Page 15 of Bound Paths
Rose spared a moment to appreciate Juliette’s directness in providing the information. She didn’t dance around sharing necessary details. A small smile crossed Rose’s face for the first time that morning.
“Don’t overthink it,” Juliette said, her answering smile cat-like. She knew how much openly sharing the information meant to Rose. “Why do we have to try now?” Juliette brought them back to the problem at hand. “I thought we would convene with Carter at a more appropriate hour.”
“I know that was the plan, but…” Rose’s hands clutched together in her lap, a new nervous habit she needed to wrangle.
“What happened, Rose?” Juliette asked.
Rose rubbed at her chest again. Her magic ached, and her dream hadn’t felt quite like a dream. Although the details kept slipping through her fingers whenever she reached for them, the feeling of tendrils of Luc’s magic wrapping around her was crystal clear.
“I don’t know,” Rose said honestly. “Something is going on with my magic, and I think it has to do with Luc.”
Juliette’s eyes lingered where Rose rubbed her chest. “You think his absence is affecting your magic? Physically?” She scratched her temple. “Rose, think about what you’re saying. That’s impossible.”
Rose couldn’t help but notice Juliette’s face turning introspective as she made the statement. Part of her felt vindicated, as she knew Juliette was considering the same thing Rose was—the one thing she couldn’t bring herself to say out loud.
Rose chose her words carefully, circling the topic. “I know it should be impossible, Juliette. I’m just telling you what I feel.” She rubbed at the pain in her chest like a phantom limb, unable to dislodge the discomfort.
“You can’t be bound.”
There it was. Juliette stated it so boldly; Rose had barely completed the thought. She’d circled, danced around, and tripped over it but never uttered the words. The ache in Rose’s chest strengthened. Juliette was stating a fact, one that Rose already knew. Rose and Luc were of different courts. Bound fae were a myth—a forgotten faerie tale. There were a hundred other reasons why this couldn’t be true.
But the tightness in her chest—the Luc-shaped hole in her magic—remained.
“Believe me, I hear you. I know the facts. But this ache in the center of my magic is growing more insistent by the day. I think his magic is trying to reach mine from beyond the veil.”
Juliette’s face remained skeptical. “Let’s say your suspicion is correct.” She arched a brow. “I can take you to the caves and even try to call Zrak, but Carter is the better option for crossing beyond the veil. What would you have me do?”
Rose didn’t have to answer as another knock sounded at the door. Lela’s gaze flashed, giving Rose a final glare like this was her fault as she exited the room to answer it. Rose could hear a charged conversation that sounded similar to hers.
Juliette rolled her eyes. “Lela, let him in,” she called.
Carter entered the room with Lela prowling after him. “Good morning,” he said. “I saw Rose headed this way and didn’t think you’d mind my joining you.”
Lela scowled like shedidmind, but it didn’t prevent Carter from continuing. “I’d like to try to cross beyond the veil sooner rather than later,” he said.
Rose grinned.
Juliette rubbed her forehead.
“Of course, it would be both of you.” She looked to Carter as if grasping for reason. “What brings you here so early with this request?”
“I can feel the realm calling me,” he said. He glanced at Rose. “I told you that when you gave me the Vesten coin, the power boost unlocked more of the magic that connects my shifter form with spirits traveling beyond the veil. It’s almost like the coin’s presence has allowed me to feel my form’s true calling.” He looked around them, his gaze holding on Lela. Unsurprisingly, he wasn’t ready to share his secrets with her. “Running Vesten property in my shifted form here…something calls strongly. My form wants to fulfill its purpose.”
Rose read between the lines. The veil cat’s purpose was to ferry spirits beyond the veil. Magic was tricky though. Rose knew that more than most. Her weapons-master sense let her understand a lot about magic that most did not. Just because your magic longed for something didn’t mean you were ready to handle it. She’d learned as much when she started evaluating the Compass Points’ magic. She’d grown into it, but if she hadtreaded a little more lightly at first—if she’d taken a little more time—she might not have been so magically drained.
“You know, you might need to build your magic up to this since it’s been dormant so long,” she cautioned.
Carter rolled his eyes. His response was precisely what she expected. “I can handle being a little tired if it helps us fix this mess.”
Rose held up her hands in a gesture of peace. If being a little magically drained was the only sacrifice, she would let Carter pay it. She had her own magical pull to the Suden Point to deal with. “I want to be honest: My motives aren’t exactly pure in all of this. I want Luc back. And I’m not sure I’ll be completely objective about the associated risks. While I’m willing to risk myself, you don’t need to do the same.”
Rose rubbed her chest again, trying to evaluate the feeling. Juliette had said, so calmly, that she and Luc couldn’t be bound. That may be technically correct, but Rose had no other explanation for the strength of this connection she felt across realms.
“I need to test this magic sooner rather than later,” Carter said. “I can be convinced to start small. Let’s try to cross beyond the veil and come back. If that’s successful, we can explore farther on the next trip.”
Rose nodded in agreement. She was sure she could find the connection to Luc again if she was beyond the veil. It would only take a few moments. Their connection had been so easily accessible when they were both on the continent.
“Are you both sure you know what you’re doing?” Juliette, the voice of reason, asked.
