My chest tightened at the sight. Oz. Always looking out for others. As I made a move to approach them, a gentle hand draped in wispy shadows gripped my waist. “Miss me?”
A tingling warmth surged through my limbs, and I turned, throwing my arms around myanam-cara. The last of those dark tendrils disappeared with his surprise greeting, and I nuzzled against his sternum before tilting my chin up to meet his gaze. My breath caught in my chest. His new appearance still startled me, but in the best kind of way. Shock-white hair. Intense, crystalline-blue eyes that tore right through me. Even the glass cut of his jaw. Everything about him was sharper, more defined, since the glamour that’d obscured his identity had been removed.
“Of course I did. What kind of question is that?” I rolled my lower lip into my mouth, biting back a laugh.
Lightly, he ran his knuckles along my cheek. “A silly one.” He cupped my chin and pulled me in for a kiss that made my toes curl.
Beside us, Gaige cleared his throat. “Shall we get started, then?” Felicks perked up at his words and abandoned his lap, once again taking his place by Kost’s side.
Unwillingly, I broke away from Noc’s embrace, but lingered in his arms. “I suppose.”
Noc’s grin turned sinful before he dipped his head toward my ear, lips ghosting along my skin. “You can properly welcome me back later, in the privacy of your bedroom.”
My stomach clenched as a burn crawled up the back of my neck. We’d only been apart for a handful of days, yet I ached to end this meeting before it even began just so I could take him up on his suggestion.
Before my body could betray me, I approached the table. We had important things to discuss, like my coronation as Crown. And the plans I had for our people. Plans I wasn’t sure the Council would agree with.
We all took our seats, and for a moment I stilled. Charmers and assassins together at a Council meeting, eager and willing to ensure our people were protected. There was no hesitation, despite our different backgrounds. Which was good, because uniting was the only way we’d have a chance of taking down Yazmin. Hope, steady and warm, filled me as I sat beside Noc.
Maybe my plans would work. Maybe the Charmers would agree, if they saw Cruor was on our side.
Gaige shuffled the loose papers before him. “I hereby call to order the first Council meeting under our new Crown, Leena Edenfrell.”
I raised a brow. “Almost-new Crown.”
“Semantics.” He waved his hand loosely before reclining in his chair, targeting me with his steely gaze. “First order of business—modifying our Council to include Noc, Kost, Ozias, and Calem. At least temporarily, while we deal with the current threat.”
Everyone straightened in their chairs, curious glances darting from one person to the next.
Calem found his voice first. “Wait, what?”
“Is that really for the best? I don’t want to cause an upset,” Oz added, bracing his forearms on the table.
I shook my head. “Right now, our people need to see they’re not alone. We’ve been told since the beginning of time that it’s us against the rest of Lendria. We need to show them that’s not the case.”
“I see no problems with this arrangement,” Kaori said, her soft voice full of quiet authority.
“Me neither.” Raven drilled her fingers along the table, tension seeping out of her frame with every definitive tap.
“If Leena thinks this is the best way forward,” Noc said, pulling my focus, “then we’ll do it.” He dropped his hand to my leg, giving it a tight squeeze of reassurance.
“Then it’s done.” Gaige dipped his quill into a nearby inkwell and jotted something down on a stray piece of parchment. A soft hoot sounded from the ceiling, but Gaige continued to write unperturbed. Between the leaves and branches that knit together like rafters, an owl with bark-like horns perched on a low-hanging limb. Actarius. The Whet had been trapped outside the beast realm when Celeste, the goddess of beasts, died.
Even though he’d use his powers to commemorate this moment, Gaige hadn’t been the same since he discovered his memory had been wiped. He took notes all the time now, carrying spare scraps of paper in his pockets in case he needed to write something down on the go. It was as if he didn’t trust his own memory anymore. As if writing somehow solidified the moment and eased the stiffness in his shoulders.
“What does this mean for Cruor?” Kost braided his fingers together, first looking at Noc before slowly allowing his gaze to drift back to Gaige.
“We’re all equal in the eyes of the Council. Our threats are your threats and vice versa. Which means,” Gaige said, quill tapping against parchment, “the Council won’t hesitate to come to your aid, and you’ll be expected to do the same.”
“Our people, however, are another story,” Kaori said.
“So we fight for them, but they don’t fight for us?” Calem asked.
“Charmers haven’t participated in any type of large-scale conflict since the First War,” I said. “Give them time to see you’re trustworthy, that you’re part of our community now, and they’ll come around.”
“I’ll fight whenever you need me.” Raven’s words were sharp. “I don’t care who it is.”
My stomach dropped at the same time Oz winced. The amount of pain Raven must’ve been in. I wasn’t sure if succumbing to rage was the right path, but I needed her fearlessness.Weneeded it. If the Charmers saw how passionately she was willing to fight and confront injustice, then maybe they’d follow suit.
