Chapter 36 Rune #3
Aura slid in on the other side of me, eyes tight with an apology she didn’t voice. “I didn’t—” she started.
“You did,” I snapped, keeping my mouth in a smile for my cover. “It’s fine.” It wasn’t. My pulse was fast, drumming against my wrist. “Next time, if you make a bartender shout poison across a ballroom, I’ll poison you instead.”
She flinched as if I’d hit her. “I won’t do it again.”
“If you do, it’ll be your last mission with me,” I said simply. I would not have a squadmate I couldn’t trust. Mom taught me enough about agent-decency. Squadmates never blew each other’s cover. “I had the ring.”
“I saw,” she whispered, frowning. “I’m sorry.”
“Then maybe don’t ruin my progress,” I muttered.
Her chin lifted. “I’m sorry. I’ll stay close.”
She vanished into the crowd next, but I figured she was close. That overly-floral scent she carried lingered.
Dimitri returned alone; my target nowhere in sight.
He didn’t speak until he was in my space, close enough that no supernatural hearing could overhear. “He was on to you.”
“He was not,” I argued. “I had him.”
He angled his body to crowd me. “You almost had the ring,” he corrected. “Almost gets you killed.”
“Do you want to argue about almost?” I asked sweetly, “or do you want to help me finish my objective?”
Something ticked in his jaw. “Help you finish. Safely. There’s a balcony upstairs. Fewer eyes.”
“Then, take me to the balcony so we can come up with a better plan,” I said, setting my hand on his arm, and let him lead me up the stairs.
Before I made it to the second stair, the air hissed. Something fast cut through the air toward Dimitri, and I shoved him. Caught by surprise, he fell down the two stairs and hit the marble just as the dart meant for him buried in my shoulder.
I bit down on a scream, but the burn was instant.
Dimitri used his vampire speed to catch me before I fell, his hands wrapping around me to keep me up. His eyes flashed with panic as he yanked the dart out and threw it on the ground. “Why did you—?”
“You’re my squadmate,” I chuckled. “I’m fine. This poison is something I’ve had before.”
Koa was on my other side in an instant. His blue flaming hands grabbed my shoulder, his magic penetrating the wound and making the pain turn to pleasure. “You okay?”
“Mmhm—sorry.” A moan caught in my throat. “Your magic makes me hot.”
“Obviously,” Dimitri muttered, his breath hitting my face.
“Yeah,” Koa mumbled, smiling softly. “Still not sure why, but I got you. Let me be useful to you, okay?”
The glow deepened as I was completely healed.
“On your three,” Dimitri snapped, helping me steady myself on the step. “I’ll take out the shooter.”
“Later.” I straightened as Koa moved his hand. “The ring.”
I led us back down the stairs and into the ballroom before freezing.
The snobby supernaturals in their formal wear were all dead.
“This isn’t a charity event,” Raze said evenly, striding up with my target’s throat in his hand in the middle of all the dead bodies. “It’s a drug ring. Seriously. These fuckers are trading fae drugs.”
I gasped, “Wait!”
My diplomat’s throat crushed as Raze squeezed, and Vlaken’s head rolled.
“Are you fucking kidding me, Raze?”
Raze glanced over. “What?”
“I was trying to keep that one alive!” I grabbed Vlaken’s hand and ripped the ring off his finger.
Raze went still, eyes wide behind his mask. “I am so sorry.”
“You are so lucky this is a simulation.” I huffed, gripping the ring in my palm.
He nodded rapidly, backing away and pushing Zuko in front of him. “Understood. My bad.”
Slater was at my side, dragging a half-dead warlock who looked like he’d been creatively bullied by two different people. “You can have mine, venom baby.”
“Ours,” Zuko corrected. “We did that together. You don’t get to keep all the credit.”
“Aww,” I cooed, patting Zuko’s and Slater’s chests. “You shouldn’t have, but I actually don’t need him.”
“We do need to know one more thing,” Eleanor wheezed, leaning on Lorian.
“We need to know where the drugs are,” Lorian explained.
Zuko sighed dramatically, squatting down and making eye contact with the half-dead warlock. “Enough lies. Torture didn’t work.” His orange eyes glowed like sun shards. “Where’s the drugs?”
“I don’t—” The accused choked on his own denials, tripping over the words. “I—”
“You can’t lie,” Zuko said impatiently.
“Top floor.” He sagged.
Raze plunged his dagger into his heart.
Jarvins clapped five times, and the simulation ended, leaving us in the cold simulator with our academy-issued suits on. “Notes: Rune, you were…efficiently tempting. On par with your mother’s skills. Top marks.”
“Don’t let my dads hear you say that,” I muttered.
He turned red before shooting a very pointed look at Slater. “Slater, points for spectacle.”
Slater bowed. “Can’t take all the credit. Snakey did a lot of the work.”
“Koa, your code phrase was obtained with admirable restraint.”
Koa beamed.
“Zuko, very well done. Lorian, efficient protection with minimal disturbance. Eleanor, stubbornness is commendable, and your disguise work well done even in your state. Aura…” He paused.
“You almost sabotaged Rune’s mission, like your envelope told you to do, but you stopped yourself.
You never betray your squad. Half marks, but you pass the final since you did not successfully sabotage Rune. We will monitor you.”
Aura’s shoulders dropped half an inch. “I’m sorry. I thought I had to listen to my mission.”
“Not when it involves betraying your squad,” Jarvins snapped.
Ah, that was why she did it.
“Sorry,” she squeaked. “I will do better.”
“Hawk, you shouldn’t tell your squadmates when you’re protecting an item in a crowded place.”
He nodded with a sheepish grin. “Yeah, my bad.”
“Even though there were hiccups, your entire squad passes.” Jarvins gave us a dismissal nod. “See you next week for quarter two.”
We dispersed out of the simulator, and a second later, Dimitri backed me against the academy’s wall. His jaw was tight. “Don’t ever take a hit for me again.”
I tipped my head back. “Stop getting yourself into situations where I have to.”
“You don’t have to,” he corrected me.
“I want to,” I said.
His eyes flickered with anger and something else. “Why do you want to?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “But it’s more than just you being my squadmate.”
He exhaled roughly. “That’s not helpful.”
“Neither are your vampire instincts,” I shot back teasingly.
“I’m rusty,” he rasped.
“Strike and Subdue in ten,” Hawk called from ahead.
I wasn’t entirely sure I was ready for another final.