There weren’t any easy modes of transportation between the two, and Noc was already going from bad to worse. Not to mention that powerful beasts tended to congregate around sacred locations. Something about the gods’ power called to them, fed their souls, and stoked their magic. Nepheste’s Ruins had Gyss, which were powerful in their own right. Might wasn’t just about physical strength. No other beast could commune with the gods like a Gyss, or alter the very fabric of the universe in exchange for the promised sacrifice.
“It will be all right. There’s time if you hurry, but the beast is dangerous. You might need backup,” she said.
I chewed on the inside of my cheek. “Another Charmer?” My gaze skipped past her to Gaige, who was waving goodbye to Tristan as he left. Tristan sauntered by us with a tight nod, presumably retreating to his secluded home somewhere in the woods away from people.
“No, you don’t want to confuse the beast with the possibility of more than one Charmer.” Yazmin touched a finger to her lips. “Perhaps Noc? His mental state may be deteriorating, but I fear it would only get worse if you two were separated.”
Even with the oath weighing heavy on his mind, Noc was still the deadliest being I’d ever met. And with Kost, Ozias, and Calem—
My heart leapt to the second story where I’d left Calem slumbering in Kaori’s quarters. “I’ll get my things in order and leave immediately.”
Yazmin’s fingers dug into my shoulder with a tight squeeze. “May the goddess watch over you.”
* * *
After changing back into my travel gear, pausing only for a moment to run my fingers over the liquid mercury robe that had been brought up as a gift, I stopped by Kaori’s room to check on Calem. He was still sleeping but much less fitfully, and she assured me she could handle him.
And that, under no circumstances, should he join me on my beast hunt. It made sense, really, but the thought of leaving him here when our enemy was still hiding in plain sight… Or just the notion that he wouldn’t be joining us on our hunt, meaning Noc would have one fewer trusted soul helping me keep watch over his mental state…
Too many problems. Not enough time.
Mind heavy, I left Kaori and made my way to the library where she’d indicated Gaige would be. I’d reviewed Yazmin’s note the moment she’d left and nearly cried. There were four prerequisites to taming the Azad: blood of the master, which was easy enough; a handful of fire opals to catch in the light and draw the creature’s eye; a full moon at its highest point, which was slightly trickier, given the rushed timeline, but we’d make do; and a ruska fruit, a prized treat for the beast, found on a singular tree somewhere near Oslo’s Ruins.
Given that I hadn’t the slightest idea what a ruska fruit was, or even what an Azad looked like, I needed Gaige’s expertise. And a promise.
“Gaige?” I stepped through the ceiling-height double doors and into the communal library. Built into the trunk of an oak, it was just a short walk from the keep. Roots puckered through soft dirt and around large cobblestone paths dotted with clover. The air was thick with the scent of flowers and parchment, and windows formed out of gaps in the trunk were sealed shut against the chilly night breeze. Enchanted flameless lights floated in orbs—a creation we’d paid mages a great deal to make in order to protect our texts from a potential fire hazard—and cast the area in a warm yellow hue. Circular wooden shelves were packed to the brim with tomes and pressed flush with the sides of the tree. Platforms of branch and stone jutted out in lofts at every flight.
Gaige poked his head over the polished railing of the second floor. “Up here.”
I took the first set of steep stairs to my left and met him at the edge. Calves screaming from the number of flights I’d forced them to climb in the past twelve hours, I let out a quiet huff. “Good thing you weren’t higher up.”
Gaige failed to conceal a grin. “I imagine you didn’t have a problem with them when you lived here.”
“I was used to it.” I plopped into the first cushioned chair I could find and held out the instructions Yazmin had given me. “I need your help with something.”
He took them and scanned the paper. His brows knitted together. “What’s this for?”
“For taming an Azad. The actual process makes sense. But I don’t know what a ruska fruit looks like. Same goes for the Azad. I was hoping you could share your insight, Council member.”
The last bit was meant to be a joke, but he neither saw my wink nor even acknowledged the playful lilt to my words. Instead, his brows were furiously trying to become one. Without warning, he turned away from me and stalked down the rows of shelves.
“Gaige?” My muscles groaned, but I shot off the chair after him. “Where are you going?”
His answer was an unintelligible mumble. Hooking a sharp right, he disappeared into a hidden enclave sequestered behind two thick shelves with a gap just large enough for a person to pass through. An enchanted orb followed us, bumping along beneath thick branches to light our path.
I brushed twigs and strands of shimmering leaves aside. A small circular room with a handful of bookshelves, a tan couch, and a knee-high, cedar-planked coffee table came into view. Weak light from the moon filtered through a circular window just above a particularly knotted portion of the tree wall.
“How did I not know this existed?”
Touching his chin to his shoulder, Gaige glanced down at me with a scrunched-up face. “Only the Council is aware of this room. Actarius’s magic keeps all others from finding it.”
“Actarius?”
