Page 53 of Compass Points
“I’ll just eat on your side of the bed so we can consider that side the crumb side.”
His gaze narrowed as he said, “I guess that means we’ll have to share your side. It seems only fair.”
She couldn’t help but laugh at the antagonized admiration she saw on his face.
“Thank you, Luc.” She’d mentally changed topics, and she could tell he realized it as his features softened, turning more contemplative. He nodded.
“Have you decided what you want to do?” he asked.
“I think I’ve got a pretty good idea, but we should probably talk about it while I finish this.” She held his gaze as she took another big bite of the bread, crumbs falling to the sheets that she didn’t even try to catch.
“How does going to the ball accompanying the Compass Lake Solstice Ceremony, which I’ve successfully avoided every year since I’ve become Suden Point, necessitate a trip to the Sandrin?” Luc asked in exasperation as he packed some necessities from the kitchen for their trip. She had come to understand that his exasperation meant he already knew the answer. He just wanted to be difficult.
“We’re making a statement. I’m going to need the right tools to make it.” She looked at him meaningfully, reminding him of the plan she’d laid out that morning. “We can’t find everything we need in the market. Even if we could, we don’t seem to have the best luck there.” She grabbed a bedroll and her backpack to head outside.
“Agree to disagree,” he murmured as his smile went from playful to predatory. As if he remembered their bodies pressed against each other in the market alley yesterday just as clearly as she did. The smolder in his eyes told her he’d be only too happy to repeat it.
Luc had offered her quite a bit yesterday—an ally in treason, a haven from which to plan and strategize as she decided whether to make this move. And that only covered the political aspects of their relationship. He looked at her increasingly with something like reverence. He’d kissed her as if he needed her, as if his life was colorless and dull without her, as if she was the answer to his prayer to the gods.
She wasn’t sure she hated it.
It was unsustainable, though. If they were successful in their first endeavor, making her Norden Point, they would still find themselves on opposite sides of the Compass table, literally and figuratively.
The Compass Points barely trusted each other, let alone built romantic relationships. The distrust between the fae courts was too strong. She still recalled the fear in Mom’s eyes when she realized that Rose could wield two elements. The fae did not take well to those of mixed lineage. She was convinced that if not for the gods’ creation of the Compass Points and their responsibilities, the four fae courts would never interact with each other.
She had always been told that it came down to no one wanting to see powerful fae magic dilute or converge. No one wanted to think about the offspring of such a union. Would they even be able to have children? Would a child have both magics? Which fae court would claim them if they did? Rose had gone through her own identity crisis about all of that. Thankfully, she’d had her mom’s unwavering support, but she could imagine someone like Aiden’s parents disowning him if he didn’t fit the specific mold of their expectations.
She wasn’t surprised that it always came back to power. She wanted to laugh off the idea that any Compass Point would have a child killed for power, but her own history punched her in the gut. It was the first time she thought about the worst night of her life and laughed a little. Not a happy laugh, of course, but even an ironic laugh was better than tears. She shrugged to herself. Luc was staring at her.
“What?”
“Nothing, let’s go,” she said as she grabbed his arm. They headed back around the lake to the stables. He let her lead him as they took the back roads again.
They made it through the village without incident. Gear and horses in tow, they set off for the few days’ ride to Sandrin. It wasn’t that far away on a map, but part of Compass Lake’s charm was the barrier to accessing it. The mountains meant that trips to and from the lake weren’t simple. They had a full day’s ride to get out of the mountains before another day and a half to Sandrin.
They had not gone far when a large black raven landed on her shoulder.
“Good morning, future Mrs. Suden Point. Or are we going with future Mrs. Norden-Suden? Hyphenated? Or will he be Mr. Norden Point?”
She glared daggers at Arie. “I’m not dignifying that with a response.”
“Aren’t you even going to wish me a good morning?”he teased.
“That depends entirely on how the rest of this conversation goes. It’s trending towards no, for your reference.”
“I did a check from here to Bury again,”he said, as if her threat was irrelevant.“The plague of mist is making its way south. A few outposts and small villages between here and there have been taken by it already.”
“Do you think it’s headed to Compass Lake?” she asked.
“I can’t tell,”Arie responded.“It’s hard to determine since the lake is so far off the traditional path south. We won’t know until the mist either hits the first outpost past Compass Lake or ends up on our doorstep.”
“Has the imbalance gotten that bad? That the mist plague would attack the seats of power?” Rose commented aloud. Small, remote villages were tragic but also didn’t require that much effort to take.
“From the news I heard this morning, that I’m sure Arie is sharing with you now, I think we can assume the mist plague has a plan. It is moving far too purposefully not to.”
She glared at Luc. “When were you going to share that information?”
“You seemed so lost in thought this morning. I didn’t want to distract you from whatever you were processing, especially since I knew we’d have a full day of riding to talk about it.”
