Chapter 30 Rune #2
Platters and bowls were passed around. Smoked salmon, juicy roasted turkey, baked vegetables glazed with honey and herbs, garlic mashed potatoes, and a basket of buttery rolls that were still warm.
“Rune, eat more than that,” Mom urged as she passed the salmon. “Your pops told me that you burned through half your reserves with that final from trying to save everyone.”
“Pops,” I groaned automatically, piling salmon onto my plate.
“Jarvins told me.” Pops shrugged.
“Be happy you weren’t there,” Dimitri muttered under his breath.
“Fucking terrifying,” Zuko agreed.
“Horrible experience to witness your mate being physically maimed by magic.” Slater shivered.
“Try healing her broken ribs, hanging scalp, and cracked skull,” Koa mumbled.
Jesper and Drecken winced.
“Rune.” Dad gave me a look.
I smiled innocently at everyone. “I passed the final!”
Everyone sighed.
Drecken slid the little poison tray toward me with his telekinesis. “Eat.”
“Thank you.” I picked up a vial of shimmering dark green liquid and drizzled it over my salmon. It was a neurotoxin that tasted like poblano peppers. Then, I added a few drops of a mycotoxin over the turkey. Just enough poison to fill my reserves.
Drecken watched, fascinated. “I will never get over the fact that one bite of your dinner could kill everyone at the table.”
“It makes everything taste better,” I said primly.
“It tastes good as is,” Dad huffed.
“Your food is my favorite,” I assured him, earning a small smile. “I just need to fill my reserves.”
Pops lifted his glass of wine. “To completing finals,” he said. “To our two spawns surviving another year at the academy, and to their mates, who keep them alive through their questionable choices. And to the House Gauntlet tomorrow, in which my daughter will probably destroy my son.”
“Hey!” Tibby protested immediately.
“I’m curious to see who will win,” Dad mused as we lifted our glasses and sipped.
The love potion in the wine brushed against my magic and flooded the matebonds. My heart fluttered, and smiles graced every single one of us at the table.
The first few minutes were filled with silverware clinking and passing dishes.
Mom smiled at Dimitri. “How are your parents enjoying prison?”
“Wouldn’t know, but at least it’s more silence than they’ve ever given me,” he replied with a fang-filled grin. “I’m very pleased that they are behind bars.”
“Good,” she hummed.
“Very,” I agreed.
“I’m just saying,” Dad started, his eyes on Zuko. “Torture ethics are needed depending on the crime.”
“Oh, absolutely,” Zuko agreed before they launched into a moral debate.
“You hacked what exactly?” Pops asked Slater, leaning forward.
Slater grinned, mouth full of turkey. After swallowing, he said, “Not hacked, Pops. I just improved the surveillance protocol. Jesper approved it.”
Jesper made a noncommittal sound. “I only said it was a good idea.”
“It’ll be much harder to hack into now,” Slater explained as Snakey materialized and curled like a decorative choker around Slater’s throat.
Between bites, I watched my family interact.
Mom, Dad, and Pops kept bumping shoulders when they reached for the same dishes with little smiles exchanged.
Pops listened to Cora recount a situation in her class, his laughter loud and bright.
Tobias’s hand never left Nym’s knee, and Sylver kept sneaking bread onto his plate when he got distracted talking.
My heart ached with how full everything felt.
“So,” Zuko said at one point, halfway through his plate, “Essence Mines, huh?”
I blinked. “What?”
Jesper shot him a look. “You had to bring that up now?”
“What happened in the Essence Mines?” Mom asked sharply, attention snapping to me. “Rune?”
I felt my matebonds spike with a mix of amusement and tension.
“Nothing,” I said quickly. “Just a snake thing.”
Pops's chair scraped backward. “A what thing? You got bit by a venomous snake again?”
“She’s fine,” Jesper said quickly.
Mom’s eyes narrowed. “Rune Bloodwyne.”
I sighed dramatically. “Okay, so. There was a viper in Essence Mines. It bit me.”
Dad’s jaw clenched. “When?”
“A little while after the press conference a couple of weeks ago,” Jesper answered instead. “I was with her. It was handled.”
