Chapter 29 Rune #4
“Fucking hell, little vixen.” Koa’s warm hands pressed against the back of my skull. Blue healing flames flared over my skull. The burn from the wind-blade soothed as my torn flesh and skull came back together.
“You really have to stop taking hits for everyone,” he murmured, voice shaking slightly. “Dimitri’s right. You’re a spy, not an enforcer.”
“We are the second line of defense in a squad when the enforcers can’t,” I reminded him sweetly, turning and cupping his cheek. “Besides, what do you want me to do? Let my friends get shredded?”
“Yes,” Zuko called from somewhere behind us. “Preferably.”
“Zuko!” Eleanor gasped.
“I mean, I don’t want you to die either,” he muttered, dodging another vine. “But between you and my mate? No brainer, really. I want my mate every time.”
I laughed, breathless, and pushed upright. “Zuko…”
“He’s right,” Eleanor murmured. “I’d be the same with my mate. Thank you for saving me, Rune.”
I gave her a reassuring smile.
“We’re talking about this later,” Dimitri growled.
“Yeah, we are!” Slater shouted, his voice still dark and demonic.
Across the room, Ivy was trading fire blasts with the fire pillar. Her phoenix flames burned a vivid gold-orange.
Solon had braced himself against another stone pillar that had emerged, holding back spikes that were attempting to force their way out of it.
Slater and Snakey weaved through the vines and sent chaotic blasts of magic at the ice pillar.
“The warlock’s drawing on four elemental anchor points, which are those pillars! Disable those, you disable his magic core!” Sylver shouted at us.
Koa dropped his hand with a slow exhale. “Okay, Rune, you’re healed. Now, don’t—”
“Rune, Dimitri, keep the warlock busy!” Solon shouted.
“Rune—” Koa began, but I was already moving.
I sprinted across the creaking, unstable floor towards Dimitri, who was already a blur of motion on the opposite side.
The warlock stood at the far edge of the spell circle, both hands buried in its glow, eyes bright with power.
“Your group is interesting,” he drawled as we approached. “You both have special powers. That would make you an excellent conduit.”
“We are both already spoken for,” I informed him, placing my hands on my hips.
“True,” Dimitri agreed, his red eyes meeting mine.
The warlock flicked two fingers toward us, and a whip of stone burst from the floor in front of me and lashed toward my midsection.
I dropped into a slide, the whip passing mere inches above me, and rolled to my feet, my dagger already in hand.
His magic tasted like burnt iron and dust. Old, heavy, layered, and not at all as pleasant as Drecken’s.
Dimitri blurred toward him and landed a hit to his face before a barrier pushed him back.
“Do you think you can wound me?” he asked, blood gushing from his nose.
I traced my blade with a finger, leaking paralytic venom onto it. “I mean, you are bleeding, so…” I trailed off before hurling the dagger at him.
It spun straight toward his chest.
He flicked his wrist, and my blade ricocheted, sliding back toward me. But the venom I’d leaked onto the blade had flown toward him and landed on his chest, anyway.
“Missed,” he said.
I smiled, flashing my fangs as I bent down and grabbed my dagger, sheathing it. “Did I?”
His eyes widened. “What have you done?”
The fire pillar that Ivy was maintaining sputtered, its flames pulsing erratically.
Her phoenix fire surged, overrunning the faltering pillar, pushing it back toward the wall. “Finally getting somewhere!”
Sylver sang an eerie, lilting siren song that turned the ice pillar into water, splashing down until it was nothing but a puddle.
“Wind pillar’s collapsing in on itself!” Katie shouted.
“So is the earth pillar.” Solon punched it once, and it crumbled.
Slater cackled. “Warlock’s magic is tripping over my girl’s poison. This is so hot.”
The warlock snarled, dropping to his side, immobile but still able to speak. “Enough!”
The room lurched. The walls buckled inward slightly as the warlock stopped feeding his magic into the circle.
Cracks spiderwebbed through the dome ceiling overhead.
“Guys,” Solon called out. “Is the ceiling supposed to do that?”
“Negative,” Katie replied.
“So, we stop him now,” Dimitri growled. “Clearly paralysis isn’t fucking working.”
He blurred toward him.
One second, he was at my side.
The next, he was in front of the warlock, hand clamped around the man’s throat.
“Sleep,” he hissed, voice layered with compulsion.
The warlock’s eyes rolled back, but not before one last blast of magic escaped him.
“Dimitri!” I shouted. “His magic—”
A burst of wild energy slammed into Dimitri’s chest, hurling him backward.
I lunged, catching his hand, keeping him from slamming into the wall. “You good?”
“I’m good,” he grunted, squeezing my hand tight.
The pillars vanished as the vines retreated into the floor. The circle spasmed, and the relic above it flared a brilliant white instead of the teal it had been.
“Oh,” Katie whispered. “That’s interesting.”
“All magic is destabilized,” Sylver explained. “The warlock was feeding his magic into the core of the mansion, and that magical energy was feeding the fae enchantments around it.”
“Can we not kill him?” Eleanor asked, voice strained but steady.
“Jarvins said you’re required for treaty option,” Dimitri reminded her. “We can show restraint when needed.”
Zuko groaned. “We had to get the moral version of this test.”
Eleanor stepped forward as Dimitri growled, “Wake,” in his ear.
