Page 89 of Tangled Power
Rose shook her head, giving up and letting her tears fall. She knew she had other things to do. She couldn’t wallow in this yet. The mist plague still ravaged the continent. They needed to find a way to restore those impacted. Logically, all of this could only be done by finding a way to communicate with Zrak, if not bring him back directly.
“You…” She hesitated. “You think he’s okay, right? He’s not a god. What if the rules of being beyond the veil differ for him.” She rushed the last sentence.
“I know we didn’t have time to dwell on it, but he’s a demigod, Rose. We may have never had one before, but godly power runs through his veins. If Zrak is able to be retrieved, then I believe Luc is too.”
Rose released a deep sigh. A hiccup undermined its dramatic effect, and she laughed a little to herself.
“You’re a mess, dear,” Arie said, though she could hear the smile in his voice.
“I’ll get him back.”
Arie squeezed her shoulder tighter in acknowledgment.
Arie usheredRose to where Aiden lay sprawled on the ground. Aurora, Carter, and Juliette stood somberly around a too-still body.
“There was nothing I could do,” Arie said. “I’m sorry. Aterra’s magic struck true.”
Rose heard the words and added them to the list of feelings she would deal with later. She would have appreciated closure between them, but those were never the cards they were dealt. The decision she’d made about him when they found him in the cavern stood. She knew it was Aterra who had been the one to kill her family, to start the fire, to change the course of her life.
She knelt next to Aiden’s body and whispered a Norden prayer over him. “Safe waters, my friend,” she finished as she looked up at the other Compass Points and gods in the room.
Inexplicably, they seemed to be waiting for her. Whether that was looking for her direction or trying to give her space to sort through the riot of emotion she was feeling, she didn’t know, but she was ready to face whatever was next.
“This changes nothing,” she started.
Juliette laughed. “This changes everything.”
Rose tilted her head. Sure, in some ways, it did, but not in the part that mattered. “We needed to talk to Zrak to stop the mist plague. We discussed getting him back from beyond the veil anyway. Now we have to retrieve Zrak and Luc.”
Juliette’s face sobered. “We can do the ritual properly. We can try to talk to Zrak.” She hesitated. “How will we find Luc, though? My connection with Zrak draws him to the ritual location. We don’t have anything like that for Luc.”
Rose’s head was already shaking with each of her words. She didn’t want to hear them, but each was relevant. She wanted to scream at Juliette and tell her to find a solution. Maybe offer a helpful suggestion instead of shooting everything down and crushing Rose’s single hope. But she also knew that wasn’t fair. Concern lines etched Juliette’s face—her tone held a gentleness not often heard from the Osten Point. She didn’t relish delivering this difficult news. She was trying to be realistic.
Rose put her head in her hands. No one spoke as she sorted through her emotions. Luc’s magic had spoken to her during the battle—she was sure of it. It hit her on a level that was deeper than the whispers on the wind. Even now, she felt his magic missing like a phantom limb. That had to mean something. She made eye contact with Arie—about to voice the incomplete thought about the connection she and Luc shared.
“I might be able to help with that,” Carter said, responding to Juliette’s question. He stepped forward before Rose could speak. All eyes locked on him as he continued. He seemed to finger the Vesten coin in his pocket. “Spirits always need to move between this plane and the next.”
Rose thought of the snarling animal Arie had turned into when they tested the power-sharing ritual. If a veil beast could ferry souls beyond the veil, on some level, it meant travel was possible. She tilted her head, appraising Carter. He’d known more about the beast than he let on. He met her gaze, and his head shook almost imperceptibly.
“Some of the more transient spirits can help get a message across.”
Rose was too exhausted to try to figure out what that meant. It was something. Rose wouldn’t discount Carter’s offer. They could start with that while she considered how Luc’s magic had supported her during the fight—and what the limits of their connection might be. Maybe her bond with Luc’s magic would be closer to the link between Zrak and Juliette. Bound fae of differing courts didn’t exist—but there was something between her and Luc’s power. She would figure out what it was. Emotionally exhausted, her gaze roamed the cavern. She couldn’t do anything about it right now.
“Thanks, Carter,” she said, too many thoughts running through her head. “We will make multiple plans.” Her gaze returned to Juliette. “But we will get him back.”
Arie and Auroraperformed Aiden’s funeral rites under the mountain. Some would say the ritual performed by the Norden goddess was more than Aiden deserved. Rose thought it was right after what he had done in the end.
“We shouldn’t linger,” Rose said after observing the ritual.
The others nodded.
“Where are we going next?” Carter asked, looking between Rose and Juliette. “I know the goal—to get Luc back—but I don’t think we’ve discussed the how.”
“We need to go back to Compass Lake,” Juliette said.
Rose took a moment to smile. She forgot for a second that Luc had sacrificed himself. She forgot that she might not get him back. She took a moment to appreciate how easily Carter and Juliette prepared to use the secrets of their courts to help her. It was a massive milestone for the Compass Points. She wished Luc were here to share it with her.
And just like that, her thoughts returned to the fae she loved and the plans she would form to save him.
