Chapter 30 Jesper
jesper
. . .
The house smelled like dried lavender and incense, like it always did.
Every wooden surface was gleaming and spotless.
Aunt Maelis was obsessive about dust, and Mom loved to knit.
Lace doilies rested under vases filled with half-wilted flowers, and an un-enchanted grandfather clock ticked in the corner, steady but off-time.
I sat at the kitchen table, elbows braced against the oil-worn wood, as my mom busied herself steeping tea.
Aunt Maelis settled across from me with her usual perfect posture, her jumpy blue eyes narrowing when I finally admitted what was eating me alive.
“She looked at me like I was…tainted,” I muttered, throat tight. “Like just being Darian’s cousin made me disgusting.”
Aunt Maelis pursed her lips, tapping one long nail against the table. “Honey, Darian’s never told me about a Rune before. If he kept it quiet, surely it couldn’t have been that serious.”
Darian always hid women from Aunt Maelis. She doesn’t quite understand how…adventurous her son is.
I shook my head, pressing my palms into my eyes. “Serious or not, it doesn’t matter. She clearly hates him, and now, she hates me by association. What the Fates did he do to her?”
My mom sighed, setting a steaming cup of chamomile tea in front of me. Her voice was soft but weighted with years of disappointment where Darian was concerned. “Baby, Darian’s never been as soft as you are with women. You think too much about feelings. He…” She hesitated, grimacing. “He doesn’t.”
Aunt Maelis frowned before her expression cracked into something almost apologetic. “Your mother’s right, Jesper. Darian always did have a cruel streak growing up. Who knows what words he’s let slip to that girl.”
“Still,” Mom told me, her brown eyes boring into mine. “Darian’s actions do not define you. If she’s smart, she’ll come around.”
As if summoned, the front door banged open, and Darian strode into the house. His shaggy dirty-blond hair was mussed, but he had a sour expression plastered on his face. “She won’t even give me another chance,” he snapped. “She’s probably spreading her legs for that psycho basilisk already.”
Aunt Maelis gasped. “Darian!”
Mom took a sip of her tea, but her gaze cut over her cup at Darian in disapproval.
Anger clawed up my spine. “Rune’s business isn’t yours anymore.”
Darian turned on me, sneering. “By the way, how do you even know her? Why are you talking about her?”
I stiffened, but kept my voice level. “She’s the agent coordinator’s daughter. Of course I know her.”
“You do?” His eyes flared with fury.
I nodded.
He cursed before storming out the same way he came in, the slam of the door rattling the framed photos on the wall.
The silence afterward was thick.
I looked at my mom and aunt, my chest tight with a guilt that wasn’t mine to carry. “I’m worried she’ll always connect me with him. That she’ll never…” I trailed off.
My mom reached across the table, her fingers warm as they folded around mine. “Jesper, you are nothing like Darian. She’ll see that in time. For now? Cook her something. You’ve always been able to win people over with food.”
The suggestion pulled a weak smile from me. “You’re right, Mom.”
“Make us some, too,” Aunt Maelis suggested sweetly, making me chuckle.
I stood and moved into the kitchen, pulling open cabinets until I found the bundle of dried noodles I’d tucked away earlier in the week. Cooking always steadied me, each step was something I could control. Unlike on my missions, when anything and everything usually went wrong.
My hands moved on autopilot, filling a pot with water and setting it on the burner. Mom and Aunt Maelis’s voices hummed in the back of my mind, but I wasn’t listening anymore.
The chopping board thudded under the rhythm of my knife as I cut up carrots, green onions, and a few slices of bell peppers.
The hum of comfort broke when my phone rang. My chest tightened when I saw the name.
Agent Coordinator.
I answered on the second ring.
“Jesper.” Sabine’s voice was crisp, sharp as cut glass, though a thread of weariness ran under it that I’d only ever heard when she was worried about her daughter.
“I wouldn’t bother you if it weren’t serious.
A few of the students are falling ill at the Academy, and supernaturals are still disappearing across Kalista. ”
I gripped the counter, the knife stilling in my hand. “Disappearing? You mean—”
“Gone. No trace. And the Council suspects it isn’t random.” She exhaled audibly, then continued, “I need you to keep an eye on Rune when you’re on campus for mentoring. Quietly. She’s a target whether she realizes it or not.”
The request sank heavy into my chest for some reason, but I didn’t hesitate. “Of course. I’ll watch out for her. But Agent Bloodwyne, what about Darian?”
A sharp silence answered me.
“Jesper, Darian is nothing like you. The only reason I ever allowed Rune to date him was because he was your cousin and Tobias’s friend.
I thought that alone would keep her safe.
I was wrong.” Her tone cracked, just slightly.
“He is nothing like you, and Tobias lost a friend when his true nature showed.”
Garlic cloves crushed beneath the flat of my blade, and that pungent scent bloomed sharp in the air. I tossed them into the hot oil of the other pan, and it hissed.
My throat burned with guilt. “I’ll talk to him. I’ll make sure he leaves her alone.”
Her voice softened, trusting me in a way that made my chest ache. She was my boss, but sometimes she reminded me of a second mother. “Good. I know I can count on you.”
The line clicked dead, but her words stayed.
I stirred slowly, letting the oil soak up the garlic. Throwing in some herbs, the scent spread through the house.
Rune shouldn’t have to deal with Darian’s harassment. Him bringing her flowers was an unwelcome romantic gesture that, when done again and again, became harassment. I’d worked a few harassment cases, and they never bode well.
The water bubbled to a rolling boil.
I dropped the noodles in, watching the pasta soften and curl. Steam fogged the kitchen window, blurring the view of the small garden beyond.
When I drained the noodles and tossed them into the pan, the garlic and herbs clung to all of them. I added in the vegetables and stirred it all up.
Cooking wasn’t just food for me. It was a sanctuary, and it carried memories. It reminded me of the nights Mom cooked for me growing up, humming low as she stirred, making something fragrant to chase away the silence after one of Darian’s outbursts while Aunt Maelis calmed him down.
It was the one thing I knew how to give Rune that wasn’t tainted by my cousin’s shadow.
I made a plate for my mom, aunt, and I, and packed one into an enchanted glass container that would keep the food fresh. Making garlic noodles wasn’t a grand gesture, but it was something I’d never done for anyone but my mom and my aunt.
If Rune thought I was tainted by Darian’s shadow, I’d prove her wrong.