The Frozen Prince (The Beast Charmer #2) - Maxym M. Martineau Page 0,98

We were so close to ending this. So close to giving ourselves the first real chance at peace we’d glimpsed since our story began.

Time oozed by under the weight of the moon. White light reflected in tiny flecks across the snow, giving the ground a glimmering, diamond-like appearance. Unmoving, I waited, exhaling into the lip of my coat and obscuring the fog of my breath. Finally, when it was nearly too painful to continue to stare at the snowy expanse, my gaze caught on a porcelain form that lacked the same reflective sheen as the earth. I thought I was still before, but I turned to stone in that moment. The Azad had appeared.

Beady eyes the color and shape of pearls stared at me from behind a whiskered nose. Round ears wiggled in time with its swiveling head, and the small creature scampered up the stone. For a moment, it did nothing except sniff the ruska fruit. It sat on its hind legs, inspecting its prize with cautious paws. Then tilted its snout toward the circle of gems and nudged one.

My brow furrowed. Had I not arranged everything according to Yazmin’s instructions? Mind reeling, I recounted the ingredients in my mind. Everything lined up. And yet, the beast seemed unconvinced by my display. A sliver of panic wormed through my gut. If I kicked on the charm now, before it tasted the fruit, would the taming work? Or would it fail? My fingers twitched. Finally, the Azad dug its large front teeth into the sticky hide of the ruska fruit.

Relief raced through me as rosewood light erupted from my hand. The Azad stilled, but didn’t fight my charm. A connection started to form between us, and I nearly yelped for joy.

But right as his tail curled around his body, a strangled gasp pierced the air behind me.

Whirling in place, I barely managed to keep the charm intact. Oz and Kost had leaped a few feet away, and their panicked gazes were stuck on an immobilized Noc. Silky threads wrapped around his arms and legs, cocooning him in place. Unleashing a fury of shadows, Noc struggled against the trap and sent tendril after tendril lashing against the cage to no avail.

“Leena!” Oz cried, frantic. “Is this the Azad? What’s happening?”

I shot a quick glance to the stupefied beast still hovering over the fruit. “No, I don’t think so.”

An enraged howl bellowed from Noc. Heavy skittering shook the ground as a beast crested over the closest mountaintop—a creature I’d never seen before in person but only heard rumors of from other Charmers. Silken threads dripped from her hands and leglike appendages at her waist. She shot them directly at Noc, enveloping him in sticky threads he wouldn’t have the ability to cut. He writhed in her web, hands already immobilized, and tried to disappear into the shadows. But her cocoon held strong.

My mouth went dry. “A Fabric Spinner.”

A woman’s torso covered in errant webbing ended in the bulbous abdomen of a monstrous spider. Wild, matted black hair draped down her shoulders, and gray skin bled into an inky black carcass. Eight legs covered in wiggling hairs dug into the mountainside, and more webbing exploded from her hands.

But I was less concerned with the rapidly growing cocoon around Noc and more frightened by the dewy strand extending from the protruding spinner at her rear.

“Sever the back strand!” The charm beneath my hand wavered, and I cursed, diverting more power back to the beast at my feet. The one we needed to save Noc. Without an Azad, we’d be back to square one.

Oz and Kost lunged the instant I spoke. Shadows flung to their sides and carried them upward toward the beast. A throaty cackle much too high and entirely too grinding ruptured from the beast’s throat, and she leapt into the air. The thread at her rear reacted, yanking her backward with breakneck speed into the dark expanse of the night. And Noc’s suspended body went with her—a trailing, snarling mess that went limp after his head smacked against a boulder.

And then they were gone.

“Fuck!” Anger and panic collided in me, and the rosewood light sharpened at my fingertips.

“What just happened?” Kost rushed to my side, eyes wild.

Anxiety turned my voice shaky. “I don’t know. None of this makes any sense.”

Ozias crashed to the ground next to us, sending a billow of snow upward along our calves. “What was that?”

“A Fabric Spinner.” My gut churned, and the charm wavered beneath my outstretched fingers.