Chapter 18

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

“ Y ou already knew?” Rose asked as Arie casually brought a forkful of eggs to his mouth.

“You actually think they’re bound?” Juliette asked at the same time.

Arie swallowed. “I suspected.” He furrowed his brow. “Luc confirmed it before he commenced his heroics with Aterra.”

“I’m going to kill him,” Rose said with absolutely no heat. She crossed her arms over her chest for emphasis, but it didn’t help. The empty threat made her feel better though.

“I already told you I’d spend my existence making it up to you. Did you not believe me?” His voice was decadent in her mind. She sat up straighter. Luc’s words were new, not ones she’d heard before. He was responding to her now. He could hear her words. The more she leaned into their bond, the stronger it became.

“Your threat needs some work. It sounds more like foreplay...and gross. We’re eating,” Arie said.

Rose flushed and took a sip of water to collect herself, focusing on the voice—his voice—inside her head.

“How does this work?” Rose thought back to him. She wondered how much he understood their connection versus how much they were figuring this out together.

“I’m not sure.” She could imagine his shrug. “So far, I’ve been aware of your extreme emotions when they’re about me. I hope the more we solidify the bond, the more we can choose.” It felt like they were choosing right now.

She had a million questions for him. “Are you safe? Were you captured by the Lady of the Veil?”

“We were…” Luc started. “But I’m fine.”

She believed him—and knew she would feel if he wasn’t. It would have to be good enough for now as conversation erupted at the table.

“It’s impossible,” Juliette said, glancing from Rose to Arie.

“I don’t know if I’m quite following what you’re saying,” Carter started. “But if it’s impossible, we should assume Rose and Luc can do it.”

“Thank you, Carter. You may have the last sausage.” Rose happily passed him the last piece of meat from the serving tray just as Arie reached for it. It was a double win as she also got to give Juliette an ‘I told you so’ smirk.

Carter immediately flushed at the attention and raised his plate to pass the meat back to his patron god. Arie swatted his hand through the air like he no longer wanted it. “I deserved that.”

“How do you know you’re bound?” Aurora asked, cutting through the clutter.

Juliette pointed with her fork at Aurora, emphasizing her enthusiasm that Rose and Arie answer the question while she continued chewing.

“I’ve…connected with him since he’s gone beyond the veil,” Rose said.

“Ew,” Arie offered.

“Not like that,” Rose said, but she felt heat rise to her cheeks as she remembered the feel of his magic against her skin. “Well, not totally like that.” Now, she wondered what was possible in the heart of her magic.

“What are you even saying?” Juliette said. “Do you hear yourself?” The Osten Point waved her fork at Rose. It was the most casual Rose had ever seen her. She’d be flattered if she weren’t unhappy with Juliette’s position. “The Norden Point cannot be bound to the Suden Point. You cannot connect with him—whatever that means—across realms.”

Aurora’s presence was somehow calming amid all of these strong opinions. She asked a follow-up question softly, but everyone turned as she spoke. “What is the connection like?”

Rose smiled, and the corners of Aurora’s eyes lit with understanding. Rose had said they had connected, referring to the time in the heart of her magic. Aurora had asked in the present tense what the connection is like. Maybe her ability to speak to Luc, mind to mind, was common among bound fae.

“I can speak to him in my mind,” Rose said. Her eyes remained fixed on Aurora. Her announcement was met with gasps from Juliette and Carter, so she hurried to explain to the rest. “Listen, I acknowledge what Juliette is saying. I really do. I’ve thought it more often than you have,” Rose said as she turned to the Osten Point. “You have to understand, on our journey to find Aterra—well, I guess before that—Luc’s magic had…formed opinions about me. It seemed dead-set on protecting and supporting me at every opportunity.”

Rose shook her head like she couldn’t quite believe what she was saying. But that wasn’t right. She did believe it. She knew what this was. Luc’s magic pulsed inside her. Juliette’s words reflected her self-doubt about its authenticity and what it meant. She had to confront the perspective—one that had so recently been her own. She had to acknowledge the truth of her experience. Juliette and Aurora were giving her a path to do so in their own ways.

“His magic was very active on our trip,” Juliette acknowledged. Her words were a peace offering to Rose, encouraging her to continue.

“It was more than that. As you all shared your magic with me to face Aterra, how he shared his was different.”

“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 about precisely 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 to be the 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?”

“We might still think you’re losing it,” Arie answered without missing a beat. “But I do think you’re bound. I agree with Carter.” The Vesten Point beamed at his patron’s praise. “If something is impossible, we should expect you and Luc to make it so.”