Page 18 of Tangled Power
The bird shook its beak at him.
“It’s irrelevant. I want to talk to you. Rose asked me about evaluating your magic tonight.”
He sat up. He wasn’t sure he liked Rose talking about his power, but he also wanted to hear what Arie had to say about it.
“Don’t look like that. She didn’t tell me it was your magic her questions were about, but I’m a god, not a moron. She was asking if there was such a thing as a fae’s power being too overwhelming to understand. If there was a limit to her weapon-making’s ability to capture the essence of the wielder’s magic.”
That sounded like Rose. She would assume her passing out was a failure on her part, not a defect of his magic. “What did you tell her?”
“Your power is strong. I doubt I have to explain that to you.”He paused, and his head cocked slightly as if listening for something. “I don’t know if her magic has limits, but I think you should let her continue testing them. Your power won’t hurt her.”
Luc caught Arie’s phrasing. His power wouldn’t hurt her. Arie, too, must think of his magic as a separate entity. Luc shook his head. “I thought the same until this morning,” he said bitterly.
“Your magic this morning didn’t hurt her. It overwhelmed her. There is a difference.”
“What do you mean? She was on the ground, passed out because of my magic. That seems like hurt to me.” Luc swore the bird smirked at him, but surely that wasn’t possible with a beak.
“Believe me, she knew she should have stopped this morning. But her magic is drawn to yours as much as yours is drawn to hers. She will just need to learn to go a little slower with the evaluation.”
Luc made a noncommittal grunt, but his heart beat a little faster at Arie’s words.
“It’s not quite the same, but my magic overwhelmed Kenna, the first Vesten Point, in a similar way. I didn’t know how to separate various aspects of my power. I gave too much, too quickly, leaving the Vesten with shift and flame. I didn’t hurt them, though. I intended to help, and my magicwasmy intention.”
“My power has its own intentions,” Luc grumbled. He rarely spoke about it at this level with anyone, but he figured a god was a good place to start.
“I suspect that’s because you never quite learned how to tame it. Your power is too tangled up in instances of lost control.”Arie gave Luc a knowing look that had Luc wondering how much of his past the god was familiar with.“I’d even hazardto tell you that because of those incidents, you fear the depth of your magic, though I know you’ll reject that.”
Luc bristled at the idea. He didn’t fear his power—it was a part of him. He couldn’t fear himself. He laughed, realizing he only used this argument when it suited him. His power was part of him, so he couldn’t fear it, but it wasn’t part of him when it was beyond his control. He knew he needed to sort out his relationship with his magic—soon.
He focused on Arie’s first words. They felt truer. He never learned how to tame it. “You’re telling me to let her try again?”
“I wouldn’t presume to tell you what to do. That is between you and Rose. I’m telling you what we both know: She will ask to try again. And I’m trying to help you understand that you don’t have to put her off forever.”
Luc pulled his hand across his face as he thought about Arie’s words. He smirked. Now Rose was drawing the gesture from him even when not in the room. “Thanks,” he said for his apparent godly wisdom. Met with silence, he looked back to where the bird had been perched on the bed—he was already gone.
“So much for goodbye,” Luc mumbled as he lay back down to stew on what the Lord of Fire had said, waiting for Rose to return.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Rose was steadfastly ignoring the eyes boring into the back of her head. She wanted to turn to see if Juliette was talking to Luc. She could hear soft voices and feel Luc’s magic flaring to life. But only Carter’s stare would await her should she turn to check. The Vesten leader rarely made eye contact, but it turned out that, when he did, it made his point.
The feeling of his gaze piercing her skull eased as Carter brought his horse into position next to her. The road had finally widened enough to ride side by side again as they crested the mountain pass. She waited for his words—the accusations she was sure would come. Her gaze raked over the land below them. The main road north and south was barely visible from the top of the mountain. It would be another long half-day before they reached it. She felt for the necklace chain that held the compass beneath her long-sleeved tunic. Where would it lead them from there?
Carter still hadn’t said anything. She broke the silence. “Can I help you?”
His eyes narrowed, just as she’d imagined. His whole face pinched either in anger or a detailed evaluation of her person;maybe both. “What is it about you? Why does Lord Arctos choose you?” he asked.
Interesting, Rose thought. This wasn’t about the artifact or being on the Vesten property at all. This was about the presence of Arie with her instead of him. “He’s my friend,” she replied.
“Do you hear yourself? What Compass Point—no, whatfae—has ever been friends with one of the gods, let alone one who is not their patron?!”
His voice was rising. Rose could see Luc pushing his mount forward, likely unsure, just as she was, of what the Vesten Point would do. She let a hand fall from holding her horse’s reins and gestured for Luc to wait. It would do no good to avoid this conversation with Carter if they were meant to build any kind of trust.
“I know it’s unique, but aren’t all our circumstances?” she asked. “Until a few days ago, he was just Arie to me. He wasn’t Lord Arctos. He wasn’t the Vesten god. Maybe I had to know him asjust Ariefor a friendship to form.” She shook her head. “Honestly, you’ll have to ask him why he hid his identity. It’s his story to tell, not mine.”
“It’s hard to do when he immediately disappeared again. Without, I might add, so much as a conversation with me.”
“I don’t control him.”