The warlock’s eyes shot open, but he was still paralyzed.
“Warlock,” she said, voice ringing clear.
“Stand down. This estate is compromised. If you continue to push, you will collapse the building itself and obliterate the artifact you’re bound to protect.
Negotiate, and the council may preserve the artifact and your life.
If you choose to argue, your life will be forfeit. ”
He panted, glaring, but his eyes flicked to the relic.
It pulsed erratically.
The ceiling cracked again, a chunk of stone falling and shattering beside him as if to make a point.
Finally, he sighed. “You have your relic. Take it and get out.”
“Dimitri,” I murmured, “compel him to sleep while we leave. Just in case.”
“With pleasure.” He stepped forward again, fangs just peeking from behind his upper lip. “Sleep for the rest of the night,” he commanded.
The warlock’s shoulders sagged. His eyes flickered, then closed as he collapsed onto his side.
The enhancing relic hovered above the damped circle, still glowing, but calmer now. The brilliant white had dimmed back to the teal it was.
“Rune,” Katie said. “You want the honor since you took so many hits?”
“I’m not going to say no.” I stepped carefully into the circle.
The air buzzed like I was in the eye of a storm.
As I reached up, magic brushed over my skin.
My basilisk essence responded instinctively, flaring as the relic enhanced my powers just from proximity.
I wrapped my hands around the relic, and raw power thrummed through my veins. “Enhancing Relic secured. Let’s get out of here.”
“Everyone alive?” Jarvins's voice boomed around the chamber, unseen.
“Barely,” Slater called out. “Rune was very heroic in this simulation. I demand extra credit for living with that emotional distress.”
Jarvins's dry snort echoed. “Proceed to the extraction point on the east wall.”
A door that wasn’t there before shimmered into being on the right side of the chamber. We made our way to it, everyone moving a little slower now as the adrenaline from the fight ebbed away.
Koa lingered near Eleanor. “How’s your ankle?”
“Hurts,” she admitted. “But I’ll live.”
He knelt, pushing blue flames over her ankle, healing it.
Eleanor sighed in relief. “You’re the best, Koa.”
“It’s my job,” he said.
As we walked, Zuko bumped my shoulder. “Next time, try not to almost throw yourself into a fae trap, yeah?”
“No promises,” I teased.
Slater slung an arm over my shoulders as we reached the door. “You were stupidly sexy, though. Ten out of ten.”
Dimitri’s hand brushed the small of my back. “You did well, lethal darling. Very well, but please be more careful.”
Warmth curled in my chest.
My matebonds thrummed with love.
We stepped through the door, and the mansion dissolved behind us. We were back in the simulator chamber.
The enhancing relic in my hands flickered once before it vanished.
Jarvins stood by the holographic console, twig between his teeth, watching us with his usual unimpressed expression. “Squad One, you pass. You will all move on to year four at Apex Elite Academy.”
Eleanor and Katie let out a breath that was half laugh, half sob.
Ivy whooped softly, and Solon fist-pumped.
Sylver smiled sharply.
My mates closed in around me tightly.
“You maintained your roles, though Rune and Dimitri had to take on an enforcer position twice because your enforcers were held up. That is the correct way to handle it to maintain your squad. You adapted to the environmental shifts, inflicted minimal damage, extracted the artifact, and made nice with the warden.” Jarvins paused.
“You earned extra points sparing him since killing him would’ve been easier.
Morals matter as agents of the council. Koa,” he went on.
“Your healing instincts were solid. You prioritized the threats correctly. Sylver, your magical specialization saved this mission a few times. Katie, the map reading was efficient, and Slater’s attempt at hacking it was, too. ”
He moved down the line, doling out criticism and praise in equal measure.
“Take the rest of the day off. You’ve completed your final. Enjoy your last night before your first House Gauntlet.”
The chamber door hissed open, and we filed out onto the academy grounds, the world feeling suddenly too normal after the crazy moving mansion and fae traps.
As soon as we were clear, Koa snagged my hand and tugged me to a stop. His ember-bright gaze searched my face. “You keep doing that.”
“Doing what?”
“Charging in at the most dangerous part of the mission.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but he squeezed my fingers, stopping me.
“I’m not mad or scolding,” he said. “I’m proud of you and terrified for you. Simultaneously.”
“I agree,” Slater chimed in. “It’s a very annoying feeling.”
I huffed a laugh. “I’ll work on being less terrifying on my missions.”
“Don’t,” Dimitri said sheepishly. “I mean, it’s what drew me to you.”
“He’s right,” Zuko murmured.
Heat flooded my cheeks.
Koa leaned down and brushed his lips over mine.
Behind him, Zuko’s voice drawled, “If you two make out right here, I’m cutting in.”
I broke the kiss, laughing.
“Venom baby, we should celebrate passing finals. Maybe in your bedroom. With tea. And you wearing way fewer clothes.”
Dimitri rolled his eyes. “No one is undressing anyone until we eat,” he said. “We all drained a lot of energy on that mission.”
“We do have family dinner tonight,” I reminded them.
“Shit, I need to go buy fae wine,” Zuko gasped.
“And I was bringing cake!” Koa’s face dropped.
I leaned into them all, love buzzing down my bonds.
We’d survived and passed our final that qualified us to move on to year four. Tomorrow, we’d face the House Gauntlet for the first time.