He didn’t flinch. Didn’t balk at my need for reassurance. Instead, he pressed a feathery kiss to my forehead. “I swear on my life, Leena, I didn’t know.”
My eyes slipped closed. There was no way he would’ve lied to me about something like this. But someone was responsible. Someone knew.
Varek.Even if he wasn’t the first one to capture Charmers, he was still aware. He was the one holding them prisoner after they’d been missing for decades.
The grip on my parents’ bestiaries grew tighter. As much as I wanted to rush off and confront him immediately, to find my parents and release them from whatever hell they were living in, something felt…off. How did Yazmin get their bestiaries in the first place? Did they willingly give them to her? Or did she remove them by force?
There were too many variables at play, and I wouldn’t be a pawn in her games. Not anymore. With the backs of my hands, I rubbed the tears from my cheeks. She wouldn’t win. Not now, not ever. One way or another, I’d stop her and save the Charmers locked away in Wilheim. And I wouldn’t do it alone. Gazing at Noc, I let out a steadying breath before pressing my lips to his.
Together. We’d handle Yazmin’s latest ploy together.
Twenty-Eight
Leena
The library was quiet, thanks to the late hour. The clusters of bookshelves softened the creak and moan of the winter wind seeping through the walls. But at least it was warm. A rycrim heater hummed nearby, dumping heat into the space and eliminating the need for a fire. Something we never would’ve dared to light for fear of accidentally igniting the massive tree trunk that housed our library.
Kaori had a book open in her hands, but she flipped the pages absently, her eyes focused elsewhere. She tipped her head in greeting to Noc and me as we entered before returning it to a shelf. Reclining in the nearest chair, Calem quietly watched Kaori’s stiff movements. Oz and Kost sat next to him, and a low, inaudible conversation flowed between them. Raven bustled around lighting a handful of floating rycrim orbs, their somber glow basking the space in a soft light.
Sliding into one of the wooden chairs, I placed my parents’ bestiaries on the table.
Kaori’s eyes went impossibly wide. Raven froze as Kost and Oz’s conversation came to a screeching halt. Calem’s mouth fell open. Noc was quiet behind me, his hand heavy on my shoulder and fingers tense. Pulling strength from his touch, I swallowed once before meeting each of the Council members’ gazes.
“These belong to my parents.”
For an eternity, no one spoke. Only stared. Then, Kost cleared his throat. “You’re absolutely positive?”
“Yes.” The word soured my tongue, and I swallowed thickly. “Even if they weren’t, would it matter? Yazmin has clearly found the Charmers she said Wilheim has been hunting. My parents can’t be the only ones.”
Kaori blanched and gripped the chair before her for support. Calem subtly in shifted her direction, the beginnings of a crease forming along his forehead.
Raven bit out a curse. “Leena’s right. It’s not like Yazmin just found a pair of bestiaries to send us. They burn away soon after the Charmer dies.”
A memory of Gaige’s bestiary turning to ash sparked in my mind. It’d been such a horrifying moment, but only because he’d been there to witness it. Rebirth, apparently, wasn’t something we were ever supposed to experience.
“Which means they have to be alive,” Oz mumbled. He looked at me then with such sorrowful eyes that it was hard to maintain composure.
Calem dragged his gaze away from Kaori to glare at the pendants. “So, what do we do?”
“I’m not sure we can do anything.” Noc was barely audible. “Not yet.”
Something snapped in Kaori, and she pushed away from the chair to brace her hands on the table. “Are you out of your mind?” Her fingers turned bone white as she leaned forward more. Her outburst was everything I wanted to feel. Everything I wanted to express. But I was strangely numb. My limbs were lead, and everyone was speaking through cotton. I knew what they were saying. Knew how it was supposed to make me feel, but it just didn’t register. It was all dull compared to the all-consuming anguish inside me. I’d had parents all these years, and I never knew.
Noc’s words were measured. “We would love to free them immediately. But I think this is Yazmin’s way of trying to bait us into a compromising situation.”
Mercury veins—so like the hue of Calem’s eyes—crept down Kaori’s right hand and wrapped her fingers like rings. The wood beneath her grip gave a definitive groan. Calem immediately stood and moved closer to her. He placed his hand over hers and gave it a squeeze. She blinked, then shook her head, and the veins receded.
“I’m with Kaori on this one,” Raven said, jaw ticking. Ire flashed through her eyes. Her desire for vengeance hadn’t subsided, and her words were edged. “I said I’d fight anywhere, under any circumstances. Now seems like a good time to me.”
Oz grimaced. “We can’t do that, Raven.”
“And why not?” she ground out.
“I want Yazmin to get what’s coming to her just like you do,” Oz said, giving her a long look, “but we need to think about this. She’s playing at something, we just don’t know what.”
Kost pushed his spectacles up the bridge of his nose. “Did the note say anything else?”
“No,” I said. “Nothing.” No one spoke. This was a riddle we couldn’t possibly solve, and suddenly all I wanted to do was scream. Gone was my inability to process, to feel, and now I was hot all over and angry. Angry at the world for taking my parents. Angry for the Council exiling me when they did. For Yazmin turning against us. Years of injustice piled up and I just wanted to knock it all down. My hand formed a tight fist by my side, and power flooded to my emblem. Rosewood light exploded around me, and for a moment I just reveled in it.
