Chapter 16
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
A knock sounded on the lakeside door as Rose and Aurora returned to the house. “Go ahead, Aurora, I’ll just be a moment.” Aurora dipped her head and went toward the kitchen.
Rose ran into Walter as she approached the front door. A blush touched her cheeks as she realized this wasn’t her responsibility here. She smiled weakly and shrugged at Walter, who carried on as if the lady of the house weren’t standing in the entryway with him.
A disheveled Aaron stood at the door. His usually tidy clothes were wrinkled, and the glasses he wore sat atop his head. She had a feeling he’d be wondering where they were later. He held a stack of books in his arms and immediately glanced around Walter’s shoulder to where Rose stood. “I found some helpful texts at the house, though the one we really need isn’t here.”
“You didn’t have to stay up all night to look into it,” Rose replied.
“I’ll leave you to it,” Walter said, welcoming Aaron in and closing the door behind him.
“Thank you, Walter,” Rose said.
Aaron narrowed his eyes at her once the butler departed. “Yes, I’m sure you got a full night’s rest as well,” he said dryly.
Rose rolled her eyes and led him to the library. His gaze roamed the room, focusing on the blanket that still held the shape of her legs over the chair. He was right that she hadn’t slept per se, but her night had been very different than his.
Familiar magic surged through her.
“ You know what you’re feeling. Trust in yourself.” The words were Luc’s. Rose knew that. She felt them inside her heart and her mind. They were dizzying as she struggled to determine if they were a present connection or an echo of their conversation in the heart of her magic.
Either way, she knew what they asked of her. She’d said the words aloud in the deepest part of her—and the relief had been immediate. Could she say them aloud in the light of day?
Luc’s brother might be a good test. He hadn’t questioned the last set of unique truths she’d shared.
Aaron’s look of smug satisfaction proved too much for her—like he knew she was working up to some revelation that had left her as exhausted as he looked. The confession stuck on her tongue. They were bound, yes, but what did that mean? What could this connection do? The power flooding her receded as she let the moment pass. She rubbed her chest out of habit.
“I was testing something with my magic last night. I’m still trying to sort out the results.”
Aaron turned to look at her. “What did you do?” He took a deep breath and added, “It smells of pine and cinnamon in here.”
Rose sucked in a breath. It really shouldn’t surprise her this time. Luc may not have been physically present last night, but his magic was. It had wrapped around her skin, and it flooded in with her declaration. What was surprising was that the physicality of the heart of her magic was strengthening if his scent followed her here.
Her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth as she searched for the words again. Aaron would probably believe her. But he’d want to know what the connection meant. Rose didn’t have answers about that yet. Her gaze darted to the hallway leading to the kitchen and the soft conversation emanating from there. Arie and Aurora. If anyone could tell her more about bound fae, it would be their creators.
“I wouldn’t even know where to begin, Aaron. I’ll tell you as soon as it proves useful in returning your brother.” She didn’t want to get his hopes up until she knew more about what this connection could do. She gestured to his books. “You found something on the Lady of the Veil or that period at least?”
He sighed, seeming to accept her response as he sat at the table and started unstacking and opening books to marked pages. “I can’t believe no one talks about this history,” he said. “You were seeking information on why the Lady of the Veil closed her borders? What magic she might have to know when one enters her realm?”
Rose nodded.
“Well, we do have texts from the period. I’m not familiar with all of these. Others, I’ve been through multiple times.”
“Why?” Carter had told Rose that the Suden were the only court with these histories, but she hadn’t pressed for details. “Why do the Suden have these texts and no one else?”
“You know what my father does?” Aaron asked. She wondered if he was evading her question, but something in his gaze was determined. Rose wondered if this was a small test of how much Luc had shared with her. She would play along to get the answer.
“He teaches magical agriculture methods and works with humans to implement them for a more stable food supply.” She tilted her head. “What does that have to do with the period before the Flood?”
Aaron smiled. She must have passed. “I realize this was before the creation of the fae, but it held the most advancements in the use of magic for farming.” Aaron coughed. “The humans turned to magical experimentation in their time of need.”
“I see.” Carter and Juliette had made the famine clear, but maybe they’d been unaware that villagers resorted to blood magic to survive. She bent over Aaron’s shoulder to look at the page he’d flipped to. Focusing on their task, she asked, “What did you find?”
“From your brief explanation yesterday, I’d guess you don’t quite believe that the Lady went mad.” He looked up for Rose’s confirmation and then continued. “You are right to suspect. This text is a journal of a villager in Marcil. It indicates the Lady of the Veil gave the governor’s daughter the means to protect her village.”
