Chapter 36
Evelyn
Too much had happened too fast. With everything weighing on me—my father, Ambrose, the blood magic, the job—and with no simple resolution in reach, I slept like a rock. My brain must have needed to shut down.
And although I could no longer feel Ambrose’s distance like a constant tightness in my chest, I thought of him anyway.
We hadn’t discussed the evolution of our relationship.
But the things he’d said to me couldn’t be misconstrued, could they?
Ambrose was so careful with his words. He wouldn’t say things he didn’t mean, but maybe I was the problem.
What would I do when he got the Vesten historian position? When he moved to Compass Lake?
We could mean the words we said. Our actions could be more than just passing time. We could care about each other deeply. I might even love—
I shut down that thought.
Life wasn’t guaranteed to work in our favor.
The morning came too soon, and with it, the meeting with Lord Arctos, Carter, and Ambrose to complete the project.
I arrived at the library at my usual hour.
No one was there yet, and this return to normalcy almost felt calming.
The study carrel across from mine sat empty, and maybe it was a little bit of that hope Mom tried to reinforce, but I left the chair there just in case.
I worked on my notes. We needed to get everything documented, and while I was sure Ambrose had pulled out his notebook and pencil once I left yesterday, I didn’t want to miss anything. Documenting blood magic tests between living entities was supposed to be my area of expertise.
Time passed, even with my mind tied in knots.
Eventually, the large double doors creaked, and Ambrose entered the Great Room.
He looked tired, and his auburn hair was untidy as ever, but when our eyes met across the expanse, a small smile curved his lip.
Something fluttered in my chest, and I leaned a little more on Mom’s hope.
Maybe we could make it through whatever came next.
As he walked toward me, the familiar large black bird flew through the closing door. He shifted in the way that I now considered showing off, where he waited until the last second before seamlessly striding forward on two legs.
“Good morning, Evelyn.” Lord Arctos glanced around as if expecting something. When Ambrose finally made it across the Great Room, the god smiled. “Aren’t you late?”
Ambrose’s brow furrowed. “You sound like Evelyn.”
The comment from Ambrose caught me off guard, and I laughed, wondering how distracted Ambrose was that he finally snapped back at the Vesten God.
Lord Arctos only grinned. Then they both turned to me. “Is the Vesten Point here yet?”
“I am.” Carter and Gabriel, entered the Great Room next.
As they walked toward us, I tugged Ambrose to my side and whispered, “Have we considered how we’ll do this if they can’t burn away the connection like we did?”
We knew how we’d broken the magic. And Carter had found something when they’d searched for a similar connection. I had been so confident up until this precise moment that this would work.
Ambrose opened his mouth, but before he could respond, Lord Arctos cut him off. “I’m sure we can figure it out. If not, I have a few tricks up my sleeve.”
I decided to set aside the comment about tricks up his sleeve and return to a stalwart belief that this would work. We’d done this only yesterday. We knew how to complete the project. The most powerful Vesten alive and the god of our court could certainly replicate what we had done.
Ambrose’s hand briefly swept over my arm, then dropped.
The heat it sent through me was incandescent.
It was a little voice in my head, reminding me that this thing between us was worth fighting for.
And maybe I couldn’t control the future, maybe circumstances would tear us apart, but right now, he was with me.
“Do we want to do this here?” I asked, searching the room. Based on my and Ambrose’s tests, I didn’t think there was a risk to the materials, only a risk to being observed. As if on cue, Landon and Tatyana walked in. They gave our group a curious glance.
“Let’s move to the Restricted Section. I assume we don’t have to worry about damages?” Carter asked.
“The risk is low,” I said.
He nodded, and we moved to the room Ambrose and I had fought over entering.
I held in a laugh, and the way his ears pinkened, I wondered if he was remembering that particular discussion, too.
The restricted section was a smaller room but completely filled with books.
All four walls were lined with leatherbound volumes, and additional shelving units created rows in the center.
I couldn’t imagine the value of the knowledge within.
With everyone repositioned, I glanced at Ambrose. He urged me to start with a small gesture. That flame flared in my chest—not one of a magical binding, but one of shared understanding, a language of gleaned gestures and noticed facial expressions that only we cared to decode.
