Page 69 of Bound Paths
Arie clutched the piece of paper in his claw, and then he was off, wings flapping, taking him away from Compass Lake.
“Thanks for doing this,” Rose said as Aaron mounted his horse. “I know you don’t desire to be away from your family.”
Aaron nodded in acknowledgment. “You’re all doing so much. It’s the least I can do to help.” He coughed into his hand as if deciding whether to say his next thought. “I know you don’t need me to say it, but I believe you.”
“I don’t need it,” Rose said with a smile, “but it doesn’t hurt to hear.”
“Welcome to the family, Rose. We can celebrate more formally when you get Luc back.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Rose took a needed moment to herself as she returned to Norden grounds. She agonized over their next steps. Was she just supposed to wait for Arie and Aaron? Or try again? The invisibility Aurora’s dagger offered had given them free rein, but so long as Luc and Aterra remained in cells next to each other, Rose didn’t see another attempt going differently—not that she would stop trying if that were her only option.
Rose felt untethered. Before becoming a Compass Point, Rose found her center in forging. Her skills had come so far, especially on their recent trek around the continent. She’d evaluated not one but three Compass Points. Each one’s magic was complex and wholly unique. As she walked Norden property, her fingers twitched for her forging hammer.
The Norden forge was hers. She hadn’t been there since she’d returned, avoiding it like she had avoided the cottage. It, too, was a place so filled with memories of her family. Confronting those memories seemed like a small matter in the face of…everything else. But if Rose had learned one thing from evaluating the Compass Point’s magic, it was that small things carried heavy weight. Ignoring them, especially thorny emotional areas, might be more convenient, but it couldultimately impact her magic. Juliette had been a prime example of that on their trip. Luc proved this point many times during his childhood.
Rose would take the time she’d been granted to at least face the memories.
“I’ll confront them with you if you want me to.”Luc’s voice slid into her mind. She hadn’t realized she’d reached out to him, but she wasn’t surprised. Her thoughts were scattered.
She appreciated the company. Not just anyone could be with her for this, she wanted it to be him. Sharing memories of her past with him was the only way to move forward.
The forge was just how she remembered it. The building that housed it was far enough away from the cottage that it didn’t burn down with the fire that took her family. Tools hung neatly on the wall by the prominent forge, just like how Mom had always organized them. Finished weapons were on the opposite wall. A thin layer of dust covered the work tables. Rose suspected no one used the forge regularly. Mom had been training her to take over. With both of them out of the picture, it would have taken the Norden Point time to find a new weapons-master with the appropriate talents. Rose was sure it hadn’t been high on Aterra’s priority list.
She pulled a blade off the in-progress shelf. It was better than starting from scratch, but not by much. The blade was dull, but at least the shape was there. She lit the fire and waited for it to heat the old-fashioned way—without magical intervention. Her gaze roamed the room as the heat built. Part of her just needed to be here. To remember being here with Mom.
“Tell me about her,”Luc said.
Rose didn’t have his power to share memories, but she described some of her favorite moments here, the corner of her lip twitching as she told him about the first time she admitted she had stronger water magic than Aiden. Thelook on her mother’s face was priceless. First—the complete acknowledgment that she was correct. Then, the quiet conversation about why she might not want to say that directly in front of Aiden’s parents. Now that Rose thought about the scene, she could see the smile on Mom’s face. She was always proud when Rose owned her talents.
“Mom was a talented weapons master, and she knew it,”Rose said.
“Sounds like someone else I know,”he replied.
Everything Rose knew, she learned from her mom. She could only imagine what else she could have learned if they’d had more time. As Luc’s words teased her, she wondered what her mom would have thought of him.
She was sure her family would’ve accepted Luc, just as they’d accepted Aiden. They never treated Aiden differently because of who his father was. In fact, they treated him like another member of the family. She coughed as she fought back tears, thinking again of the sticky feelings surrounding Aiden. Like she’d told herself under Mount Bury—she didn’t think they ever would have become friends again, but she hadn’t wished him dead.
No, her family wouldn’t have wanted her to bear the burden of his death. Even if Luc had done it for her, she would have carried a weight all the same. Rose smiled to herself. She was confident Dad would have liked Luc; every protective instinct that her dad suppressed, Luc’s magic owned—with flair.
My magic does have flair, doesn’t it?”he said as she sent him her stream of thoughts.
Grandpa would have taken some time to warm up to the Suden Point. He would have thought his motives suspicious—as Rose had herself. Eventually, Luc would have worn him down.
“Just like I wore you down,”he said.
She smiled at the thought. A smile at a memory or idea of her family was an accomplishment on its own. But Rose realized she was just getting started.
The fire finally heated, and Rose took her position before the Norden forge. She didn’t wait long for the metal to heat. This was more about the repetition of the familiar motions for her. She wasn’t truly looking to make a weapon.
Scenes from her childhood ran through her mind with each swing of the hammer. She shared them all with Luc, describing in detail what she remembered. Her thoughts were in opposition to the fears she faced on the Osten house stairs. In every scene—every memory—she was surrounded by family. Even when she was with Aiden—her family was never far. Mom always watched from the workshop window. Or Grandpa tended the garden while they played on the property. Rose’s childhood was everything she could have wanted.
She was just forced to grow up too fast at the end.
Luc’s power wasn’t present the same way it was in the heart of her magic, but she felt it clench in her chest, trying to wrap itself around her as she shared her thoughts and memories.
Rose swung the hammer. She would always wish for more time with her family. But she accepted that Aterra’s attack put her on the path to make her the fae she was today—a fae she was proud to be. Rose was honored to lead the Norden people. She had big plans for them and the other courts as soon as she got them out of their current mess. There was no doubt in her mind that they would find their way past the mist plague. The Compass Points would bring balance back to the continent.
