Page 89 of Bound Paths
“I told you,”he said. She could feel his smugness through the bond. She ignored his gloating and glanced at Aaron.
“Have you been to Suden house yet?” she asked.
Aaron tensed. “Not yet. I wanted to give Luc one more chance to change his mind.”
Darren glanced between them, suspicion in his eyes.
“Does he know?” Rose asked. She was sure she knew the answer, and now she was just teasing Darren, the same way Darren had picked on Luc in their first conversation.
“Who knew you would be so ruthless in your revenge for this perceived slight against me.”Luc laughed through the bond.
“He does not,” Aaron said. He studied her momentarily in the entryway. Rose had a feeling Aaron could sense she was talking to his brother. The way he tilted his head and sniffed the air made her laugh nervously.
“You really need to stop doing that,” she said.
“You’re communicating with him, aren’t you?” Aaron asked.
Darren gave up on understanding their conversation and crossed his arms over his chest while waiting to be filled in. He tapped his foot loudly to hurry them along.
She smiled. “I am.”
“And he doesn’t want to change his mind?” Aaron asked.
“Change his mind about what?” Darren tried.
Rose ignored him as she heard the reply from Luc she expected. “He does not.”
Aaron shrugged and gestured them forward. “You might as well go in the library and learn for yourself,” he said to Darren.
Rose ushered them into the room. “You all know Luc’s brother, Aaron.” A round of hellos and acknowledgement greeted him. “And this is Darren. He’s the Suden Luc requested to join us.”
Darren tried another question as he took a seat. “Where is the Suden Point, if I may ask?”
“He’s beyond the veil,” Rose stated matter-of-factly. She would start telling him what he needed to know now that they were all assembled. “It’s a long story, but he went and took Aterra with him to work towards restoring balance on the continent.”
“Is he…dead?” Darren asked cautiously. She saw his mind working through the conversation he’d overheard between Rose and Aaron in the hallway.
“No,” she replied.
“And how do you know that he wanted me here then? If he’s beyond the veil but not dead?” Darren’s questions were quite reasonable. He’d shown calm in the face of a lack of understanding. He sought facts before calling them all crazy and walking out.
“He’s my bound partner. Our connection allows me to speak to him.”
“I see,” was Darren’s reply. She was sure he had more questions about that statement, but he looked around the room and seemed to decide that if no one else was objecting, he wouldn’t either. “Do…” Rose could see his mind working, but he could not put the pieces together. “Do you need my help to retrieve him?”
Rose smiled. “We do.”
“So, you’re all going back? The new guy, too?” Arie asked again, bringing the conversation back to the beginning.
“We’re all going back, and we’d like Darren to join us,” Rose said.
Darren looked around the room and pointed at his own chest. Confusion was evident on his face. “What do you need me for?”
“This is going to be fun,”Luc said, his voice giddy through the bond, like he was excited to play puppet master for this part of their plan.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
“Everything good?” Rose greeted Aaron and Darren a few hours later as they approached the willow tree inside the burning garden. Darren had a dazed look on his face, which, though Rose felt for him, she could only take as a good sign.
