The Frozen Prince (The Beast Charmer #2) - Maxym M. Martineau Page 0,113

pulled me from my reverie. “We’ll figure this out.”

I peeled open my eyes. “I don’t know where to start.”

“Calem, give us a play-by-play.” Oz glanced past me to Calem.

“Kaori and I had just returned from training yesterday morning, and we met up with Gaige, Tristan, Eilan, and Raven outside the dining hall for breakfast.” His gaze dropped to the floor. “A whole mess of beasts appeared and just started attacking. Not just us, but other Charmers too.”

“Other Charmers? Who?” What on earth was happening? Who was behind it? Unleashing beasts to attack Charmers… I couldn’t fathom anyone ever doing such a thing. That act alone would turn the goddess’s favor for good. Besides that, how had anyone gotten a jump on the Council? I reached out to run a shaky hand through Onyx’s fur, steadying myself.

Gaige grimaced. “Mostly those who would’ve been potential Council members. They all could’ve easily been replacements for Wynn. Strong. Independent. Some already had legendary felines too.”

“Eilan and Tristan didn’t make it.” Raven’s voice was scraped raw. I tilted my head in her direction, catching the full weight of her glassy stare. She’d sunk back to the floor and curled in on herself, pulled her knees to her chest. She looked so small. Fragile. Nothing like the haughty fighter I’d encountered during the battle of Hireath. This woman was in pain.

And I’d attacked her. Subjected her to Onyx’s scrutiny instead of believing Kost. Right after she’d lost someone she loved.

Guilt ravaged my stomach, and I swallowed several times before braving words. “Raven, I’m so sorry.”

There wasn’t an ounce of forgiveness in her gaze. I didn’t blame her.

Calem cast his eyes to the floor. “We tried to stay and help as long as we could. But after they died and Kaori got hurt…” He looked up at me then, as if he were ashamed of what he was about to say and needed forgiveness. “We fled.”

“The beasts had halted attacking the rest of the Charmers and were only targeting us,” Raven said. “Escaping was the right thing to do to keep them out of harm’s way. For now.”

“She’s right,” I said, swallowing back tears, “You’re alive. And Kaori…?”

“She’ll live,” Gaige said through a wince. “We escaped on the backs of our legendary felines and ran nonstop until we got here. They only just went back to the realm.”

“I rode with Kaori. She passed out as we reached Cruor’s border.” Calem turned his somber stare to the unconscious woman on the couch. Tension rippled through his arms as he folded them across his chest.

Kost frowned. “Where was Yazmin during the attack?”

Gaige’s shook his head. “She wasn’t there.”

“So there was this massive beast attack, and the Crown was simply missing?” Kost didn’t bother to mask his apprehension.

“She wasn’t missing. She just wasn’t there.” Gaige seemed to trip over his words. He shook his head. “Yazmin is always off attending to Council matters or on a beast hunt.”

“That seems…odd,” Oz said.

“Look, you’re getting this all wrong.” Gaige looked first at Raven and then me. He opened his mouth to speak, and then closed it. Frowned. He kept staring at me, sifting through some memory or bit of information that none of us were privy to, until he suddenly straightened. “What happened with the Azad?”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

His words were frantic. “Those ingredients you showed me… They weren’t for taming an Azad. Yes, the ruska fruit acts as a lure, but the Azad itself was the bait. For something else, though my research didn’t illuminate what that might be. I was on my way to confront Yazmin when we were attacked.”

Extending my hand outward, I tapped into the power simmering through my veins. Rosewood light bloomed from the tree, and a heady purring preceded Reine’s appearance. Shocked silence hung heavy in the air. Reine tilted her head and sauntered toward me, knocking over the coffee table to nuzzle me and rake a scratchy tongue along my hand. A curious Onyx leaned across my lap and sniffed her. With two legendary felines crowding around me, there was hardly any room left in the foyer.

“This is what we found. A Nix Ikari.”

“She should have killed you,” Gaige whispered.

“She tried.” I scratched the space where her horns met her skull, and she plopped to the floor and rested her chin in my lap. Her wild, thick tail flicked back and forth like a broom across the tile. “She snatched up the Azad before I could tame it. I need to