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“Me?” Instinctively, my hand went to my bestiary. The subtle warmth that pulsed from the leather binding signaled my connection to the beast realm. I had magic, sure. But not the kind Noc, Kost, and Gaige shared. What I knew about the shadows was limited to what they showed me.
Kost shifted, and his body temporarily blurred to a mass of dark wisps. “I know there isn’t a beast out there that could reverse his condition. I imagine that would’ve been the first thing Gaige tried.”
“There isn’t. I looked, too.” I looked away, unable to hold Kost’s gaze much longer. The guilt there was a mirror to the snaking, twisting feeling in my gut. After all, I was the Crown of the Charmers Council. I’d been there when Gaige died and allowed Noc to raise him, even though I knew how difficult it would be for Gaige. I was just as responsible, and I wanted nothing more than for my friend to find peace.
“I assumed as much. But I wonder if we could approach the problem differently.” Kost began to pace, his footfalls making no sound against the wooden planks of the ship. “What Gaige misses is connection. If we could find a way to give that back to him, maybe…” He fell silent. He didn’tneedto say more for us to understand.
“Connection?” Noc mused as he tipped his head to the sky in thought. “How could a beast give him that? He already has Okean.”
I shook my head. “He had hundreds of beasts. The ability to summon Okean is a fleeting reprieve, one that I imagine is painful in its own right. Every time Gaige summons him, I have no doubt he’s reminded of all the others who can’t come to his side.”
“Exactly.” Kost’s brows pulled together as he tried to piecetogether a solution. Then, he halted. “Is there a beast that can grant him passage to the beast realm? A Telesávra, perhaps?”
My stomach knotted, and it had nothing to do with the unsteady waters. “No. I’m not sure there is—”
“Please.” He’d crossed the hull to stand directly in front of me. Between the shadows and the soft lighting of the night, I hadn’t gotten a good look at Kost. But now, with him just inches from me, I could see the worried lines framing his eyes, the haggardness and anxiety in his gaze. His unkempt hair and wrinkled attire. It wrecked me to my core, and I reached out to grab his hand. My fingers met cool tendrils that refused to hold their shape, but I didn’t pull away.
“Okay, Kost. I’ll see what I can find.” It felt like a shallow promise. I wanted to offer something more substantial. A solution perfectly suited to Gaige’s needs. And yet as I pictured the pages of my bestiary, nothing immediately came to mind. I would have to look elsewhere, search other texts and consult other Charmers to see if anything could be done. In the past, I would’ve gone straight to Gaige. But if he hadn’t found an answer, I wasn’t sure where to turn. But I would try. I wouldn’t give up on him.
“Make sure he trains.” Noc’s voice was low, remorseful. “Even if you can’t see the progress, every little bit helps.”
“Thank you.” Kost’s answer was more of an exhale, and I watched as he practically deflated. How long had he been running himself ragged? How many hours had he spent searching for answers, likely unbeknownst to everyone around him? I wouldn’t let him endure this alone. Not anymore.
“Get some rest,” I said. He nodded and then disappeared, no more than a shadow fleeing into the ocean waters.
“We might have to delay our vacation,” Noc murmured as he pulled me in close.
“I know.” It was all I could manage, but I didn’t need to saymore. Instead, we simply held each other and stared silently at the horizon, neither of us willing to speak into existence the grim future that Gaige—and Kost, so desperate to help that he was tearing himself to pieces in the process—might be facing.
SIX
KOST
The early morning air was quiet, save the gentle harmony of birdcalls trilling from the branches of the forest. A soft, golden-yellow light, trimmed in a burnt ocher, rose from above the treetops and settled over the lush lawns behind Cruor. There wasn’t a cloud to be found in the sky. It was the type of morning I savored. Under normal circumstances, I would’ve slipped into the kitchen to brew a steaming mug of coffee, selected a book from the library, and then reclined in one of the slatted chairs on the deck.
