Page 16 of Research with Rivals
She cleared her throat. “Not only do the sisters shift into veil cats in the journal. One of them forms a blood magic bond … unintentionally.”
That was the most terrifying part of the book to me. “Yeah, I caught that, too.”
Evelyn ran her hand down the length of her braid. “I knew intent could … twist. It hadn’t occurred to me that intent didn’t have to be acknowledged by the wielder.”
Before I could respond, the black bird—who was becoming a little too familiar—flew through the door I held open and landed on Evelyn’s shoulder.
“Are you two ready to hear the details of mine and Carter’s test?”
Evelyn was right; I didn’t care for the way the Vesten God’s voice slid into my mind. It wasn’t something I would ever get used to.
“We were on our way to look for you,” she said.
“Yes.”He glanced at where we stood in the middle of the doorway. “It looks like it.”
Heat rose to the tips of my ears, but before either of us could say more, Lord Arctos flew back toward Evelyn’s desk, and we had no choice but to follow. I pulled my notebook and pencil from my pocket as we walked.
Lord Arctos spoke from his perch on the study carrel as soon as we arrived. “Carter and I confirmed that the connection is there, and that it works.”
“You told us that,” Evelyn replied as she retook her seat. The second chair was still missing, so I stood.
“I’m just warming up. Give me a moment.”
I was in awe of their rapport. She spoke to him the same way she talked to me, but through her annoyance with the god’s antics, I detected a bit of fondness for him. That part was missing in our relationship.
“We suspected the connection but needed to confirm it.”
“So, you’re saying this magical connection between the Compass Points and gods is similar to that of the human woman in this journal? That you didn’t wield blood magic specifically to create it? It just happened?” I was still having a hard time believing this.
Lord Arctos ignored my question and kept speaking into our minds. “The ceremony required us to be in a place of great magic, with an object of significance. We had to share a drop of blood each and open ourselves to each other. I believe you call this intent.”He nodded to Evelyn.
“You shouldn’t ignore Ambrose’s question,” Evelyn said. “It’s important.”
Lord Arctos ruffled his feathers. “Some of the gods may have known. I did not. But yes, that is why we wanted you to understand that this magic seems able to understand intent even if it’s not specifically voiced.”
Well, that was terrifying. I’d already been scared of the magic when I thought it was able to twist spoken intent, not conjure intent from the wielder’s thoughts.
“What happened when you did the ceremony?” I asked.
“Carter shared his power with me. I shifted into his veil cat form and called his fire.”
Evelyn froze at the mention of the veil cat—like maybe she could have ignored what I had said about the Vesten Point, but she couldn’t ignore the god of our court stating it as a fact. She seemed to collect herself to ask, “Anything else?”
The bird’s black eyes narrowed on her. “Yes, but you haven’t earned it yet. Let me know when you have some ideas on how to break this connection.”
With that, he flew away.
6
Evelyn
Ambrose had disappeared along with Lord Arctos, so I reread the journal. The animal—the veil cat—inside me perked up each time I read about veil cat shifters. I was still in shock over my conversation about them with Ambrose. Lord Arctos’s casual mention of the Vesten Point’s form had been a bridge too far.
Until reading the journal, I had been among the group who believed the veil cats were little more than a children’s story. In my defense, animals that shepherd the spirits of the dead across realms seemed a little far-fetched, even if the animal in my head happened to be one of them.
The Vesten Point was a veil cat shifter, too.
How had I missed that piece of information?
