Chapter 23

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

C arter sprinted down the hallway and up the stone steps. Rose didn’t stop to question. She kept pace with him as he ran, keeping her fingers intertwined in the scruff of his neck so he could return them to the continent as soon as possible. Rose had a million questions. Clearly, he couldn’t take them back from the castle dungeon—or he would have. But did he know where to go now to make the jump?

They tore through the main castle entryway, narrowly avoiding everyone they passed. Carter barely paused as they turned the corner and made for the drawbridge. Rose huffed out a breath and kept running. Turning, she didn’t see anyone pursuing them. The guards must have been distracted enough by Luc’s appearance.

The knot in her stomach twisted and bottomed out. She couldn’t believe she’d left him.

Carter’s constant pull at least kept her from breaking down. If she and Carter were caught, she couldn’t try again. She flexed her fingers, not gripping Carter as they ran. Her hand had threaded in Luc’s. She’d thought she’d never let him go again.

Yet here she was, fleeing without him.

Her fury burned with a singular focus on Aterra. The Suden god was the bane of her existence.

As soon as their feet crossed the bridge exiting the castle, Rose felt the tug of Carter’s magic. She wound her fingers tighter into his fur, bracing herself to fall through realms. No matter how good she was with portals, this was different. She wasn’t sure she’d ever get used to the feeling. Especially after seeing Luc and Aterra wander, lost between realms, she had no desire to try this without Carter’s inherent expertise.

A sharp tug thrummed behind her breastbone. Her magic was as loath to leave Luc again as she was.

“I chose this.” His whispered words were in her head. He must have been slotted back into his cell.

“ I could have fought harder to hold onto you,” were her last words to him as she fell between realms.

She landed with an ‘umph.’

Rose pushed up on her arms and stretched her neck from her prone position on the ground. This felt familiar. It was cold, hard, and damp—not all that different from the castle dungeon they had just left. She looked up. Carter stood above her in fae form, smirking.

“You don’t seem to be getting better at that,” he said dryly.

“Glad that leaving Luc there is funny to you,” she huffed as she stood.

His smirk flattened. “I’m sorry, Rose. I should have found a way to tell you I couldn’t take us back from within the castle.” His gaze didn’t meet hers as he kicked a rock on the ground.

“Why? What happened?” she asked.

“Cassandra must have some protection directly around the castle. The entire realm has magic encircling it so that all new visitors end up in the river.” He shrugged. “Exiting isn’t as heavily monitored, it seems, but it still has restrictions.”

“You can feel that?” Rose pressed. She had felt the Lady’s presence when they were near her but not otherwise.

“Oh, yes,” Carter replied. “Her magic’s presence is…strong. At least to my senses.” He scratched the back of his neck as he finished—like maybe he thought he’d said too much.

Rose was intrigued by the conversation. She let herself focus on it rather than the anger welling in her chest at leaving Luc again. Theoretically, she should have the strongest sense for the magic of others based on her weapons master talents. For Carter to feel Cassandra’s magic so keenly, something else must be at play. She turned her head in consideration. Her gaze skimmed the tunnel hallway in which they found themselves. Distracted from her thoughts on magic, she started to walk. This tunnel was too familiar.

“Do you know where we landed?” she asked Carter, her mind already having its own suspicions as to the answer.

Carter didn’t get to respond as she heard a familiar voice at the end of the tunnel. The hallway widened into a stone amphitheater.

“And what exactly do you believe you are owed?” The voice was tense. Even more so than when they had last left it—slamming the door closed on Cassandra’s reply.

Zrak was speaking.

His voice echoed in a way she remembered from her evaluation of Juliette’s magic. They were in the caves where Juliette completed her ritual. The others must have finally been successful in their call to Zrak. Rose was shocked.

“Zrak,” Arie’s usually carefree voice sounded almost hurt. Rose hated Zrak just a little for making him sound that way. “She’s just asking for a little clarity on the situation. We all are.”

Roes shared a glance with Carter. He gave her a silent nod and followed her into the more open room. They stayed behind the stalactites at the entrance, not ready to make themselves known. Personally, Rose would rather hear what Zrak had to say for himself. What they had overheard—she needed more time to think about it.