“We broke our connection yesterday,” I said. “We will walk you through the steps to do it yourself.”
I urged Ambrose to speak next with a glance. We had come this far through collaboration. It felt right to finish the project that way, too.
Ambrose nodded. “Can you locate the connection between you again? I think last time you said it was more of … a bridge than a rope?”
Carter shared a look with Lord Arctos, and I wondered what hidden understanding lay within it.
“Once you find the connection, the next step is simple,” Ambrose said.
“Burn it down.” I smiled sweetly.
Lord Arctos arched a brow. “Really?”
Carter’s brow furrowed. “The metaphysical representation of the magic can be destroyed … by magic?”
“Yes. Ambrose and I were able to separate yesterday. With no trace of the strain of our connection.”
My words didn’t feel quite accurate, and I saw the same reflected in the flex of Ambrose’s hand.
Part of me knew that had nothing to do with the blood magic, though.
Ambrose and I were on a precipice. The next hour would usher in a massive change in one of our futures, and I wasn’t sure this new and fragile connection we’d forged would be strong enough to hold.
“Which one of you burned the rope?” Carter asked.
“Ambrose did,” I replied before he could hem and haw over it. It had been the right move. Ambrose needed to free himself from his father’s beliefs. He needed to be allowed to experiment intuitively.
“Evelyn was the one who even discovered the rope and guided me to it. I don’t think I would have found it on my own,” Ambrose added.
Carter looked contemplative, but he gave a swift dip of his chin. “Shall we, Arctos?”
“I think I should get to burn it down,” the god replied.
“As you wish.” Carter sounded tired but fond. “If I tried to object, you’d just remind me of your godhood.”
Lord Arctos hmphed, like maybe being granted the request so easily meant he no longer wanted it.
I sucked in a breath as they closed their eyes.
It was odd watching them, having no feeling as to whether progress was being made.
At least with Ambrose burning our connection, I’d felt the change to the rope as it happened.
I studied their features. The careful furrow of Carter’s brow and the softening of Lord Arctos’s shoulders told me they searched their magic and found the connection.
Pride filled me as they did. Pride that we’d developed this solution through our own experimentation and expertise. Pride that we had a solution to offer.
Gabriel drifted near Ambrose and me while the pair worked. “You two exceeded my already high expectations.”
“It hasn’t succeeded yet,” I said.
Ambrose rolled his eyes fondly.
Lord Arctos called out at the same moment, “I’ve got it. Ready, Carter?”
“As ready as we’re going to be.”
This was the scary part. This was the leap into the unknown, with inherently unpredictable magic.
My and Ambrose’s connection had severed easily, but we’d also known the precise parameters of the bond.
Lord Arctos had shared that most of the gods weren’t aware of this connection, and the Compass Points were utterly in the dark.
I held my breath, letting it puff my cheeks.
Even though the work they did wasn’t apparent to our eyes, the temperature rose as Lord Arctos’s used his flame.
Neither he nor Carter flinched, but I could no longer ignore the sweat dripping from my brow.
Ambrose fared no better when I glanced at him.
He swiped his arm across his forehead and murmured, “It’ll work. ”
I nodded. I wanted to believe that. Another part of me didn’t want to get my hopes up.
This connection between Compass Point and god had been forged hundreds of years ago.
Who knew what really lay at its root? Who knew how hot the Vesten God’s fire would need to burn to break it?
Perhaps more terrifying—what if they did break it?
Ambrose and I would have to face what came next.
A large hand wrapped around mine, firm, warm, reassuring.
I glanced up at Ambrose and heard Mom’s words from last night in my head.
Having hope doesn’t mean you don’t experience pain or disappointment.
The words were somehow a comfort. I had taken every step I could in preparation for this moment.
I could hope, and I could deal with whatever came after.
As if the thought manifested the outcome we desired, Lord Arctos raised his hands in celebration and declared, “I’ve done it.”
The temperature in the room dropped immediately. Any fire the Vesten God wielded must have been dismissed. Lord Arctos and Carter stared at each other, blinking as if unsure they’d really succeeded.
Suddenly, they were flung away from each other like a too-tight bow snapping.
“Ooof!” Carter grunted as he slammed against a bookcase.