Chapter 31 Soul-Day
Soul-Day
I didn’t think I could love again after Kiana. I didn’t think it was built in me to do it anymore. That my heart was a broken cup, and love would slip through every crack. I tried everything to deny it. To deny you. But I can’t anymore.
—Rune Ryker’s unsent letter to Draven Vos
I RUB MY HAND as I take a short break between answering questions on my Minor Arcana exam.
What kind of person does the Knight of Swords represent?
Someone associated with the mind and communication, who rarely sugarcoats things and may represent a rival.
What is the meaning of the Ten of Cups when applied to a person in a reading?
Unconditional love. How would the Eight of Wands enhance the Chariot?
The card of movement would allow the Chariot to travel even faster.
I’m not sure if the written or practicals are more difficult. While everyone else just has to summon their own Major Arcana, its inverse, and pair them with a few of the Minor Arcana to show their progress, mine is more complicated. I have to summon the World and the other Major Arcana, too.
Professor Vexus oversees my practicals, and he seems to have some kind of personal vendetta.
“Now the Star card,” he orders, having already requested the High Priestess, the Hermit, Strength, and the Devil at record speed.
Sweat beads my temple but I summon the World, then the Star right after it.
My fingers interlace, the cards floating between them, and when I pull my hands apart, there’s a golden dagger of starlight.
He takes it in his hand, flicking it across his palms, looking unimpressed.
“Now the Empress.” He watches me through narrowed eyes as I hesitate. I can barely heal a paper cut.
“What do I need to heal?” I shift in my seat but as he opens his mouth, looking around for something, Kenzo appears, clapping him on the shoulder.
“Rune is late for sparring. We have our own exams to run.”
“She will have to be late. I am not satisfied she’s displayed enough—”
“You have passed every other student here after four moves. I hate to think you held bias against a student just because you don’t like her fated prince.” Kenzo looks down on Professor Vexus until he grits his jaw, clearing his throat.
I notice Professor Fenrys and Professor Atum watching us nearby, their line of students already done.
Vexus clears his throat. “All of us love His Royal Highness. Professor Anstead, wouldn’t you agree it’s fair to have Rune perform much more than the average student, considering the gift she’s been given?
” But if he thought appealing to the next strictest professor would help, I can tell by the way the corners of Vexus’s lips draw downward he already knows he’s wrong.
“She’s displayed total competence in everything you’ve asked, which shows her acumen is stronger than most students in our populace. You’re free to go, Rune, great effort today.”
Kenzo doesn’t exactly take it easy on me either, claiming he doesn’t want me thinking I’ll be getting any “special treatment.” He runs all of us through a gauntlet of drills and fight techniques, allowing us to only receive five unblocked strikes or kicks before we’re considered a failing grade.
I come out of it with three, nearly four.
I wake the next morning sore and exhausted.
I hope it was enough, but I’ll have to wait to find out for sure.
The results will come in the days before Solstice.
At least I have a couple of weeks of no academic work or training.
Draven should arrive in a few days at least, planning to bring me to Court with him for the holidays.
And it’s my soul-day.
A knock sounds at the door. I hope it’s Ember; she’s been teasing me about the soul-day present she, Amaya, and Cleona picked out.
Something raunchy or embarrassing, I suspect.
I look at the little crystal frog on my bedside table that she’s already gotten for me.
I told her it’s more than enough, but she isn’t very easily deterred.
Felix claims to have made me a present from the moonshine he’s been creating, which is likely to make me sick.
The day of finals, Wynter gave me a simple leather-bound notebook, a moon and stars across its emerald surface, the edges gold foil.
I open the door, and standing on the steps—
“Draven!” I throw myself into his arms as he stands with a bouquet of black and crimson roses in his hand.
He staggers, nearly going down, but his wings buffer out, grounding his feet.
He laughs at my enthusiasm, wearing a wildly bright grin as he grips onto me, fingertips clenching into my backside, settling me down onto the icy steps.
I didn’t realize snow was something that ever happened here, and a few flakes drift down around us as we stand in each other’s warmth. “I thought you weren’t going to make it—”
“Come now, I couldn’t leave you on the day that celebrates your soul entering this world,” he says, still grinning, teeth bright and flawless, eyes luminous violet.
