Page 86 of Bound Paths
Rose couldn’t hold back her smirk even though they contemplated more change for the continent. The Suden Point test was still a mystery to her—she was sure she would learn more soon.She set the thought aside.
None of this mattered unless they knew what to do with Aterra. “It still doesn’t answer where to put him.” She bit the inside of her lip as she thought. The concept of a demigod still spinning through her thoughts gave her an idea. Luc was half-god and half-fae—he was something in between. If his existence could help the balance, Rose wondered if she could use a similar solution to solve where to put Aterra.
Cassandra didn’t want her realm to be a dumping ground for the continent. And to preserve the balance, Aterra couldn’t be on the continent. Could they store him in between the two? She thought of the darkness she and Carter fell through when they crossed beyond the veil, the memory Luc shared with her and the inability to find the way through the darkness without Carter’s shifter-provided talent.
They had crossed beyond the veil from multiple places, but each crossing felt the same to her. They bore the same darkness and unmarked paths, and yet they led to different locations in Cassandra’s realm. She knew they were distinct to Carter. He never faltered as he guided them through. With Zrak’s return, Rose could assume the Osten Point wouldn’t need to return to the caves. That pathway might no longer be necessary.
“It would require both myself and Cassandra to lend strength to hold him there,”Luc warned.
“Yes, but it shouldn’t require so much from either of you,”she speculated. Aterra’s inability to navigate the expanse would be its own trap.
“We would need Carter to talk to Cassandra again…but it’s possible,”
“It’s the only plan we have.”
She wouldn’t let this solution take Luc from her. Although Zrak claimed this was the best path, the costs were still high. And they were far from out of the woods on the chaos Zrak wrought. Her thoughts returned to her young friend Tara, the only human in Bury who had relentlessly pursued a friendship with her—now taken by the mist plague. She still lay in the barn they used to train in. How many other paths that Zrak had imagined included the mist plague?
“Can you at least heal those impacted by your mist?” Rose asked, her voice turned bitter. If Zrak wasn’t going to help them with Aterra, he could at least clean up his mess here on the continent.
Zrak’s lips pressed into a thin line. He didn’t respond.
That seemed like a bad sign. “It’s your plague. Can’t you just”—she waved her hands around—“undo it?”
“I know what you’re thinking, Rose.”
Could he read minds, too?
He shook his head. “No, that’s not a talent I have,” he replied as if answering her unspoken question. “Your thoughts are written plainly on your face.”
“Fine. What am I thinking then?” she challenged.
“The mist plague is bad—yes. But the other options were worse. I gather you’ve at least started understanding what Celeste and Cassandra’s generation went through on thecontinent. The mist plague was my way of preventing that from recurring.”
Rose opened her mouth, ready to press him again on fixing it, when Juliette and Carter arrived. Juliette surveyed the room, her eyes locking on the Osten god. Rose could see in the stiffness of Juliette’s movements that she was holding back her reaction. Wind swirled around her ankles as the Osten Point fought for composure; Rose wasn’t quite sure what feelings were being represented.
Was Juliette glad to finally have her god on the continent? To be free from the ritual she’d been shackled to for her entire tenure? Or had Carter filled her in, and this again was her rage at her god’s involvement, similar to when Rose and Luc first shared that they suspected the mist plague was Zrak’s doing? They must have been outside the library for a few moments because Juliette pressed Zrak on a point earlier in their conversation.
“Answer at least one of her questions, Zrak. Do you need Osten support to remove the mist plague? Rose and I will be happy to oblige. We should remove it from the continent immediately.”
Zrak finally turned. His gaze locked with Juliette’s—a fire dancing between them that Rose couldn’t comprehend. “It’s not that simple.”
“Nothing ever is with you,” she replied.
“Lady Osten,” he started.
“No.” She held her hand up to stop him. “Don’t. I’m sure my words will echo what I have been told Lord Arctos has already said to you, so I’ll be brief. You had every opportunity to share whatever it was you were doing. You made decision after decision that impacted our lives. My life. My people’s lives. And yet you didn’t see fit to discuss them with me or any of my predecessors.” She paused to catch her breath. “This ends now.The Compass Points will finish it. We need what information you have—that is all. We want nothing else from you.”
Rose hadn’t seen a lot of emotion on Zrak’s face since she and Carter had returned with him. But whatever had been there vacated with Juliette’s words. It was as if Zrak had prepared himself to disappoint Arie and Aurora—he had understood the cost—but for whatever reason, he seemed ill-prepared for this dressing down from the Osten Point.
“The Nebulus cannot undo what they have done,” he said. “As with everything else, the Compass Points must remove it.”
“Like we haven’t done enough…” Juliette sighed, exasperation and exhaustion coating her voice.
Rose felt the weight of it in her bones. Juliette was tired. Justifiably. A pit opened in Rose’s stomach as she considered what this meant. They had the power to wake those impacted the entire time? Her hand went to cover her mouth as it hung open. She had tried her own magic, of course, but once they’d learned how to join their powers, she hadn’t thought about using it for anything other than holding Aterra.
“You have,” Zrak replied to Juliette. “But the continent is asking you to give a little more.”
“The continent? Or you?” Juliette challenged.
