Five
Leena
My newly acquired Telesávra was a bit of a handful, and a small part of me wondered if that had something to do with Raven’s willingness to give him to me. There was no mistaking the mirth in her eyes when he nipped my fingers, then rammed his dense skull into my leg. I could already feel a bruise coming on, but at least he’d bonded to me. With his hearth point set to Hireath, we were able to leave as soon as I’d received him. And since Gaige’s Telesávra was set to the same location, we could transport a decent number of assassins safely to the keep in a matter of minutes once we arrived at Cruor. For now, though, we were forced to trek through the Kitska Forest on foot.
For the hundredth time, I brushed aside a spike-covered vine only to have it snag on my coat. A few threads gave way as I shoved through. Even in winter, the forest was dense and unrelenting. Not to mention, the monsters. One deadly call after another rolled through the air, as if they were on edge.
Or out hunting.
I shivered, pushing that thought away. Legend suggested the Kitska monsters were the trapped souls of deceased beasts from the First War. Their terrifying appearance and unconstrained rage were the exact reason Charmers hesitated to fight. Their existence was our punishment for letting ourselves be dragged into war. I wasn’t sure if that was true or not. It didn’tfeelright. We’d only been defending ourselves from the Wilheimians. But something had happened to these beasts, that much was obvious. And while they rarely attacked Charmers—perhaps out of some fealty to us in their former lives—it wasn’t unheard of. I’d only spied one of these creatures once before, and I wasn’t in a hurry to repeat that encounter.
Calem let out an irritated grunt as he kicked away a fallen branch obscuring our path. “Remind me again why we aren’t using our shadows?”
Noc’s gaze swept over our surroundings. “We don’t have any idea what Darrien is planning. But we do know he has his sights set on Cruor, and we’re all familiar with how deadly he can be in the shadow realm.”
“Prick,” Calem muttered. Oz nodded his agreement.
“There’s also the matter of Leena and Gaige,” Kost said. “We could try to outrun Darrien in the shadows, but if we found ourselves cornered, neither of them could summon their beasts.”
Suppressing a shiver, I dipped my chin in the direction of Quilla, my Asura, to ensure she was still nearby. Slow-moving but ever alert, she swiveled her cow-like head back and forth as she pushed aside vines and sauntered by my side. Gaige had summoned his Asura as well, along with a Femsy of his own. He’d sent the bird beast ahead to scout our trail and tapped into its sight twice already to ensure we were safe. To boot, Kost had called on Felicks, who was securely perched on his shoulder. Every few minutes, his amethyst orb would cloud and Kost would pause, reviewing the contents of our future, and then we’d press forward. We hadn’t forgotten about Yazmin’s spying. And since we had no real idea where she was hiding, we had to remain alert.
“We’re almost to the winnow point.” Noc jerked his chin, presumably in the direction of Cruor, though I couldn’t be certain. The guild’s secret entrance was near impossible to find without the aid of an undead assassin. “Once we reach it, we’ll be at Cruor’s doorstep.”
A memory of the first time I’d traveled to Cruor surfaced in my mind. My Iksass, Iky, had trapped Kost with his barbed limbs and forced the assassin to escort us to the guild. The swirling, dark vortex—accessible only by a member of Cruor—had transported us instantly and safely without fault. It’d been nerve-racking to set foot in a manor full of assassins, but now it was one of my homes. And I desperately wanted to protect it.
“You okay?” Noc asked.
“Yeah, I’m good.” I gave him a tense smile. I had little faith we’d find any additional information about Yazmin’s spell at Cruor, but I had to dosomething. I wouldn’t be a ruler who sat on her throne, commanding from afar and putting other people in jeopardy.
Noc held back a branch for me to pass by. “We’ll find something, Leena.”
I ducked under the tree’s limb and stopped. “Am I doing the right thing?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean declaring war. Is that the right thing to do?” I glanced around at our party. Kost and Gaige had shifted their conversation to spellwork ingredients, while Calem and Oz walked quietly behind them. I didn’t want to jeopardize my family, or my people, by making the wrong decision.
“You’re not declaring war. Yazmin is.” Noc brushed a stray lock of hair off my face. “There’s a key difference, there.”
“Really?” I sighed. “It doesn’tfeelall that different. What that woman said…” I swallowed thickly, remembering how her words had rattled me to my core. Yazmin had asked her people to go to war, right before unleashing the Vrees on us all. And her reasons for doing so… Charmers captured at the hands of Wilheimians… It had sounded like a valid reason to fight.
Noc gripped my shoulders tight. “Don’t doubt yourself. Think of Onyx.”
I blinked. “What?”
His fingers tightened. “Onyx deemedyouworthy. Not Yazmin. The Charmers saw that. Besides, what about Ocnolog? You said he couldn’t be controlled. So even if Yazmin succeeds in summoning him, everyone will be in danger.”
“Yazmin tamed the Vrees before I broke his bond with her.” My words were low. Uncertain. I glanced at my Charmer’s symbol. Even now, without channeling my magic, it seemed to throb with power. Since welcoming the Vrees, who I’d named Aeon, to my family, I’d felt stronger. More capable. As if the goddess herself had granted me a sliver of her power. Aeon, a giant teddy bear at heart, enjoyed roaming the endless fields of the beast realm, tongue lolling out the side of his maw. Celeste’s magic was strongest there, and I think he felt that. Relished it. Just being connected to him was like being connected to her.
Yazmin had tamed Aeon alone, and she’d gone to extraordinary lengths to do so. She was stronger than me. Stronger than all of us; of that I had no doubt.
“You think that means she’ll be able to control Ocnolog.” Noc’s words echoed my fear.
I nodded. “And I think she’ll use him to destroy everything.”
“Yazmin is power hungry. Even if her motives were sparked by something righteous, she’s going about it the wrong way. War is…” Noc looked away, gaze tight. Everything about him stiffened, as if he were reliving some long-ago memory. He became a soldier, a warrior, in that moment. “It’s not pretty, Leena.”
“I know,” I said. “But you were fighting for something you believed in, right?”
