Chapter 28
Ambrose
Before heading down to meet the Vesten Point, I tried knocking on Evelyn’s door again. It was a performative action. The tightening in my chest said that she wasn’t in her room. She was somewhere out on the property, and getting farther away by the moment.
A sigh slipped from my lips, and a weight settled on my shoulder. “A lover’s spat?” the Vesten God asked.
I wished. What kind of fight was this, exactly? A friends fight? A collegial dispute? I had no idea, and wasn’t that part of the problem. “She went for a walk.”
“Of course she did.” This time, the Vesten God’s voice held an air of satisfaction rather than condescension. Like maybe he’d won some bet with himself.
“I was about to go downstairs to the meal. Are you coming?” I asked.
He flapped his wings into the side of my face. “Yes, but I believe Carter wanted to eat out in the garden. I’ll show you the way.”
I shrugged and followed Lord Arctos out of the house.
Reading about the Burning Garden hadn’t prepared me to see it. Immediately, my mind went to Evelyn and her constant experiments with plants. She would love to see this. I guessed she would soon enough.
“I should find Evelyn before Carter arrives,” I started.
“No need.” Lord Arctos had shifted into his fae form and strode with purpose as he called toward the large willow tree in the center of the garden.
The way its branches hung like a curtain behind which one could hide was beautiful—although maybe that was too tame a word for it.
I might not have felt the magic that Evelyn described earlier, but this tree embodied the ancient feeling she had described.
It didn’t surprise me that she’d discovered additional magic here. She was intuitive with unique magic. Yes, she thoroughly tested her ideas, but she also had a knack for it. I wondered what that meant when it came to unique magic on Vesten House grounds.
A few of the kitchen staff arrived in the garden behind us and laid out a checkered blanket. Plates filled with rich-smelling food were spread across it: meats, vegetables, fresh-baked bread, and brightly colored fruits.
The sun had already started to set, and the night had a chill about it.
I hoped Evelyn had some of the candies with her.
There were some in my pocket, but I wasn’t sure she’d want me to offer her one in this company.
The garden would be a lovely place to take in the scenery of Compass Lake at its most quiet hour, but it was sure to get cold if she didn’t use her fire.
“Are you two coming?” Lord Arctos called.
My head snapped toward the giant willow tree as I realized what Lord Arctos had said. Are you two coming?
Evelyn and Carter pushed the drooping willow branches out of the way and walked toward us—together.
They weren’t touching. Not that it was within my rights to be angry if they had been, but something about the two of them looked … informal. My metaphorical hackles rose.
“Calm down, Wolfy, it’s not what you think,” Lord Arctos said.
Maybe my hackles rising hadn’t been metaphorical.
As much as the knot in my chest loosened at her approach, a different feeling I wasn’t quite sure what to do with threatened to double me over. Evelyn laughed freely as they approached. Had she ever been that relaxed with me?
It’s not what you think. But what did I think it was? More importantly, what did he think I thought it was? Now my head was pounding, but I had no time to tie myself further into knots when they met us at the blanket.
“Ambrose, Lord Arctos, glad you could join us. Shall we sit?” The Vesten Point gestured toward the picnic.
Us? What had I missed in less than an hour? Wasn’t it only last night I’d been contemplating if Evelyn and I could be an us?
Evelyn moved with a fluidity I hadn’t seen since she’d prowled toward me in veil cat form. Dark strands fell from her braid, and her shoulders lacked their usual tension. She looked more relaxed than I’d seen her in ages, and I wanted to know what had caused it.
I guessed I didn’t have to wonder. Carter’s languid movements effused ease.
He might have been the most powerful Vesten on the continent, but he certainly didn’t act like it.
Maybe that was what unshakeable confidence did to you.
He knew no one could hurt him, so he went through life without concern.
It was the exact opposite of the way I approached things.
Worry dictated my every move. I tried to think differently, tried not to let fear of what could happen control my actions, but maybe that wasn’t enough.
Maybe that carefree attitude would be better for Evelyn.
“Ambrose?” My name from Evelyn’s lips snapped my attention to her dark brown eyes. It was clear from her tone that this wasn’t the first time she’d said it. She offered me a dish from the basket. It looked like bread and some kind of vegetable dip. “Did you want some?”
Absently, I took the dish and placed the food on the plate in front of me. Lord Arctos and Carter seemed to be in a heated discussion. I took their moment of distraction to whisper to Evelyn, “Do you need one of the candies?”
