Chapter 6 Rune
rune
. . .
Two weeks had passed since moving into House of Twilight.
I didn’t feel homesick during the first year at the academy, but I felt it now. Not for home with my parents and Tibby, but for Slater, Zuko, and even Koa.
Homesickness had become an ache that folded in on itself. It started as a tug in my chest, where gravity pulled my thoughts of them to the forefront. My morning poisoned tea didn’t taste the same without them.
Night was the worst. It was like a venomous spider attacking the organs under my ribs. I ached to be between Slater and Zuko, and I’d never missed any man the way I’d missed them.
Dimitri had been placed in the same house as me, but even though I knew he had feelings for me, I also knew he wouldn’t act on them.
I never cared about being alone before, but it felt like a hollow ache inside me now.
Dimitri and I had shadowed Jesper for a mission in the first week, but we’d had a case of bad luck on the draw. We were assigned one measly objective: to stake out a human facility.
Nothing happened. At all. Dimitri ignored me the whole time, and any time I said something to Jesper, I was shushed because we weren’t supposed to talk. April had tagged along, and she glared at me the entire time.
I was thankful when it was over. It was not even a good reward.
Besides that, I’d been feeling watched. Not in a good way, either.
“Hey, you good?” Dimitri murmured, his red eyes focused on me as we made our way to House of Twilight’s classroom for the day. “You don’t look so good.”
I rubbed at the hollow ache in my chest. “I don’t know. I feel like—”
“Dimitri, did you compose Moonlight Coven?” Brynn interrupted me, running up beside him.
“Yes,” he growled, annoyed as I was—thankfully.
“Oh, hey, Rune, have you ever heard Dimitri play?” She leaned forward to bat her eyelashes at me.
“No, I haven’t.” A lump formed in my throat.
“Too bad.” She sighed. “You’re really missing out. The way he plays the piano is like a dream.”
“I’m sure it is,” I managed to force the words out but stopped as Jesper moved in front of me.
“Hey,” he greeted me with a smile. “How’s your second year so far?”
“See you in class.” Dimitri tensed beside me before he started walking forward with Brynn trailing behind him.
I tried not to let it affect me.
“It’s okay.” My lips curved into a smile as I looked into Jesper’s brown eyes. “You know, I’ve been meaning to ask you out.”
“What?” Jesper sputtered. “You…ask…me out?”
“Well, yes,” I giggled, stepping closer until his winter woods scent engulfed me. “I am interested in you, you know, and we have had no time to explore this.”
“Explore…this?” He blinked at me like I’d really confused him.
“I think we have something between us. An interest, a longing, or something, but if I’m wrong…” My breath caught as I realized I might’ve been reading him wrong. He was my mom’s agent, a subordinate. There was a good chance he was only looking after me for her, not because he felt something for me.
“No, no. I—yes.” He scratched his reddening cheek with his index finger, glancing away shyly. “I will plan an evening soon, if that’s acceptable to you?”
“Of course it is,” I murmured before catching a glimpse of Darian walking toward us. “Shit, um, Jesper, please don’t let him near me. I do not want to deal with your cousin today.”
Jesper tensed and turned to see Darian walking our way. “Go on to class, honey drop. I’ll intercept him.”
My heart swelled and skipped a beat at the nickname. “See you later, mister agent.”
I hurried off to Charm and Deception, catching Professor Jarvins waiting for me at the doorway of the classroom.
“Almost late, Rune,” he said with a hum, and I noticed the rest of the class standing behind him. “We are headed to Apex Simulator 2.0 for the gala assignment.”
“Understood,” I said, falling into step with the class as he led us to the simulator.
The gala assignment was something he had us study for, but we were really going in blind. He was going to give us our personas as we stepped into the simulator, and we had to take a truth potion before going in as well—not that it would work on me.
Jarvins handed us each a slip of paper before going to the control panel.
I unfurled my paper and read my fabricated persona.
Riley, an intelligent scientist. You love research. Are single but uninterested in romance.
“Oh, this will be fun!” Brynn squealed ecstatically.
I glanced over to see Dimitri with a disappointed expression before he smoothed it out.
“What’d you get?” Zara asked with a pout. “I’m just a widowed politician.”
“I’m a politician too, but I’m Dimitri’s mate,” she gloated.
I’m Dimitri’s mate.
Her words seared through my heart like a fucking heated dagger, and I choked on a breath before turning away from them. My chest cavity felt like it was caving in.
“No,” Dimitri corrected. “You’re Fred’s mate.”
“Well, you’re playing Fred.” She giggled.
My heart pounded so loudly in my skull that it echoed.
