Page 214 of Spring Guardians & Songbirds

“Is that what you were looking for in Eamon's diary, mention of the beast?” I asked.

Thora leaned forward, glancing between all of us. “But that would mean this thing has been living amongst us for hundreds of years.”

“Not impossible,” Visha said, scribbling in her journal.

Snow chewed on her lip. “But Demir is not an Aura. And even so, it would mean he is a five hundred plus years old Aura.” Her head tipped back. “Perhaps it was Moregan not Demir. That woman is odd as well. It could be that Demir is not the original beast, he could have fed from her.” She glanced at her sister. “Do you remember the bald woman with a scar on the middle of her forehead from Ulv Islet?”

Thora shivered and gagged a little. “Yes. But her name was not Moregan. Uncle would poke open her wound all the time and he called her something else.” The younger sister clicked her fingers and groaned from frustration. “Skadi. Yes, that’s it. An unusual name. Who would name their child after the mother of Krig?”

Oryn frowned. “Skadi? You don’t mean Skadi Krigborn?”

All of us spun to the old Crafter.

“You know her?”

He nodded. “The banished old Krigborn queen for the Islines. I spent some time in the Islines when I was a seminarian in the old temples there. Her younger sister dethroned her and kicked her out of their lands afterwards. If you are thinking her to be this beast, I am afraid you are wrong. Skadi was born around the same time as—” He cleared his throat. “As my son.”

“Your son?” Visha asked.

The old priest blinked rapidly, lowering his glazing gaze down. “Uh, he…he died. The seal did not work on him.”

Snow frowned.

“I am sorry, Oryn,” Thora offered.

The old man pursed his lips and went to his book. “It was a long time ago, Princess. But no, the old Krigborn queen is not our beast. Not unless what the young one said is true. Though she could have easily fed from it and turned into one herself. She was a powerful Verglaser. It could actually be that none of them were the beast. It could be that both of them have fed from it.”

Snow nibbled on her lip. “No, Oryn. I know what I felt. Demir introduced me to a few soldiers who had possibly fed on the beast’s blood. Their essence, the way their magical presence felt against mine was completely different. The original beast is either Demir or Moregan.”

“Children,” Driada said, sauntering in with a frown. “You didn’t join me for dinner.”

At the mention of food, Snow’s stomach howled.

My stepmother put a hand to her face to hide her smile. “I’ll have the servants bring something down here for all of you. Have you seen Mal anywhere?”

As if roused by his mother’s worry, Mal faded inside the library and swung an arm around her shoulders. Dishevelled head to toe, marked all over his skin with what looked like…lipstick. “Is this where you are all herding now? Searched every room in the damn castle to find you in this rat hole.”

Driada smacked him over and over till he was chuckling, attempting to hide his head. “At least have the decency to bathe after returning from that hells house.”

He kissed his mother’s cheek. “Missed you too much, woman. Was there a mention of food? I’m starving.”

He sat beside Thora as servants filled out tables with foot, but the younger Skygard had been concentrating on her research rather than eating. And this seemed to bother my brother somehow.

Mal pushed the side of crackers, pies, fruit and cheese to her. “Eat, little bird. You need to become a big one.”

She didn’t answer, only kept scribbling on her paper.

He tapped the table and she still paid him no mind.

After heaving a long sigh, he grabbed her jaw and turned her face to him. “Eat, Thora.”

“Appetite writhed,” she said calmly, pulling his hand away from her face.

He glanced down at the Demon Book before her. “Queasy stomach from that?”

“No, from the sickening cheap perfume wafting my nostrils.”

My brother frowned, looking somewhat confused at her. “Apologies, princess—”