Gently, I placed a hand on her shoulder. “Raven…”
She shrugged it off. “What about Yazmin?”
My hand fell to the table, but I didn’t pull away. I’d wronged her in my pursuit of the truth behind the bounty. She hadn’t sent us on a fruitless beast hunt. It wasn’t her Fabric Spinner that had captured Noc and spirited him away, allowing Cruor’s Oath to take hold and drive him insane. But at the time, I couldn’t fathom that Yazmin, our former Crown, could do anything so…wrong. And in my anger and confusion, I’d turned on Raven. Accused a broken woman of something she’d had no part in.
I’d never wanted to rectify something so badly in my life.
Gaige let out a long sigh, extracting a piece of parchment from his pile that looked more like stretched-out, decades-old leather. “I’m getting close to deciphering her notes. This bit right here,” he said, pointing to ancient glyphs etched in darkened red ink, “is a spell for taming. I think. I’ve translated two of the ingredients—bones of a tainted Charmer and blood of an undead prince—but the third piece still eludes me.”
A dull ringing sounded in my ears as the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. “Bones of a tainted Charmer?”
He nodded once, locking gazes with me. “I think that’s what started this whole mess. She placed a bounty on you because she needed your bones. But when the Myad deemed you worthy and purified you with his magic, she had to look elsewhere. To Wynn.”
A chill swept over my skin. “Wynn?”
“Yes.” He swallowed thickly. “He successfully charmed you, which tainted him. After Noc killed him, all Yazmin had to do was collect his remains.”
“You know this for a fact?” Kost asked.
Kaori rested her chin in her hands. “Yes. She was the one who disposed of Wynn’s body while you all were recovering.” Her eyes darted to Calem. We’d certainly been preoccupied, both with my injuries and his near-death experience.
Kost frowned. “The bounty called for bones to be delivered within six hours of death. There’s no way they’d still be usable for a spell after all this time.”
“Yazmin’s beast collection far surpasses all of ours,” Raven said as a tremor feathered through her jaw. “I’m certain she has a Visavem. They produce a dust that preserves the essence of any item. She can bide her time while collecting whatever else she needs.”
“Fuck all.” Calem slid lower into his chair.
“And we know she already has Noc’s blood,” Oz said as he ran a hand over his head.
Noc barely suppressed his growl. “That’s why she sent us on that outlandish beast hunt.” He let out a long breath and shook his head. “Blood alone didn’t make me a prince—I had to be recognized as one by the gods. She sent us to the two ruins so I would meet the criteria for her spell.”
Calem cursed again, and Oz formed tight fists on the table.
“Which leaves that third item,” Kost said.
“And a date.” Gaige’s soft declaration silenced us all.
My throat tightened as I searched for words. We needed time. So much time. Time to convince the Charmers to fight, if it came down to it. Time to decipher Yazmin’s notes so we could stop her. Time to find out if her claims were true.
The royal family’s Sentinels have been capturing Charmers on beast hunts and locking them away.
Noc and his family are responsible for the death of your parents.
Yazmin’s words rattled through my mind, shaking me to my very core. I still hadn’t confronted Noc about her accusations. He wouldn’t have allowed something so horrific to occur. But he was only a prince when he died. How much power did he wield? How much did he know? My gaze slanted to him. He met my stare without hesitation, concern bright in his eyes, and reached for my hand. When his fingers intertwined with mine, he gave them a gentle squeeze before turning back to Gaige. “How much time do we have?”
“The spell to awaken Ocnolog will only work on the anniversary of Celeste’s death.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. We only had a few weeks. Panic clawed at my insides, but I forced it down, counted to three, and opened my eyes. “Gaige. Kost. Double your efforts to decipher her notes. We need to know if we can stop her.”
“And if we can’t?” Oz asked.
I gripped Noc’s hand tight, trying to pull whatever support I could from our connection. This was the plan that would be hardest for my people to swallow. “Then we go to war, because it will take an army to bring down the king of beasts.”
No one moved. After a beat of silence that felt like an eternity, Kaori spoke. “How will you convince the Charmers to fight?”
“I’m not sure. But I have to try. Maybe…” I tilted my head, holding Noc’s gaze. “If they see Cruor is with us, they’ll join our cause.”
Noc frowned, running a tight hand through his hair. “We’re forgetting about King Varek. He wants me dead. We’ll fight with you against Yazmin because she’s a threat to us all. But subjecting Charmers to Varek’s wrath, for people they hardly know and certainly don’t trust…”