But not today. Leaning forward, I pressed my forearms into the railing and clasped my hands together. A short distance away, Calem, Ozias, and Gaige were locked in a heated discussion—more like an argument—as Gaige failed to complete the simplest of drills for wielding the shadows. It’d been a week since his disastrous nightmare, and he’d yet to show any marked improvement. They’d spend the morning working with shadows and the evenings running physical drills. He exceeded there, much to my surprise. Most Charmers rarely trained in physical combat and relied entirely on their beasts for protection. But Gaige had always been a quick study, and apparently this wasn’t his first foray in hand-to-hand combat. Still, while ithelped to strengthen the vessel responsible for summoning the shadows, controlling them was another matter entirely.
Control was exactly what he needed. Jaw clenched, I studied the wild, black spires twisting around him. Even now, days later, I couldn’t shake the memory of that night. I’d awoken to concerned shouts from my brethren, only to emerge from my room and find those erratic, thrashing tendrils raging through the halls. Calem and Ozias were there, too. They’d jumped into action without waiting for my command, rushing into the snarling dark to yank our unsuspecting family out of their rooms and into safety outside the manor. Again, Gaige’s shadows had responded in violence, and each person who surfaced from the abyss was covered in shallow cuts.
The sight had wrecked me, and in an instant, my own shadows snarled to life. They’d coated me in protective armor as I strode headlong into the darkness. Gaige’s shadows howled in response, barreling into me in an attempt to thrust me out. By the time I’d made it to his room, my muscles burned from exertion, but I’d spent decades finessing my magic. It would take more than erratic, uncontained shadows to break me.
But what I’d found in his quarters was another thing entirely, and I came to an immediate standstill. It was like walking into the eye of the storm. Sable tendrils crawled across the ceiling and floor like smoke escaping from a fire. In the center of his bed was a cocoon of shadows that had obscured Gaige entirely. He was in a casket of his own making, and it was so similar to what happened with Noc when he’d been controlled by Yazmin, the former Crown of the Charmers Council, that my limbs went numb. I hadn’t been able to breach the shield Noc had created around him and Leena as he’d threatened to end her life. Ozias, Calem, and I had stood on the outside, helpless, as we prayed they’d both survive. Somehow, Leena had saved him. She’d broken through the hold on his mind, and the shadows dispersed.
And I’d had to do the same for Gaige. Coating my hands in shadows, I’d driven them deep into the interlocking thicket of tendrils surrounding his body. Sweat had trickled down my neck as I ripped them apart like stitching from fabric. I didn’t know how long it’d taken for me to finally break through. All I knew was my fingers were raw and trembling, and then suddenly I’d felt his shoulders and anchored myself to him.
“Morning,” someone said tightly. Lost in my reverie, replaying events I hoped I’d never have to relive, I hadn’t noticed the three assassins who’d joined me on the deck to watch the early morning training.
“Emelia,” I said in greeting. My gaze flicked from her to her twin brother, Iov. They shared the same widows’ peaks, sepia-toned skin, dark eyes, and full lips, but their similarities stopped there. Where Emelia prided herself on structure and discipline, Iov was more like a young Calem in the making. And Astrid… My gaze flicked to the woman standing between them, her teakwood eyes a bit bleary given the hour and her normally spiked hair unkempt—but she looked happy. Her death had brought her back to Emelia and Iov, and it was clear there was no place she’d rather be than with her childhood friends. They were all holding coffee, and Emelia handed me the extra mug she carried. Steam curled upward to tease my nose and brought with it the rich scent of vanilla.
“Thank you.” I cupped it between my hands as I straightened. “Though I doubt you sought me out to bring me coffee. Were there more attacks?”
In the week that Gaige had been training, Kitska beasts had begun prowling the borders of our home. There’d yet to be a life-threatening injury to any of our sentries, though several had returned battered and bruised. After the second incursion, I’d doubled up patrol and mandated hourly check-ins. Emelia was responsible forrunning the guard and kept me filled in. I prayed she hadn’t come to tell me that our efforts were proving futile.
“No, thankfully.” A loose strand of glossy, black hair fell across Emelia’s cheek, and she tucked it behind her ear. “It’s something else.”
My shoulders tensed. “What do you mean?”
“Well, it’s not really in our purview…” She cut a furtive glance at Calem, Ozias, and Gaige.