I stretch onto my tiptoes, my mouth locking against his, and he scoops his hand against my jaw to keep me there. Euphoria collides with desire and a calm only he can give. His tongue sweeps mine, my lips massaging his, and I lose myself for a minute.
When I finally stop, he whispers against me, “Gods, I have fucking missed you.”
“Well, don’t waste any time.” I grab him by the front of his jacket and pull him inside. His gaze blackens, following obediently.
“I know I’ve teased that you have some things to make up for, but as it’s your soul-day, I am looking forward to spoiling you thoroughly,” Draven promises, chucking down an overnight bag. His hand is on the door, ready to snap it closed behind us, when I hear my name being called.
“RUNE! Happy soul-day!”
Draven hesitates, watching my expression for permission to shut the door in their faces, but I’m sure I heard Ember and peek back to find my friends flagging me down. I wave them over, and Draven groans a little.
“If we’re forced to postpone this, then I may as well call my friends over, too. Fable and Malik have been pestering me for days about getting their presents to you.”
I can’t keep the smile off my face, and he takes my hand in his, squeezing. “But this means your present from me is delayed. I don’t want to make them all look bad.”
· · ·
THE DAY BLEEDS away under a hail of laughter.
Draven has food delivered and we play little party games.
I open my presents in front of the fireplace.
At one point a Solstice tree is brought in by a few servants, the pine nearly too enormous for the space, though Draven insists the place is too dreary without one.
We light it with little magically linked strings of zenith lights.
I’m surprised how well Draven and his friends mesh in with me and mine.
Malik and Wynter hit it off; the two both like some game I’ve never heard of.
Felix chats up Zara, and I think he’s the only one I’ve seen who can make her smile.
Fable and Scorpius arrive a bit later, and she clings to me and Draven while her brother maintains his coldness toward me.
Ember fidgets by the tree, and I make my way to her. The others are spread out, half gathered in the living space, the rest drinking in the kitchen with Draven, who loudly charms the room. I stop at Ember’s side, looking the tree up and down, and realize Kasper’s missing.
“I haven’t had a Solstice tree up in a long time. It’s nice to see.” Her voice leaves a tinny note behind, like the plink of a piano off tune. She swallows. “Kasper and I got in another fight. Not sure he’ll make it tonight.”
Some part of me is relieved, but her eyes are lined with tears, and it makes my fists clench up. Do I hug her? Tell her what I truly think about Kasper? “Do you want to talk about it?”
“I … it was just weird.” Her hands rub together, brows pulled tight, lips curved down. “He kept talking about how much he hates Sedah. That we shouldn’t make the Descent at the end of next term. Said our magic was … sinful.”
“What?” That’s an odd choice of words.
“Said he wished we could be Selected by a different immortal group. I told him I love being in Sedah, and he said that was my problem. I finally broke and told him to fuck off and he said you were a bad influence on me.” She shakes her head and now my hackles are up.
“Maybe he’s the bad influence.” I shake my head, unable to help myself. “If he thinks he’d survive the elves or seraphs, he’s an idiot.”
“I told him if he felt that way, not to come. He didn’t.”
“Hmm.” I hesitate a moment but then say, “Did he ever tell you he wanted to be Selected?”
“Really? No.” She folds her arms across her chest. “How do you know that?”
Because Draven and I fooled him into confessing it. “He mentioned it at the Selection. We were standing right next to each other.”
“Hey, you two.” Felix sidles up to us, a sparkling glass in his hands. He presses his lips together, noticing Ember touching the little lights within the tree. “Everything all right?”
I don’t say anything, waiting, and Ember finally manages, “Yeah. I was just telling Rune … Kasper’s probably not coming tonight.”
“Oh?” Felix bites back a smile and I nearly chuckle at his poor attempt to cover it up. He rubs the front of the Fool, the card sparking in his hand, before he blurts, “Anyone would be lucky to come to a party with you, Ember.”
“Why are you always so sweet to me?” Ember’s smile is sad, and Felix runs a hand through his thick hair, a softness in his gaze that makes him all the more handsome, the twinkling zenith lights flickering over a face full of wonder.
I suddenly wish I was anywhere else. This feels private.
“You’re the kindest person I know.” He moves closer to her, and I take a quiet step away from them. “You deserve everything you’ve ever wanted.”