“Why didn’t you tell us you would be beyond the veil?” Aurora asked. Her tone also held a hint of disappointment, but not hurt like Arie’s.

Rose and Carter peered around from the rock they hid behind. Juliette, Aurora, and Arie stood in the center of the room. They faced a circle of light on the wall. Though it had remained a solid stone surface when Carter dragged Rose through it yesterday, it now held a shadow—an outline—of Zrak.

“I don’t have time to chat,” Zrak said, sounding bored. “I can’t be found here.” His voice was cold, unfeeling, as he replied. “I have completed the ritual, as Lady Osten can attest. Now, I must go.”

That made no sense. Cassandra knew he met with the Osten Point—she knew he was avoiding Arie and Aurora. Rose couldn’t see Arie’s face but saw his shoulders sag at the Lost God’s words. She couldn’t take it. Balling her hands into fists at her sides, she stepped out from behind the rock. “Why are you lying to them, Zrak?” She put a fist on her hip. “Lady Cassandra knows of your meetings with the Osten Point. This isn’t about keeping them a secret. Why don’t you tell us the truth?”

She swore the shadow looked upward like the Lost God was asking for patience from some higher being. Good. Let him realize there was no one there to help him. They’d all felt that way enough because of his actions.

“Rose? Where did you come from?” Arie asked, turning to face her. Then he wiped his hand at the words as if removing them from the space. “Never mind that. What are you saying?”

“We saw Zrak speaking with Lady Cassandra,” she said. “Not only is he free to do as he wishes beyond the veil, but she’s aware of the ritual he performs with the Osten Point. I want what you’ve been asking for—for him to explain what is going on.”

Arie, Aurora, and Juliette returned their focus to the shadow of a god ringed in light on the cave wall.

“You have no idea what you’re talking about, Norden Point.” His words were terse, but at least he knew who she was. “You will have to trust I know what I’m doing.” His words echoed through the room as he disappeared from the circle. The light left with him, and the room fell into darkness.

Arie’s and Carter’s hands each held a ball of flame as the cavern returned to view. They floated the balls of fire around the room, bringing back the eerie purple glow of Rose’s first visit to this cavern.

“What was that, Rose?” Arie asked, not unkindly.

“We saw him, Arie. We saw him talking to Lady Cassandra.” She shared a glance with Carter and charged on. “He’s no prisoner there. He had free rein of her castle, and though their relationship seemed strained, Zrak certainly wasn’t under lock and key like Aterra and Luc.” A swell of emotion overtook Rose as she spoke. Luc’s magic filled the space that was his, but she hadn’t heard his voice again since leaving Cassandra’s realm.

She rubbed her chest, hoping to somehow activate the connection.

“You saw them all?” Arie’s head tilted to the side, looking so much like the reactions of the black bird form she was familiar with.

“Yes.” Rose coughed. She had only seconds to process leaving Luc. They’d been so close…She cleared the thickness in her throat with a cough. One glance at Carter said he wasn’t buying her attempt to cover her devastation. She shook her head at him. Now was still not the time for it.

“We couldn’t get Luc out without being captured ourselves. But before we found him, we observed a meeting between Zrak and Cassandra.”

“What did they say?” Arie pressed.

“Cassandra taunted him about having to confront you and Aurora. She said he’d avoided meeting with Juliette since realizing you and Aurora knew where he was.” Rose looked to Juliette. “I assume he pushed the power-sharing ceremony timeline to its limits, and he finally had to show up?”

Juliette nodded, her lips pressed flat, clearly unhappy at Rose’s words. “I’ve never been on truly good terms with Zrak, given everything he cost the Osten people, but I’ve never considered him an enemy either.” She clasped her hands together. “Do you think he’s working against us?” Then, a little quieter, “Is bringing him back worse than having Aterra here?”

“We need three gods on the continent as the minimum requirement for balance, right?” Carter asked.

Aurora nodded. “That was the goal.”

“I know I’m repeating myself.” Arie’s gaze shot to Rose. His eyes held a plea for understanding. “I just don’t think Zrak is capable of working against us.”

Rose felt for her friend. It was hard to think differently of someone he’d been fond of for more years than she could even consider counting. She was reassured when she noticed Aurora grasping his hand. She felt a little stronger in her reply though she delivered it with care. “You admitted that you might not know the Lost God as well as you thought.”

