Page 38 of Bound Paths
“It’s activated with the blood of the Norden Point. You need only poke yourself, and you’ll feel it’s magic.”
“Like blood magic?” Rose asked. First, Juliette used blood magic in her ritual, and now the Norden Point’s blood was used to access the blade’s power.
“Blood magic isn’t that different from ours,” Aurora said. “It wasn’t the gods that looked down on it. The gods’ magic is an innate balance with the continent, hence why we had to offer some of our power to create the fae to reclaim the balance we had lost.” Aurora shook her head as if pushing away memories she would rather not dwell on. “Blood magic is nothing more than giving an offering to the continent and requesting something in return. The land responds.”
Rose considered how the land beyond the veil had responded to the Lady when she approached. Her power seemed to do more than uphold balance with the land—it seemed a part of it. Carter had noticed the connection as well. What had led to such a union between goddess and realm, and how would it change their ability to retrieve those they needed from beyond the veil?
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
550 YEARS AGO
Andie shifted back to her human form. This time, it was a conscious decision. The change occurred because she willed it. Changing back into a cat again would be even easier next time.
Her thoughts had run away from her. Was this even what she wanted?
How quickly she’d grasped shifting back and forth aligned with the veil cat’s assertion—that she was somehow bound to the land here.
“This is the realm the humans call ‘beyond the veil’?” she asked when she’d collected her thoughts. It wasn’t a question she needed answered, but she was still trying to get her feet under her. Her jacket was on the chair next to the bed. She reached for it and pulled out the journal, hoping to find clarity by writing the words.
“It is. But why are you asking questions to which you already know the answer?”the cat replied.
Andie rolled her eyes as the cat’s tail flicked back and forth in a steady rhythm and returned to her note-taking. “Fine… What do veil cats do here?”
“You already know the answer to that, too. We are the shepherds of this land; we ferry spirits from the continent to the afterlife, as you did with our most recent arrival.”
“But you’re not the rulers of this land? Is there a…” She wasn’t sure how to word the question. “Is there a leader here?”
Orion’s tail continued to flick back and forth. Seconds felt like minutes. Another voice slipped into her mind, sounding more female than Orion’s. “Just tell her.”
“Patience, Alice,”he said. The entire pack’s voices were present in Andie’s mind.
“Tell me what?” Andie pressed.
“The land here, the veil, has been waiting for a ruler. Someone who understands the land, protects the spirits, and will give their blood to protect it.”
Andie laughed, but it rang hollow. She swallowed thickly, realizing what Alice was saying. “I can’t imagine you get a lot of candidates with blood crossing into this realm.”
“You would be correct,”Alice said.
“So, you think it’s me?” Andie asked. Again, the question was near rhetorical—Alice’s intention was clear. Orion wasn’t disagreeing. He just seemed to be taking a more meandering approach to springing the news on her.
“We think you know the answer to that.”
She needed to find Cee. Cee was a born leader; Andie was just the one who liked to play with magic. She wasn’t fit to rule the land beyond the veil.
Andie growled, sounding more like one of the felines than she meant to. She shut the journal and stood. These cats were so enigmatically frustrating! “I’m going to find my sister,” she said. “You’ve got the wrong twin.”
Storming out of the room, she turned right, the direction the cat’s tail flicked when she asked about her sister. She opened the door without knocking. “Cee, we need to talk—now.”
Cee was still in bed, and no cats surrounded her. The room was as plushly appointed as Andie’s. A tray of refreshments sat on the bedside table though it appeared untouched.
“Andie! What happened?” Cee sat up as Andie approached.
“I was going to ask you the same thing. Are you alright?”
“You left me!” Cee shouted. She was clambering out of bed now. More of the events preceding this must be coming back to her. “You shifted into a beast, and then you left! Taking the spirit with you!”
“They’re not beasts; they’re cats,” Andie replied.
