Page 11 of Compass Points
“Boy.” She scoffed. “He’s no boy. He’s fae. He’s working for the Suden Point!”
“I’m unsure whether that’s a compliment or an insult.” Luc’s smirk was back. She was beginning to hate it.
“I assume I don’t have a choice to decline your offer now? Especially with what we learned today?”
A Suden, here on behalf of the Compass Points. Gods, she couldn’t believe it. She hadn’t adequately digested that.
She sized up the Suden fae standing across from her. Luc worked for the most powerful Suden alive, the youngest ever to take the position. And if reputation were to be believed, the most ruthless in generations. What would the Suden Point do to him if he returned with the knowledge that her weapons could protect them but without her to make them?
Luc tilted his head, eyes pinched in appraisal. “I told you that you have a choice, Rose, and you do.” He held his hands out, palms up. “The magical weapons I’ve tried before didn’t work, but then I heard rumors of the reclusive genius that made weapons up in the mountains filled with wild magic. I knew I had to try at least once more. I was desperate to prevent this.” He gestured to the devastation of Bury. “Now I don’t just want them; I know we need them to stand any chance at fighting this.” He let out a breath, seeming to calculate his next sentence.
Rose braced herself for another threat, no matter what he said about choice.
“I’ve only known you for a few hours, but you don’t strike me as the type that would want to horde this resource for herself.” He looked down at her. His face was unexpectedly earnest. “Your first thought was not to save yourself but to get weapons to defend the village. I bet you’d choose that route ten times out of ten, no matter the risk to yourself.”
She’d prepared herself for more threats, not this. Not the internal reproach she’d given herself only moments ago. She couldn’t believe he’d found the argument she’d been using on herself.
“He has a point there,”Arie added unhelpfully.
“Of course. I would help them,” she sighed. She was exhausted and couldn’t fight him and her own guilt.
“Then what’s the problem?”
“What are the Compass Points’ plans in all this?”
He looked startled. “They don’t all know of my journey.”
“What do you mean? You are here on behalf of the Suden Point, which has to be sanctioned by all four of them, right?”
Luc rubbed his palm over his face, seeming to weigh his options. “I am technically here on behalf of the Suden Point, but not in the way you think.”
“What does that mean, Luc?” Knowing she’d fallen into a fae play on words, her temper rose.
He straightened his spine as if resolved, saying, “I’m here on behalf of the Suden Point because I am the Suden Point.”
Well, shit. Rose tried and failed to stop her jaw from dropping.
“That was unexpectedly honest for a fae,”Arie noted.
“You are the Suden Point.” She parroted his words back to him, processing. “So this wasn’t an official inquiry of the Compass Points, but a rogue mission of the Suden Point?” He was the strongest earth fae on the continent. He was known for his power; she must have only glimpsed it in their battle. At least it explained the way he’d pushed himself from the ground. A unique use of Suden magic, but certainly well within his renowned abilities. She was beyond screwed if he put together any pieces of her own magical display.
“Why don’t the rest of the Compass Points know about the journey?”
“I’m not sure that is your business,” he replied.
She agreed with Arie. His reveal was too honest. He wasn’t backed into a corner. He didn’t need to tell her who he was.
He sighed before continuing. “They don’t know what I went searching for. They only know that I leave Compass Lake regularly for my duties and research about the plague of mist. They are uninterested in what I do so long as I’m not there.” He paused, as if realizing he’d said too much. “Do you need me to make it a little more practical?” he asked, changing tactics again. “The mist is not just a theoretical problem for you any longer. It is very real. It has come into your home and taken someone that seems important to you.”
That was an unexpected punch to the gut. Even if the mist didn’t technically kill her, Tara was gone, lost to a state of endless sleep. Unless, of course, Rose found a cure for the plague of mist.
Bastard. Her hands clenched to fists at her side.
“I’m not going to force you. In fact, don’t take the custom order now.” He paused again, a slow, wicked smile crept over his face. “Come with me to Compass Lake and decide for yourself.”
To make weapons for the Suden Point, she’d have to feel his power at its strongest. The Suden house on Compass Lake; his seat of power. The one place to which she swore she’d never return. Even as she thought it, she knew she’d do it. She’d return for Tara, and other villagers like her, but she’d do it on her own terms.
“Be careful, Rose, you won’t be able to hide everything from this one,”Arie cautioned.
