Page 62 of Tangled Power
Arie’s tail flicked back and forth as the seconds passed.
Rose couldn’t refute the idea, though she felt they lacked proof. “Say you’re right, which I still don’t think we can confirm.” She paused. “Still, say you’re Aterra’s son. You have his blood in you. Wouldn’t you still have to complete a ritual to be useful to him? To boost his power in some way?”
Luc pulled his hand down his face. “I guess,” he said. “Juliette has the vial, the artifact left by Zrak. Maybe I need the ring? The Suden artifact? But we assume he already has that, so it’s not a stretch to think he planned to slip it on me.”
Taking Luc’s hand, Rose squeezed it and stared at Arie. “Anything to add, Lord Arctos?” She couldn’t help her sarcasm. She had hoped that one of the gods would have more information for them.
“I don’t think Luc’s assumptions are incoherent…but I honestly can’t say for sure. There was so much about the creation of the fae courts that we didn’t discuss. I trusted Zrak knew what he was doing.”
“Maybe there is one way to test it,” Rose said. Arie and Luc turned to look at her. “What if we have you test it, Arie? You and Carter?” She paused as the pieces clicked together in her mind. “We have your artifact, you, and the Vesten Point. Why don’t wesee if he can share his power with you? If it works for any god, even one not weakened through sacrifice?”
Arie licked his paw.
“It would be a bit of a gamble,” Luc said, staring intently at Arie. “Could Carter trust Arie wouldn’t abuse the power given to him if it worked?”
“I take offense to that.”Arie continued to lick his paw and wipe his head with it. “But Luc’s not wrong. It’s a huge ask. And I haven’t exactly done anything to gain Carter’s trust.”
“He knows that you asked me to make him a weapon. I told him when I gave him the coin. So, I may have helped you there.” Rose stepped forward and patted Arie on the head. “Though, if you want to do this, you’ll have to ask him yourself. But he knows you were looking out for him. That has to be a good place to start.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Rose pulled out her compass as the group readied to leave early the following morning. Carter glared at her as he secured his saddlebags while she filled Arie in on their first experience tracking Aterra.
“I can’t believe he was at my cabin!”Arie said.
“Your cabin?”
“Yes—you were there. It’s not like there were others around to get confused about. My cabin is on the western edge of the continent. It was where I went to be alone—to hide away from everything.”
Rose lifted her hand to cover a small smile as she thought of Aterra in Aiden’s body, standing possessively in front of the fire when they burst in. “I think you might have to fight him for it.”
“This is not funny.”
“I would generally agree—a rogue god upsetting the continent’s balance isn’t funny—but somehow, him hiding out at your all-Arie alone-time cabin is kind of entertaining.”
Arie flew away from her as she looked down at the compass again to establish where they were going. Hopefully, he was going to talk to Carter. Someone needed to explain why they’dleft dinner so abruptly and what they now needed to ask of him. She didn’t think it should come from her.
“It’s pointing northeast,” she said as Luc approached. “And, yes, that was my fault he flew away, but in my defense, it was funny.”
“You’re in a good mood,” Luc said as he wrapped an arm around her waist.
“It’s good to have him back.” She tracked Arie’s flight as he landed on Carter’s shoulder. Good. “Even if he doesn’t have all the answers, having him with us is comforting.” Her face must have shown her concern as she glanced at Luc.
“I’m fine,” he said.
She wasn’t sure about that. He had convinced himself he was Aterra’s son—birthed to strengthen Aterra’s power to a level that the Compass Points or other gods couldn’t control. “Don’t carry it alone,” she said. He needed to work through some things independently, and she trusted him to discuss them when he was ready.
He changed the topic. “Didn’t we have questions for him while traveling? I can’t think of any of them now that he’s here, though,” Luc said.
“That reminds me, I did have one.” She looked at Arie. “Arie, I’m sorry. Can I borrow you for another moment?”
Reluctantly, the bird flew back to her.“This had better be important.”
“I think it is, but I don’t think you’ll like it,” she said as they finished saddling their horses and mounted. Her voice was loud enough for the others to hear, though she paused as she figured out how to ask Arie such a sensitive question.
“Do you know…” She considered her words carefully. Arie hadn’t shown much of the pain he carried during their time together, but she knew this topic would hurt. “Do you know what happened to Aurora?” she asked, taking a direct approach.
Startled, Arie flapped his wings, the left tip brushing her face.“What’s this about?”he said only to her.