“What means?” Rose asked, surprised by the difference in the story Carter told about a woman being taken from her village.
“It doesn’t say—just that a deal was struck. I have to believe it has some ring of truth because this journal survived. As you can imagine, most texts from the time were destroyed in the Flood.” He flipped through more pages. “This journal isn’t the only one that mentions something like this. I’m still searching for the journal of the governor’s daughter herself. I swear we had it…” He scratched the back of his neck. “If it’s the one I’m thinking of, it includes even more examples of using blood magic to grow crops.”
Rose was skimming the text. It was open to an entry where the author talked about their food source being destroyed. Celeste, the governor’s daughter, was referenced—a plan to experiment with magic to regrow the crops. “This is a good start.” She almost shooed Aaron out of the chair so she could sit down and read from the beginning.
“Does this journal talk about the magic?” Rose wondered how much Aaron would tell her from memory versus what she would need to read for herself.
“No. This villager seemed afraid of it but willing to put their trust in Celeste’s plan. We’ll need Celeste’s journal for details on the magic or the real exchange with the Lady of the Veil.”
“Did you know blood magic could do something like this?” Rose asked.
“Fae have never paid attention to blood magic. We’re spoiled and, some would say, too prideful with our inherent elements. The Vesten Point will probably know the most.” He shrugged. “There are scholars and practitioners of blood magic in the Sandrin library where he studied.”
Rose nodded as she continued to skim the text for more details or mentions of the Lady of the Veil.
“You have some reading to do.” Aaron’s lips curved into a smile as his hand searched his face absently for his glasses.
“They’re on top of your head,” Rose pointed out without looking up.
Nonplussed, Aaron continued, pulling the glasses down to the bridge of his nose.
“I’ve seen the Lady of the Veil… She certainly wasn’t…welcoming when we ended up in her realm. I can’t imagine she would just give someone the ability to save her village out of the kindness of her heart.”
Aaron’s eyes widened at the confession that Rose had journeyed beyond the veil. “I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that.”
Rose swatted at him. “As if you didn’t expect I’ve already tried to get to him.” There was no need to define the him of who she spoke.
“I expect nothing less, Rose. It’s best I don’t know the details in case the Suden ask questions. I’m a terrible liar.”
Rose hmphed. “Anyway, she seems more of the ‘I’ll take what I want, and you can’t stop me’ type.”
“That may be true now, but this was five or six hundred years ago. A lot could be different.”
Rose nodded. He was right, and she needed to know what had changed. It likely held the key to understanding the Lady of the Veil. Even if the knife worked and Rose could enter the realm undetected, she’d still need to deal with the realm’s ruler when it came to Luc and Aterra.
“I’ll keep looking for other journals. I expect there is more to the story.”
Rose flipped toward the end of the journal—an entry about food and shelter from the elemental storms. She would read this more later. “Thank you, Aaron.”
He smiled. “Don’t thank me yet. I wanted to get you these. I’ll continue searching for the others.” He gestured to the stack of books. “I’ll leave these for you as well. I’ve left bookmarks on the most relevant pages. They’re other villager’s perspectives on the same.”
“I’m glad you’re not one to fold pages down as markers,” Rose said.
He scoffed. “A researcher who did such a thing wouldn’t deserve their name.” Aaron stood, tucking in the chair and moving toward the exit.
Rose trailed behind him to the door. “You can stay,” she offered hesitantly to his back. “The Compass Points value your perspective.”
Aaron turned and seemed to evaluate her offer. Unsure if it was genuine. “I need to go continue my search. A big piece of this is still missing. I can return this evening, though, with any additional information I find.”
“Sure. That would be great.” She didn’t expect Aaron to have the same trust in the Compass Points as Luc had come to. The last time he saw his brother, Luc was still contemplating what to tell the Compass Points, so Aaron’s knowledge was outdated. “We came to trust each other on our journey,” Rose added. “The others trusted Luc as well.” She shrugged. “Well, mostly.”
Aaron gave her a doubtful look. “I would challenge you on that, but the entire village is abuzz with the fact you and the Vesten Point were seen coming out of Osten house yesterday. No one can remember the last time the Compass Points conversed outside this room.” He glanced around the Norden library where the Compass Points usually held meetings. He ran his fingers through his hair. “I know something has changed. I do hope it’s for the better.” He shrugged. “I’ll be back later when I have more information.”
Rose saw him out, hoping she could soon prove to him and the rest of Compass Lake that it was for the better.