“Everyone take this.” Jarvins handed everyone a potion, giving me the last one. “Rune, this won’t work on you I’m sure, but take it anyway.”
I shrugged, popping the lid and tossing it back. The truth potion slipped down my throat with a slight tingle. The effects only lasted two seconds for me.
“Did it work?” he asked.
“No,” I admitted with a smile.
“Positive marks already,” he muttered. “The potion should stay in effect for the rest of the day for the rest of you, so about twelve hours, give or take.”
The rest of the class groaned.
“Do remember that since this is year two, the simulator will not have the magical precautionary measures as it does for year one students. If you are injured or killed in any simulation from here on out, you stay that way. You can go to the infirmary if you can walk there alone. Best of luck keeping your personas. You have one full hour.” Jarvins started the simulation.
A large gleaming ballroom overflowing with simulated patrons filled the space around us the next instant.
I stepped instinctively closer to Dimitri before Brynn shoulder-checked me out of the way.
“Oh, Fred, let’s go mingle!” she said in a voice snobbier than her own, which was a feat because Brynn sounded snobby every time she talked.
Rolling my eyes, I huffed and walked away from them, checking the golden evening gown I now wore. Unlike my other personas, this one seemed more modest. It had long laced sleeves and zero cleavage showing, but it hugged my curves.
Ominous fell into step with me. “Brynn’s such a little fangirl.”
“She’s a bitch,” Cora summed up with a smile. “If anyone walked up to Tobias like that, I’d make their bones into toothpicks.”
“Tempting,” I muttered under my breath. “Very tempting.”
“I say do it,” Ominous whispered before branching off toward a group of men.
“Good luck.” Cora squeezed my shoulder before leaving me alone.
It wasn’t long before a high-profile scientist started talking to me about a research project, but I couldn’t seem to stop staring at Dimitri acting lovingly with fucking Brynn when he’d been so uninterested before.
I knew it was for the assignment, but it actually hurt.
My heart ached under my rib cage, and when Dimitri handed her a wine glass, the ache turned white hot and sharp.
I stumbled backward, my own wine glass slipping from my hand and shattering onto the marble floor.
“Oh my Fates! Are you okay, Riley?” the scientist asked, worry crossing his features.
“I’m feeling unwell all of a sudden,” I lied. “Please forgive me for a moment.”
“Of course,” he told me with a carefree smile.
Dizziness overwhelmed me, and I tripped into Ominous, who caught me with ease. His shadows wrapped around my wrists and helped me steady myself, but when Dimitri’s red eyes caught mine across the room, the pain intensified.
“Riley,” Ominous said loudly, “can I shadow travel you to rest?”
I nodded, swallowing hard. “Please.”
His shadows took us both into a back room with a plush red velvet couch.
I fell onto it with a sob wrenching from my throat. “I’m so sorry. I don’t even know why I care. I have two amazing boyfriends.”
Ominous sat next to me at a respectful distance, and one of his shadow tendrils softly patted my head. “Look, it’s clear you have feelings for Dimitri, and he has them for you, too. It’s pretty fucking clear that he’s annoyed by Brynn. Don’t let this assignment fuck with you.”
“I know.” I sniffled, wiping the stupid tears. I couldn’t believe I was having a breakdown during a fucking assignment over Dimitri fucking Nocturnus.
“Follow your heart.” Ominous pulled his shadows back, and they swirled around him constantly. “I’m going to go earn my passing grade, but rest a minute before you do the same. You’re a badass, clearly, but even badasses need a minute sometimes.”
“Thanks, Ominous.” I smiled gratefully at him as I dabbed away my tears.
“I told Slater I’d look after his girl.” He winked before his shadows took him.
Kraig walked in and froze before rolling his eyes. “What’re you doing in here sobbing your heart out?”
“Aren’t you supposed to be something other than a cold asshole today?” I leveled him with a seething glare.
He shrugged, grabbing a muffin off the countertop from among the laid out foods. “Polite gentlemen ask the questions that need answers.”
“Right.” I stood up and went to walk past him, but as soon as he took a bite of the muffin, he sputtered, turning blue. “Uh, are you okay?”
He coughed, clutching his throat.
A simulated guest rushed in with Seth behind her.
“He’s dying!” the guest screamed.
“I’m a scientist not a doctor,” I said plainly.
“He’s anaphylactic,” Seth stated with concern growing on his face as he faded in and out of corporeal form. “What the fuck?”
Dimitri blurred in until he was right in front of me, his red eyes taking in the situation before resting on me. “Are you okay?”
“Anaphylactic?” I blinked away my earlier tears as Kraig choked from his throat closing. “Supernaturals don’t have allergies, do they?”