Page 47 of Bound Paths
“I’d say so.”His words entered her mind as they spoke of his magic. Like talking about him called his voice to her.
“You did connect quite quickly to his magic,” Carter added.
Rose nodded, remembering when they tested the connection at the Suden training grounds. “With each of you, I had to find and open the connection point.” She shook her head, unable to hide her smile. “Luc’s magic was just kind of…there. Like it was waiting for me.”
She thought of his words, the ones that had pulled them from fake relationship to real partners… “It’s been real for a while, Rose; I’ve just been waiting for you to catch up.”She swallowed thickly. Luc always let her find their connections in her own time—no matter how sure of them he was. Like he knew she’d never accept them otherwise. Now, she’d never let go of her love for him.
“Our paths are bound—by that choice to love each other.”
He chose her, too. She’d never tire of hearing it.
“I’ll never tire of telling you.”
Coughing, she tried to clear her throat of emotion as she continued. Talking to him this way was going to take some getting used to.
She focused once again on the others and the breakfast conversation. “When I finished his weapon, our magics connected like we were sharing power...” Rose coughed again, feeling the familiar heat in her cheeks as she thought aboutprecisely what they’d been doing. More than just their magic had come together in her workshop.
“He spoke to me, or his magic did, before and after he left during our battle with Aterra. Now that I’ve acknowledged our bond, we can speak to each other through our minds, though I’m still figuring that out.” She paused, wetting her lips, giving herself a moment to continue. “Since he’s been gone, I’ve gone into the heart of my magic to try to find our connection. It took me a while because it was different than before he left. His magic…seems tobethe foundation of my lake there. I think he’s a part of me now.”
Heat flared in her chest again.“It’s a permanent fixture, I’m afraid.”
She smiled at his words. “The more I say it, the more solid it feels,” she finished, meeting each of their gazes, accentuating the surety quietly growing within her.
“When I returned from searching for Zrak, I could feel the difference in how your magics connected. And according to your timeline, that was even before the connection fully cemented,” Arie said. “To be fair, I tried to bring it up before we returned to the Lake of the Gods, but I think Luc knew you weren’t ready to confront it yet. Then, before he made his stupid sacrifice, I spoke with him.” Aurora moved her hand to cover Arie’s as he continued. “I asked him if he knew what he was doing. I guessed what he would do once he picked up his sword. Instead of worrying about his plan, his only reply was to tell me that the two of you were bound. He wasn’t sure you’d acknowledge it and might need someone to reassure you that it was real.”
Rose was on the knife’s edge between swooning over his assurance in their unprecedented bond and wanting to throttle him for not sharing his certainty with her.
Arie must have seen as much in her face. “Were you ready to hear that before you faced Aterra under the mountain?”
“I might have been if I knew he was going to be a self-sacrificing idiot, and we wouldn’t get to talk about it later!” Her hands clenched into fists under the table.
“Selfishly, I didn’t want to tell you. I wanted you to know on your own—but have the reassurance you needed when you thought it impossible.”
“I know,”she replied. She hoped the clench of her teeth came through. His reasons were good ones. She wouldn’t have wanted to hear it from anyone else…“I’m glad I found it this way.”
“But…”
“I don’t know,”she said, and meant it. She didn’t know what she wanted. Maybe she just wanted him here.“I just wish you’d been with me. That we’d found the bond together.”
“I am with you,”he said with an unshakeable certainty.“And it wouldn’t be possible if we hadn’t found it together. Acknowledging it, what it meant, what was possible. That had to be our own.”
She shook her head. Just hearing his voice in her head was its own reassurance. Being able to debate how she felt and what he had considered its own remedy. She was greedy for more of his words. They’d been apart too long.
“Do we know what being bound means?” Carter asked calmly, pulling Rose from her conversation.
He was officially Rose’s favorite. She smiled and looked at Aurora. Her earlier comment indicated she might know more about bound fae than the others. “Did you know other bound pairs? Do you know what this means for us?”
“Conceptually, it’s your magic’s perfect match in another. You know better than others, Rose, all that is encompassed in the heart of a fae’s magic. Your greatest truths, deepest desires, and the things you hold dear are all there. Being bound is to find another whose magic is your match—whose magic compliments everything you are,” Aurora said. “More than conceptually,though, there have been so few bound fae. And none between fae courts.” Aurora nodded at Juliette, acknowledging her skepticism. “I don’t think it’s because it’s impossible though,” she said hesitantly. “I think it has more to do with how the courts have operated for the last five hundred years. With how the courts have held themselves apart, there has been little opportunity for fae from different courts to spend time together, let alone develop this kind of connection.”
“Unfortunately, that’s fair criticism,” Juliette said.
“I can think of a pair from the first generation of fae after creation,” Aurora said. “Marissa and Alma. They were both of the Norden court. They could indeed communicate without words. They could also share magic. I couldn’t say if the way they shared magic differed from what you all do as Compass Points, but I’d assume, based on your explanation, Rose, that it was closer to your description. A more permanent residence of their magic within each other.”
“There was also a pair in the Osten court, under the second Osten Point. We have a record of the wordless communication—even without passing secrets on the wind. We don’t have anything about how their magic connected though.” Juliette shrugged. “That obviously doesn’t preclude it. They’re very rare, and from what I know, the pairs don’t always like talking about the connection.”
“True,” Aurora added. “It’s a very private thing to share so much of yourself with another. Think about how much you learn about someone when you make them a weapon and then multiply that by an order of magnitude.”
“Fair.” Rose nodded. “So, you don’t think I’m losing it for believing Luc and I are bound?”
