The Frozen Prince (The Beast Charmer #2) - Maxym M. Martineau Page 0,99
After a glance to ensure the Azad was still locked in place, I cast my gaze out toward the night in search of Noc. “They’re not native to this area. They mostly live in caves where they construct massive webs to ensnare their prey. If they ever leave, they trail a string from their rear spinner so they can use it as a tether.”
“What will happen to Noc?” Kost stared in vain into the night sky.
“She won’t kill him until she gets back to her web. Fabric Spinners love fresh organs, so she’ll want to harvest him from the inside out.” With a steadying breath, I tried to strong-arm the fear making mincemeat of my gut. “But to do that, she’ll have to cut the cocoon. I suspect Noc won’t just let her dig into his stomach.”
Oz’s jaw hardened. “We have to go after him. Now.”
“I agree. It’s already gained a considerable distance on us. If we follow the same path—”
I cut Kost off before he could get ahead of himself. “It’s not that simple. That tether I was talking about? It retracts when they’re threatened, pulling them back to safety at incredible speeds.”
“Which means?” He was still poised to run.
“That it’s likely already down the mountain by now, if not already retreating across Luma Lake.” I let out a shaky breath, ignoring the panic in my heart that begged me to abandon the Azad and simply go. “We’ll go after him. I’m not letting him be taken from us, not when we’re this close. Let me finish with the Azad, and we’ll leave.”
Kost’s gaze darted between me and the beast. He nodded.
With a plan in place, Oz’s shoulders loosened a fraction. “But what was that beast doing here?”
What was a Fabric Spinner doing in the remote peaks of Glacial Springs? Her body wouldn’t be able to withstand this snowy landscape for more than a few hours, which meant the likelihood of a nearby den was beyond slim—it was impossible. Unease simmered somewhere deep inside me. If not a native beast, then…
I bit back a curse. “Charmer.” We had to move. Now.
Kost tilted his chin my direction. “What?”
“She was tamed. There’s no other explanation.” A haughty Raven laughed behind a sheet of coppery-red hair in my mind. She must have overheard Gaige and me in the library. I hadn’t noticed anyone else there, but I’d been so caught up in my excitement, in the possibility of a cure… She’d pay. I’d have her exiled for harming my anam-cara.
Oz palmed the back of his head. “But why?”
“I don’t know.” Anger simmered in my gut. Raven had Noc. And I needed to get to her, get to him, and sort everything out once and for all. No more politics. No more dancing around the truth. She would confess her involvement and then remove the oath.
An unsettling crunch, like the scraping of bone on bone, sounded behind us, and my connection to the Azad vanished. As one, we turned back to the ruska fruit to find a decimated Azad trapped beneath the monstrous paws of a beast I never imagined I’d see.
Just barely smaller than Onyx, the legendary feline lorded over her snack with gleaming violet eyes. Shimmering snowy fur covered her muscled body, and dark spots of royal blue with indigo inlays dotted her entire coat. Glowing orchid light streamed from each spot and the depths of her unnerving gaze, as if she were an aurora that could dissipate into the colorful haze clinging to the surface of Glacial Springs. Twin horns burst from behind her ears and curled upward to the night, and elongated curved canines stretched past her jaw. A thick tail twice the length of her body swished behind her.
I struggled to find my breath. “Nix Ikari.”
Apex of the legendary feline beasts. Her body went still, save the sudden sharpening of the glow emanating from her spots. The magic streaming from those circles masked these beasts’ presence entirely and enabled them to teleport across both long and short distances. Their keen senses kept them away from humans and Charmers alike, but their preferred hunting grounds were scarce on game.
My gaze dropped to the Azad. We’d just served up dinner on a platter.
Orchid light emanated from the creature’s claws, and her throat trembled with a rattling hiss. Raising my palms in a sign of peace, I took a careful step back. The crunch of snow beneath my boot sent the hackles along her neck shooting toward the sky.