She looked a little startled but immediately relaxed. “I can do it without them now, but thank you.”
Evelyn was a quick study. “I shouldn’t be surprised that you mastered this within days when it takes most Vesten weeks or months to learn.”
I loved that her cheeks pinkened at that statement.
She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “Since I mastered those so quickly, I’d love to hear what comes next in these lessons.”
“What are you two talking about?” Lord Arctos interrupted.
Evelyn’s eyes widened with panic, and I knew she didn’t want to air the fact that she hadn’t been taught basic Vesten magic in front of the Vesten Point and god of our court.
I improvised. “Evelyn and I had an idea.”
She stiffened but didn’t stop me. Carter turned, and his gold-green eyes flashed. “Do tell.”
“Well, we discussed anchors after our conversation in your study. We wondered about the Vesten coin and whether it could have served as an anchor for the creation of the Vesten. It was said to—”
Carter glared at Lord Arctos.
“What is it?” Evelyn asked.
“The coin was…” Carter started, and shot another angry look at the god.
Then cleared his throat and tried again.
“It was given at the creation of the Vesten, and even uniquely tied to the magic that was shared. It would have fit your definition of an anchor perfectly.” He raised a glass of wine to his lips.
“Was?” Evelyn said. “Would have?”
It wasn’t a good sign that the Vesten Point spoke about the coin in the past tense.
“Yes, unfortunately, the coin was destroyed. We needed it for something else. Something more important than this project. Its magic was well spent, but I’m afraid it can’t be spent again.
I’m sorry if that’s what you came here to test. Lord Arctos was very aware of this. He could have told you in Sandrin.”
I tilted my head, considering. It didn’t surprise me that Lord Arctos was playing his own game in this mess.
I wasn’t bothered by it. He was direct in his misdirections.
Mostly, I wanted to know what had been so important that it required the sacrifice of the Vesten coin, but I knew better than to ask.
Evelyn didn’t. “What did you use it for? It might have been the only anchor.”
“As of this moment, it’s classified. Maybe I’ll tell you some day,” Carter replied.
Lord Arctos’s attention traveled between Evelyn and Carter, a satisfied smirk curling his lip.
Maybe he’d tell her? When what? When she was his historian? Or worse, his consort?
Where did that come from?
Evelyn glanced at me, and I feared my wolf might have growled along with the revelation. I cleared my throat, hoping no one else had heard the noise, and turned to Lord Arctos. “Are there any other items that persist from the creation of the fae?”
“No,” he said flatly.
“What about the artifacts for the other courts?” I asked, remembering the other items in the painting.
“Destroyed,” Arctos said, waving his hand in the air as if to tell me to move on.
“All of them?” Evelyn squeaked.
He nodded.
She glanced at Carter as if he could provide more rational information. Unfortunately, he nodded as well.
“While a good idea—and, from Ambrose’s paper, a proven method for breaking blood magic—I’m not sure anchors will work for this particular case,” Carter said.
Evelyn glanced at me. I thought I knew what she wanted to say.
She’d been noodling on the idea of the rope between us since last night.
But I also knew Evelyn. She would never say it until she’d at least proven it could work in a test. The problem was that she and I were the only ones who could be experimented on.
She opened and closed her mouth. The sun faded from the sky, and with it, her decision to say anything about the idea.
Was she afraid I wouldn’t let her test it on me?
I shouldn’t be surprised that she would assume I wouldn’t participate.
My fear of what could happen presented as hatred toward her methods, but this connection felt like an extenuating circumstance.
There was literally no way out without experimentation, and it would necessarily have to be on us, two living beings.
I would push myself on this. There was no alternative. I trusted Evelyn to test as carefully as possible. With my decision made, I wanted Evelyn to share her idea—I wanted her to know that we were in this together. We weren’t out of ideas yet.
“Evelyn has another theory she’s working on.”
She turned to me, her eyes widening again. “Ambrose.”
“Don’t give up yet. She’ll say it’s not ready. She still wants to do some testing, but it’s promising.”
Carter glanced between us. “My father was right, you two do work well together. I look forward to seeing what you come up with next. I have complete faith in the pair of you.”
Finally, I picked up the bread and cheese left on my plate and took a bite. It was simple, but exactly what I needed after the day I’d had. I swallowed with a smile on my face, even as I felt Evelyn glaring daggers at my cheek.