Chapter 34
Ambrose
Lord Arctos’s presence didn’t allow time to process what happened. The magic had worked. I’d dissolved an unprecedented magical bond between two living beings—between a fae and half-fae. Discomfort stirred in my stomach, but I couldn’t regret it, even if it was everything my father warned against.
Evelyn knew what this step meant to me. I was sure she was surprised I hadn’t fought her harder on being the one to do it.
Something warmed in my chest at how deeply she understood me.
She’d known I needed to decide for myself the direction of my future—the direction of my experiments with blood magic. And she’d provided an opportunity.
My chest throbbed a little. It was odd not to sense the connection to Evelyn anymore. Did I miss it? Or was I worried about what the dissolution of the bond meant—what we’d have to face next?
One of us will be chosen for Vesten historian now.
Our gazes met and held, a million conversations dying to be had, but Lord Arctos’s insistent cough behind us told me now was not the time for them.
“Yes, we broke the connection,” Evelyn said, her brown eyes still on me.
Lord Arctos coughed again, demanding our attention. When we finally turned to face him, he had a hand on his hip and another gesticulating. “I’m a god, of course I can see you’ve broken the connection…” His head tilted as if questioning something else.
“You didn’t give us much time,” I said, “before having Carter follow us.”
Lord Arctos’s head snapped toward me. “Carter has other business to attend to in Sandrin, and we had the utmost faith in your capabilities.”
His wry expression didn’t signal that he had faith in my capabilities, but I decided to take his words at face value.
“What about the place of power? Isn’t Compass Lake the location of importance for the magic connecting you?” Evelyn asked.
I felt my skin flush. That hadn’t even occurred to me yet. Her mind was always working, and her attention to detail was impeccable. I wanted to tell her now and every day how brilliant I thought her. The weeks I’d spent not sharing that information had been wasted.
Lord Arctos waved her off. “We’ll try here.
The Vesten Library is important for the connection to Carter specifically.
The blood magic connecting Compass Point and god may have started at Compass Lake, but the magic connecting me and Carter started here, the day he accepted that he would be the next Vesten Point. ”
Evelyn looked pensive.
I didn’t get to ask any follow-up questions as Gabriel arrived at Evelyn’s study carrel in a flurry of paper and a sweeping robe.
I had been so distracted I hadn’t even seen him enter the Great Room.
“Evelyn, Ambrose, I’m glad you’re both here.
There is something I believe you should know—about the Vesten historian position. ”
Next to me, Evelyn’s spine straightened. I pushed my shoulders back, too, as if on reflex. If I understood her, which I liked to think I did, she’d been mentally avoiding this part as much as I had.
It was the first thing she’d told me she wanted. That was its own milestone for us. Then, as we’d grown together from our bond, I’d come to understand why.
Initially, she’d offered the reasoning that she would use the position to find her father.
That was a moot point now, but it also wasn’t the whole story.
Evelyn had been inescapably shaped by growing up half-fae in a world where she didn’t fit in.
That was too generous—for nearly all of her life, the world had not wanted to acknowledge her existence.
While the Compass Points fought for change, it wouldn’t happen overnight.
It would take leading by example; it would take dogged determination to bring those who didn’t fit the traditional fae mold into fae schools and courts.
It would take careful direction that considered all angles, not just those of the traditional fae.
It would take someone like Evelyn in a position of importance to the court.
Her uncanny sense for other magics meant she would fulfill the magical side of the role with ease. Perhaps I knew more about Vesten history than she did currently, but, like learning her own magic, given time, I was sure she would catch up.
I stared at her with no small amount of awe. Then I studied her stance. I’d been lost in thought, but her hands were balled into fists at her side while Gabriel explained something she didn’t want to hear.
“Ambrose, did you hear me?” Gabriel asked.
Evelyn’s face was as white as a sheet. I’d been distracted for too long.
I shook my head.
“While you two were traveling, we received a review for the last paper you submitted.” He cleared his throat with a careful glance at Evelyn. “That means that instead of you both having equal research submissions and publications, you are now in the lead.”
“What?” That couldn’t be right. The only person who reviewed my papers was Evelyn. She was the only one with the expertise. Yet, judging by the look on Evelyn’s face, she clearly hadn’t done it. Who could have provided a review while we were traveling?
The question was on the tip of my tongue. What Gabriel was saying didn’t make sense.
Evelyn touched my shoulder—featherlight and unsure.
It was so starkly different from all that we’d recently shared.
Her face pinched, but the attempted smile was genuine.
“Congratulations, Ambrose. That’s great news.
” While I still stood in confused silence, she turned to Lord Arctos and Gabriel.
“If that’s all, I need to get to the tavern. ”
Gabriel nodded.
“We’ll see you tomorrow morning?” Lord Arctos called after her. “I want you here when Carter arrives.”
Evelyn waved over her shoulder. Theoretically, this was a gesture that conveyed understanding, albeit somewhat lax for communication with a god.
Lord Arctos’s gaze followed her, narrowing as she left the Great Room.
I shared his apparent concern. She wasn’t alright, and clearly, she didn’t want to talk about it.
Still, I didn’t think she’d skip meeting Carter. It was the conclusion of a project to which she was still assigned. She would want to see it through. Almost as bad, I didn’t want to do it without her.
“Does the one paper make that much of a difference?” I asked.
Gabriel shrugged. “I don’t speak for my son.
But I do know you both came highly recommended.
