Chapter 30 Rune
rune
. . .
My dad’s headmaster office was built to intimidate with dark oak walls packed with tomes forbidden to most agents and a massive window framed in black steel that overlooked the courtyard below.
I’d never been intimidated to go in before, but, for once in my life, I was a little afraid of what my parents would do when they learned this information.
Dad was leaning against the desk in his neat black suit, his silver tie hanging loose.
Pops stood by the window, hands clasped behind his back, phoenix fire flickering softly along his wrists.
And Mom paced in a slow, lethal circle.
“Come in and shut the door,” Dad said sharply when he spotted me in the doorway. He must’ve scented me before he saw me.
I stepped in and closed the door.
The moment the latch clicked, three sets of eyes pinned me with concern, fury, and barely there restraint.
“Roo,” Pops said, his voice gentler than the way his phoenix flames were flaming higher. “You said you needed to talk to us immediately. Are you hurt?”
“Yes,” Mom urged. “Are you hurt, Rune?”
“No,” I said quickly. “I’m not hurt.” Then, I hesitated. “I mean, not physically, at least.”
Dad’s jaw clenched. “Tell us what happened.”
I drew a slow breath. “It’s Darian.”
Fire crackled off Pops's skin. “What did he do?”
Dad’s head snapped slightly. “Please give me a reason to expel him.”
Mom stopped pacing. “Explain, Rune.”
I sighed, walking over and sitting in Dad’s chair.
“When I was dating him, he would poison a lot of my meals with different drugs. I didn’t know what he was doing back then.
I thought—” Shame surged hot under my tongue.
“I thought they were a gift. Something he picked up because he knew I cataloged poisons.”
Mom’s expression darkened. “What kind of drugs?”
“One of the poisons was a compound designed to paralyze motor functions but heighten pleasure. The rest were drugs to render me either paralyzed or unconscious.” I forced the words out because I had to tell them. “Obviously, the drugs never worked on me. But last night—”
“What happened at Jesper’s?” Pops asked.
I swallowed. “At Jesper’s, he showed up for dinner and admitted he’s been drugging women for years. Women who weren’t immune to the poisons. He said…fuck. I’m sorry. He said that he liked it when his partners couldn’t move.”
I’d faced plenty of creeps, but I’d never entertained them before. Except for Darian. Saying it out loud made it worse.
Dad’s basilisk scales rippled across his arms, and his eyes bled entirely golden. He slammed both hands onto his desk as he fought the shift.
Mom grabbed the edge of the desk and hissed, her eyes slitting.
Pops's flames exploded like a supernova as his fiery wings burst along his back, pure phoenix flame roaring as every single fae orb in the office flickered off. “He did what to you?”
The roar from my Pops was primal.
My bones shook with it, and the windows cracked before resealing from the enchantments.
“Enough,” Mom barked, not at me but at my dads. Her voice was cold death and living command. “We get answersss before we get blood. We do this right.”
“He drugged our daughter,” Dad snarled, fangs lengthening. “If anyone deserves to be flayed—”
“Don’t finish that sentence,” Mom snapped. “Or I will agree, and we will put our positions in jeopardy and thus our family.”
Pops didn’t bother with restraint. He spun and punched the nearest bookshelf. An entire row of tomes burst into flame on impact. Red-gold phoenix fire devoured spell paper in seconds.
“How fucking dare he!” Pops thundered. “How dare he think of touching my daughter!”
“Stop!” Mom shouted.
Pops and Dad stilled.
She turned to me. “Rune,” she said in a broken tone. “Why didn’t you come to us sooner?”
“I didn’t realize that he did it to more than me,” I whispered. “I thought he was just an asshole. I could handle assholes, but I didn’t know it made him a predator.”
Mom approached slowly. “Did he hurt you? In any way?”
“Not without my consent,” I admitted. “When he went too far, I hurt him worse. He cried, apologized. I never thought he meant to do those things.”
Dad swore so violently the anti-violence wards strained.
“But,” I continued, “I think I can prove what he’s done. There have to be others, right? He bragged last night. That’s evidence. There have to be testimonies. Patterns of his behavior. There has to be proof.”
Mom’s eyes sharpened with dark brilliance. “You want this handled legally.”
“I want it handled right,” I said. “If I kill him, it ends with me. If we expose him, really expose him, we can get justice for others. He won’t just disappear. He’ll be ruined.” My fangs slid out slightly. “I want him ruined before he dies.”
Pops stared at me with pride. “That’s our daughter.”
Dad’s expression was pure malice, calculating, and lethal.
“We’ll get your evidence,” Dad said. “Every. Single. Piece. I will speak to Jarvins, Jesper, Drecken, and anyone with access to the surveillance archives.”
“I’ll have Slater look into it, too. He’s good at hacking,” I murmured. “Jesper is already on it, and so is Drecken.”
“Good,” Pops said.
“Drecken’s getting stretched thin right now with classes and council work,” Mom muttered with a sigh. “He needs to prioritize this, though.”
“We’ll interview his past girlfriends,” Dad said, his voice now disturbingly calm. “Find out who he hurt.”
“And I’ll open a council case,” Mom said. “No one gets away with hurting my daughter.”
I nodded. “Thank you.”
Mom gave me a long look. “Rune?”
“Yeah?”
“If he tries to touch you again,” she said slowly, “I expect the call to come after the body is no longer breathing. As the exterminator of the council, I am giving you permission to use deadly force if you feel you’re in any kind of danger from him.”
A small smile pulled at my mouth. “Deal.”
Dad grunted approvingly.
Pops let out another wave of fire.
And for the first time today, my chest didn’t feel so heavy because Darian Wyvernheart had no idea what he had just awakened.
I felt bad for Maelis, but Darian wasn’t going to hurt anyone else. I wouldn’t let it happen.