“I did.” He canted his head again. “But there are parts of him that can’t be misconstrued. His respect for the balance is absolute. Everything he’s done, everything he did at the creation of the fae, was to preserve the balance, even at great personal cost.” Arie sighed and rubbed his temples.

“Not even hundreds of years beyond the veil could have changed his perspective on balance. We can spend time arguing whether his ends will justify his means”—he sighed loudly—“but I still believe he wants the same thing we do.”

“And what is that, exactly?” Juliette asked. “Are we still aligned on our goals?”

Juliette now seemed suspicious of all the gods. While Rose trusted Arie, she knew none of the other Compass Points had any reason to. Honestly, she was surprised they’d made it this far without more pushback on Arie and Aurora’s involvement. Juliette’s gaze found Rose’s. To her relief, it didn’t appear that her suspicion was directed at herself or Carter. For once, the Compass Points knew they were on the same page.

“We want to bring balance back to the continent,” Aurora said, spreading her arms wide in exasperation. “Just like all of you.”

“And we think the best chance for balance is with Zrak on the continent instead of Aterra.” Arie held Rose’s gaze as his following words landed. “Even Luc believed that. He believed it so thoroughly he put his own life on the line.”

Rose glared at Arie. His words struck a chord within her. “Don’t tell me what Luc believed, Arie. I’m well aware,” she snapped. She closed her eyes, this time feeling the thrum of magic in her chest. Taking her own deep breath, she let her emotions settle while her magic quietly strained for her bound partner.

“He’s not wrong,” Luc’s voice broke into her thoughts as if her longing summoned him.

“I know that,” she snapped. “He just didn’t need to be such an ass about it.”

She felt his sinful smile through the bond. She shook her head as she clung to their connection. The other Compass Points needed her reassurance. Regardless of her internal turmoil, she fell back into the position of leader and rallier, a position she’d struggled with since Luc’s departure. This conversation proved she couldn’t afford to lapse in her role. The group needed her to pull them together. They required her unwavering belief that they were all on the same side.

She tucked her chin, reassuring herself first and foremost. Her words would be authentic, or she would not say them. Arie was aware of his own bias. He was trying to rectify what he knew of his friend and what he was hearing from him. This wasn’t blind faith that Arie had in Zrak. It was a calculation of his overall end goal. She respected that.

“I think Arie is right about Zrak.” She met Carter and Juliette’s gazes. “I know I just called Zrak out on his words—his misrepresentation of how things are beyond the veil—but his prior actions still show a desire for balance.”

“Past behavior is not a promise of future,” Juliette said. “You know that.”

Rose did, and she agreed. But Zrak’s actions—his behavior—weren’t small gestures. “Zrak went to great lengths to point out Aterra’s interference. I know he wounded the Osten by sacrificing himself, but he also found a way to patch the problem he created.” She shrugged. “He does seem to have a plan.” She shook her head. “Even if he refuses to share it with us. Ultimately, though, questionable actions with an aligned end goal are still better than Aterra’s blatant disregard for the balance and intention to throw the continent into chaos and natural disaster.”

Carter and Juliette nodded as they took in Rose’s words. Carter ran his hand through his shaggy hair like he would say something else. She gave him a moment, but he shook his head, dropping whatever topic he would have broached.

“I don’t think we’ll get any more information today.” Rose considered. That final word had given her pause. They were so deep in the caverns. They’d spent so much time beyond the veil. “Is it…still today?” she asked.

“Yes, it should be,” Juliette replied. “Though we’ll lose more of the day by the time we return through the caves.”

Rose turned to glance down the hallway she and Carter had come through. The prospect of the wind crossing and the staircase’s mental challenge was disheartening at best. She knew Juliette had an uncommon strength, but thinking about how often she took on these obstacles—for love of her people—had Rose in awe.

At this point in the day Rose didn’t even care for the walk through the cavern tunnels. She was exhausted, emotionally and physically. Her bad mood wouldn’t help anyone though. They were all fraying. She held an arm before her, gesturing for Juliette, their guide, to lead them. “Shall we, then?”