Page 9 of Bound Paths
Meg’s face pinched as her eyes narrowed. “What does that mean?”
“We’ve isolated the immediate threat, and we seek a way to remove the mist plague while ensuring it doesn’t happen again,” Rose said. Given her current exhaustion, she was very proud of her response.
“And you’re not going to tell us anything more than that? Where did you go? Did you find Aiden?” Meg asked.
Rose let her hands fall open again. She should answer the question about Aiden directly. The Norden people deserved to know what happened to him, even if this was another topic she hadn’t entirely processed. “We did.”
“And…”
“Aiden understood the consequences of his actions in falsely claiming the Norden seat. He supported the Compass Points in fighting against a greater power that pursued imbalance.” She held Meg’s gaze as she finished. “He fell in battle.” She paused, giving those words the weight they deserved. “While his past actions can’t be undone, he did what he could to ensure a better future for the Norden.”
“A greater power?” Catherine pressed, giving no indication she cared about Aiden’s fate. “What power is greater…”
Catherine didn’t have to complete the sentence. She answered her own question. The only power greater than a Compass Point…was a god.
Rose hadn’t given them much, but Catherine’s awed expression said she had worked out enough. Letting them walk away with this assumption might not be her best idea, but honesty and transparency had gotten her this far. She wouldn’t stop now. If any of her people appeared on her doorstep asking questions, she’d do her best to answer them.
The details didn’t need to be shared. She didn’t tell them which god or the plan they’d hatched, but she let them correctly assume the Compass Points were dealing with a god-sized problem.
“Indeed,” Rose confirmed. “Anything else? Or may I go in?” She gestured to the door behind them—just out of her reach. “I’m quite tired from our travels, and we still have a lot of work to do.”
“You should tell us what is going on,” Meg said. “Give us the details, and we can advise you.”
Rose took another deep breath and landed on civility. The walk around the lake had done wonders for her racing mind. “I think we’re past that. You’ve been removed from your positions. I’m only paying you the respect I would any member of my court. The Compass Points will finish this. It is our purpose and our calling.”
“But you can’t trust them,” Catherine started. She didn’t appear at all phased at the reminder she was no longer an advisor to the Norden Point.
“Can’t trustthem?” Rose echoed, stunned as she tried to process the hypocrisy of the statement.
Catherine didn’t see the ocean storm raging in Rose’s gaze as she replied. “The other courts?—”
Rose cut her off. “I can trust them more than the elders who led our court astray for a decade,” Rose snapped. Catherine refused to be cowed. Her spine straightened at the accusation, but Rose pressed on. “I trust them enough to merge my magic with theirs, to learn from the Osten Point to use the wind magic that also runs through my veins.”
Meg’s hand covered her mouth.
“You can’t…” Catherine started.
The truth of her dual lines hadn’t been revealed to the Norden court before she took the seat. It was irrelevant since she’d passed the Norden test for power. Rose wanted the information out in the open nonetheless.
“I can, and I do.” Rose was leagues past a civil response. She was the Norden Point, but she also wielded the Osten element. There was no way she was the only one with such a lineage. She was confident many more fae of multiple lines hid themselves in plain sight. That wasn’t the kind of court she desired. If she couldn’t start the future she dreamed of with Luc tonight, she’d at least start down the path toward accepting all fae—no, all those with magic—now.
The elders seemed to have finally lost their bite against her resolve. She gave them a curt nod as she walked past them into Norden house.
CHAPTER THREE
550 YEARS AGO
Nausea roiled in Andie’s throat as she stared at the storm’s destruction. A glance at her father and sister’s horror-stricken faces told her it wasn’t in her imagination. She walked to the middle of the field and knelt to pick up a stray cat chewing on one of the leaves ripped from the ground, waiting to see what her family would do.
A group of villagers stood just behind them, staring at the same ruination. Marcil was far enough inland to avoid the flooding that had been destroying cities to the north like Sandrin. But these new storms were growing in confidence.
Andie stroked the cat’s fur and hugged it close to her chest. Her mind was already racing through plans her sister would make. Fruits and vegetables, ripe and ready to pick only yesterday, were smashed and tossed in all directions. Bushes and stalks were torn from the ground, roots and all. The tornado had gone right through the middle of the village’s only farm field.
It had destroyed everything.
“What are we going to do?” one of the villagers asked. The gathered group looked directly at her sister, Cee. Andie recognized him. Garth helped Cee regularly, always ready to take on any new project she’d dreamed up.
Cee swallowed before replying. “We’ll replant—quickly.” She glanced at their father, who was still silent. “We’ll rally a group to start today.” Her hesitation was uncharacteristic. Maybe even Cee knew her well-organized plan wouldn’t be enough this time.
