The Frozen Prince (The Beast Charmer #2) - Maxym M. Martineau Page 0,52
hunt, meaning Noc would have one fewer trusted soul helping me keep watch over his mental state…
Too many problems. Not enough time.
Mind heavy, I left Kaori and made my way to the library where she’d indicated Gaige would be. I’d reviewed Yazmin’s note the moment she’d left and nearly cried. There were four prerequisites to taming the Azad: blood of the master, which was easy enough; a handful of fire opals to catch in the light and draw the creature’s eye; a full moon at its highest point, which was slightly trickier, given the rushed timeline, but we’d make do; and a ruska fruit, a prized treat for the beast, found on a singular tree somewhere near Oslo’s Ruins.
Given that I hadn’t the slightest idea what a ruska fruit was, or even what an Azad looked like, I needed Gaige’s expertise. And a promise.
“Gaige?” I stepped through the ceiling-height double doors and into the communal library. Built into the trunk of an oak, it was just a short walk from the keep. Roots puckered through soft dirt and around large cobblestone paths dotted with clover. The air was thick with the scent of flowers and parchment, and windows formed out of gaps in the trunk were sealed shut against the chilly night breeze. Enchanted flameless lights floated in orbs—a creation we’d paid mages a great deal to make in order to protect our texts from a potential fire hazard—and cast the area in a warm yellow hue. Circular wooden shelves were packed to the brim with tomes and pressed flush with the sides of the tree. Platforms of branch and stone jutted out in lofts at every flight.
Gaige poked his head over the polished railing of the second floor. “Up here.”
I took the first set of steep stairs to my left and met him at the edge. Calves screaming from the number of flights I’d forced them to climb in the past twelve hours, I let out a quiet huff. “Good thing you weren’t higher up.”
Gaige failed to conceal a grin. “I imagine you didn’t have a problem with them when you lived here.”
“I was used to it.” I plopped into the first cushioned chair I could find and held out the instructions Yazmin had given me. “I need your help with something.”
He took them and scanned the paper. His brows knitted together. “What’s this for?”
“For taming an Azad. The actual process makes sense. But I don’t know what a ruska fruit looks like. Same goes for the Azad. I was hoping you could share your insight, Council member.”
The last bit was meant to be a joke, but he neither saw my wink nor even acknowledged the playful lilt to my words. Instead, his brows were furiously trying to become one. Without warning, he turned away from me and stalked down the rows of shelves.
“Gaige?” My muscles groaned, but I shot off the chair after him. “Where are you going?”
His answer was an unintelligible mumble. Hooking a sharp right, he disappeared into a hidden enclave sequestered behind two thick shelves with a gap just large enough for a person to pass through. An enchanted orb followed us, bumping along beneath thick branches to light our path.
I brushed twigs and strands of shimmering leaves aside. A small circular room with a handful of bookshelves, a tan couch, and a knee-high, cedar-planked coffee table came into view. Weak light from the moon filtered through a circular window just above a particularly knotted portion of the tree wall.
“How did I not know this existed?”
Touching his chin to his shoulder, Gaige glanced down at me with a scrunched-up face. “Only the Council is aware of this room. Actarius’s magic keeps all others from finding it.”
“Actarius?”
A soft and affirmative cluck drew my attention. The knotted wall at the back shifted, and three gleaming ochre eyes blinked back at me. An owl beast. Twin, branch-like horns stretched from his head, embedding themselves into the wall. Bark-colored feathers dotted with moss camouflaged him entirely, and thick talons sank deep into his perch.
My mouth fell open. “What is that?”
Gaige’s focus returned to the parchment in his hands. “That’s a Whet. He was one of Celeste’s beasts. He was outside of the realm when she gave her life to place Ocnolog in slumber. He’s been watching over Charmers ever since.”
Stepping around Gaige, I approached Actarius and offered him the back of my hand. He clucked and gave a gentle nip to my index finger. “Celeste’s beast. That’s incredible.”