I don’t think it’s a secret that you excel at history and Evelyn excels at blood magic.
Carter cares deeply about both disciplines, so he searched for other ways to differentiate.
That was why he used the competition as a way to see if one of you set yourself apart. ”
Lord Arctos looked pensive but didn’t add anything.
“I’m out of the loop,” Gabriel continued, “but I gather you two worked together more than anticipated on the project.”
“Let’s say they worked together as much as anticipated,” Lord Arctos replied.
Gabriel deferred. “Yes, well. Unfortunately, that means this paper is what he’s been looking for. A way to set the two of you apart.”
“Even if it’s just a technicality?” I ran my hand through my hair at his silence, then asked the question that felt like a stone sinking in my stomach. “Who reviewed the paper?”
Gabriel grimaced, and that sinking feeling shifted to that of an animal burrowing.
“Gabriel,” I rasped.
He sighed. “Your father.”
A choked laugh escaped my lips. “My father reviewed my paper on the use of anchors for blood magic?”
He nodded. “He’s entirely qualified.”
I ground my teeth. “Oh, I know he’s qualified. I also know his feelings on the paper. He’d contest every point. You’re saying he approved it?”
“Yes.”
“Excuse me.” I nodded to them both and stormed out of the library to find him.
“What did you do, Father?” I skipped the usual greetings as I entered the family apartment. Sasha and Timothy were at the table, eating. Metal clanged in the kitchen where Father cooked, and Mother carried a platter of pancakes toward the table.
“We’re having breakfast for the evening meal,” Sasha announced proudly.
I sighed. “I see that.”
“Your siblings wanted to pretend they were at your apartment, since they hadn’t been over there in three days,” Mother said as she set the plate down.
In the kitchen, Father flipped another pancake.
“I need just a moment with Father,” I said as I gave each of them a quick kiss on the forehead.
“I’m not sure what you’re upset about, Ambrose,” Father said as I entered the kitchen. He didn’t have to see the pancakes to know when they were done. A small bell timer clanged every three minutes, signaling when to flip.
For a moment, I simply stared. Father and I might have disagreed on methods, but regardless, I’d let his caution guide me for far too long.
If I wanted to prove myself worthy of the position of Vesten historian and be the scholar I knew myself capable of being, then choosing my own path was the first step.
This afternoon was only the beginning. I’d used myself as a test subject for blood magic.
With the way Lord Arctos and Carter talked about the need to dissolve the bond between them, I could confidently say that the continent would be a safer place for my research.
I only wished I had started thinking this way sooner.
“You didn’t even agree with that paper,” I said at last. “How could you approve it?”
Father waved away my concern. “I know you didn’t want to do all that, you just needed the qualification.”
Mother returned to the kitchen to collect another stack. “James, how could you?” she said, clearly hearing our conversation. “You said you wouldn’t interfere.”
“I didn’t. I checked the submissions when I was at the library a few days ago, to see if there was anything of interest.”
Mother collected another stack of pancakes. “We will discuss this later. But for the record, that is the opposite of not interfering.”
She squeezed my shoulder and left. I wasn’t sure what else to say. Father had crossed a line. He had known what this would do.
“You could discredit me, of course, if it’s so important to you,” he said.
I sucked in a breath. That seemed drastic even for me. I believed in the paper, of course, but just because I knew Father disagreed with it didn’t mean he wasn’t capable of spotting mistakes. The question was, how genuinely had he searched for them?
“Did you think it drew the correct conclusion?” I asked.
He shrugged. “I think the test itself was unnecessary, but once conducted, the results were assembled sensibly.”
Part of me wondered if I should be flattered by that response. That was as close to admitting he couldn’t find fault with the logic as he would get.
He flipped another pancake and turned to me, brow furrowed and hands at his hips. “You thought I approved it just for the sake of doing so?”
“Well, yes,” I replied. “You had no other reason to even read that paper.”
“Other than caring about what my son spends his time on? Experiments we agreed he shouldn’t be conducting.” He waved the spatula at me. “It may have been convenient timing, I admit that, but I would never forge approval on an academic paper. I’d hope you know me better than that.”
I sighed. Maybe I did? I no longer knew what to believe.
At the end of the day, I didn’t like that this technicality was a convenient reason for the Vesten Point to choose me instead of Evelyn.
It didn’t consider what we each brought to the position.
It reduced the decision to data points without context—now conveniently tipped in my favor.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner how much blood magic work I was doing, but I want you to know I chose to work on it. I should have been honest about that.”
He turned back to his pancakes. “It’s alright. You did what you had to. Now that you’ll be Vesten historian, you’ll have more control over what goes on there. You can point them in the right direction.”
“That’s not—” Suddenly, I was so tired, but I needed to clear this up. He needed to understand our differing opinions. “That’s not what I’m going to do, Father.” I ran my hand through my hair. “I’ll expand our blood magic research. It’s too important.”
“The risk is too—”
“There is risk. I acknowledge that. Evelyn taught me ways to mitigate it. Part of our job is to learn these things so when others are in need, we have solutions to offer.”
“It’s dangerous.”
I sighed. “I don’t deny that. All blood magic is dangerous. But we’ve also proven it’s necessary.”
He looked like he’d say more, but I didn’t want to hear it now.
“I have to go.” I turned and left the kitchen. My siblings received a tired smile and a quick goodbye before I left the apartment. There was one more thing I could try.