Page 50 of Compass Points
If Arie was curious, he didn’t share. He continued to fly above them. Close enough to hear, as clearly the drama in this conversation was too good to pass up, but also high enough to see if they were being followed out of the market.
“Why are you hiding from the Norden Point?” he asked. He was going in for the kill.
She swallowed. “Really? No working our way up to that question? You’re just jumping right in?”
“I think it’s time.” His face gave nothing away—well, almost nothing. She swore she could see the concern. Was the concern for her, or himself and what he’d inadvertently stumbled into?
“If I tell you, you won’t be able to pretend you didn’t know. You and your family could be in danger for knowing. People have been killed for my secret.”
Luc appraised her again, taking a good look before nodding.
“You seem to forget, Rose, that I am the Suden Point. Like the Norden Point, it is not an insignificant position. I can help you. If you’ll let me.”
“I am all too aware that you’re the Suden Point.” Rose sighed as they continued down the path. They were almost to the Suden property. Luc gently tugged her to a halt, but she heard Arie start talking before he could get a word out. She held up her finger to stop him from saying something simultaneously.
“Because of your ruse, everyone will assume he knows your secrets, Rose,”said Arie.“You do him more disservice by not telling him now.”
“He’s no innocent in this, Arie!” She forgot herself and yelled at him as he circled. “He tried to kidnap me, force me to work for him, or whatever he had planned.” Luc’s head snapped back at that as if he’d been slapped.
“Rose.” He looked at her and took her hands in his. “If I haven’t before, I apologize for my initial”—he had the good grace to look sheepish as he finished—“attempts to work with you. They were wrong, and I was desperate. I’m not sorry for trying anything within my power to find a cure to the mist plague, but I am sorry that I didn’t try and explain myself better.” He took a final breath. “I, like you, am not used to having someone on my side.”
She looked at him and up at Arie, wondering if Arie had intentionally provoked her anger to force this conversation. It didn’t matter. They were having it. She’d deal with Arie later.
Shaking her head, she replied, “I know. I’m just making more excuses for myself. Arie is right because of our supposed relationship.” His soft smile briefly started to curve into one much more seductive at the mention. She reined in her incomprehensible desire to close the distance between them like he had in the market and continued, “Others will assume you already know my secrets. Whether or not I tell them to you. I don’t want to leave you in the dark if I have to run.”
“Rose, you won’t have to run.” He pointed a finger to his chest. “Me. Suden Point. Remember? It means something. Why is it such a problem for you?”
She couldn’t help but laugh. In any normal circumstance, it would mean a lot.
She took his hand and pulled him along behind her. They weren’t to the Suden property yet and were still exposed. He may be willing to overlook the fact that he was the Suden Point, and she was, well, whatever she was. But the rest of the world wouldn’t, especially with the missing information she was about to tell him.
Her mind spun as it had on the walk to the village. Whatever happened or didn’t happen between the two of them, he deserved to know. If Aiden really was the reason there was an imbalance with the Compass Points, she was the only one who could do something about it.
So she took a deep breath and readied herself to utter the words she’d never said aloud. As they took the final step across the Suden property line, she whispered, “I’m the rightful heir to the Norden Point seat.”
This time, it wasn’t a snap as his head gracefully turned to her. Something like relief flashed on his face.
“Finally,” he breathed.
Chapter Thirty
“Finally? What do you mean, finally?” she nearly screeched at him as they continued walking toward the house. “You could not have possibly expected that.” She all but flipped her hair over her shoulder in assurance.
“No, I couldn’t, but the pieces became clearer the more you decided to share with me.” His words were soft, but his statement held confidence. “You don’t seem afraid of much, but even from the first day we met in Bury, you had a visceral fear of someone or something here.”
Her cheeks warmed, though she wasn’t sure why. She told herself it was anger. She didn’t like to acknowledge the fear. But it was perfectly reasonable to fear the man who tried to kill you. Who killed your entire family.
“Based on your magic, I assumed that it was Juliette, the Osten Point. But when it wasn’t her, that only left one other guess.”
“That should have left two guesses,” Rose interjected.
Luc waved his hand as if to brush off the idea. “Have you met the Vesten Point?”
“No, I would have met their predecessor.”
“You’d get it if you had. He’s a powerful shifter, but sometimes he seems afraid of his own tail. I couldn’t imagine him instilling the kind of fear you have.”
“So what does this mean?” she asked, a little harsher than she meant to, bringing them back to the heart of the problem.