“Handled how?” Pops asked, flames appearing in his hair.
Six pairs of my mates’ eyes slid away.
Dimitri coughed into his fist.
Zuko suddenly found his wine very interesting.
Koa’s ears turned red.
Slater hid his smirk behind a roll.
Drecken adjusted his sleeve as if it needed it.
Jesper’s brown eyes widened comically.
Tobias put his fork down slowly. “Why do I feel like I’m about to hear something that requires earplugs?”
Nym elbowed him. “Don’t be dramatic.”
Mom folded her hands, deadly calm. “Venom profile?”
I traced the rim of my wineglass. “Aphrodisiac.”
The silence was instant before Pops choked on his wine.
Mom closed her eyes briefly and inhaled. “Of course it was.”
Tibby howled with laughter. “You had a sex snake bite in a mine?”
“I didn’t plan it,” I protested. “Also, I didn’t know until after the euphoria hit.”
“Where were you when it hit?” Pops asked weakly.
Jesper cleared his throat. “In the mines with me.”
The look Dad gave him was sharp. “And what did you do, exactly, when my daughter was overcome by venom, Jesper?”
Some part of me wanted to slide under the table but the other part wanted to join Tibby in laughter.
“She is my mate, you know.” Jesper swallowed hard and kept eye contact. “I made sure she was safe and consenting,” he said firmly. “And I…helped her ride out the effects.”
“You sure fucking did,” Zuko snickered.
“We all felt it in the bond,” Slater teased.
“By—” Cora trailed off.
“Riding me against a cave wall,” I blurted out before I could stop myself.
The triplets burst into laughter at exactly the same time Pops covered his face with his hands.
“Rune,” Dad groaned, massaging his temples.
I coughed to hide my laughter. “Blame the viper?”
Zuko leaned in, voice a low purr. “For the record, I fully support his method of helping you through it, but next time, maybe invite me?”
“Gross.” Tibby shook his head, but there was a smile tugging at his lips.
“Only you would turn a viper attack into a sex story, venom baby,” Slater chuckled.
“Look, strategically, it was a very effective method to handle her being bitten,” Jesper added, mostly to Dad. “She was in pain, and the venom was flooding her system. Letting it sit would have been worse.”
“Mmhm,” Pops said faintly.
“Tactical orgasms for the win.” Slater and Zuko high-fived.
The whole table dissolved into varying degrees of laughter and mortification.
The love potion in the wine smoothed the edges, making the embarrassment I probably should feel non-existent.
Eventually, conversation shifted from lighthearted to serious.
“The humans have gone quiet,” Mom said at some point. “Too quiet.”
Jesper nodded, expression hardening. “After the troll family killed those two humans, and we sent the bodies back to the Human Council, human crime in our territories slowed. No more kidnappings have been reported. No new missing supernaturals.”
“The Human Council swears they’re dismantling that faction,” Mom said. “They send regular updates, but they still haven’t located the Whettlocks.”
“Allison and her dad.” I swirled my wine. “They’re not dead. They’re waiting to attack.”
“How do you know?” Nym asked softly.
“I know that kind of patience,” I declared. “The kind that steps back, lets everyone relax, then attacks when everyone lets their guard down. I just can’t believe I trusted Aura—I mean, Allison.”
Sylver’s gaze darkened. “They’ll slip.”
“And when they do,” Koa said, “we’ll be there.”
Tibby cleared his throat. “You know, the House Gauntlet is tomorrow, Roo.”
My eyes narrowed immediately. “Yes. Our official face-off.”
He smirked. “I did win the last House Gauntlet.”
“You only won last time because I wasn’t competing,” I pointed out after swallowing more wine.
“That’s exactly why I’m slightly worried for tomorrow,” he admitted, laughing. “House of Fortitude is stacked this year, but House of Twilight has…well, you.”
“And me,” Dimitri added.
“Fortitude might have strength…” I set down my glass. “But Twilight has spies. We’re tricky, Tibby.”
“Pretty sure Jarvins said dirty fighting is encouraged,” Cora added. “You have to fight your own mate, Tobias.”
His eyes darkened as he licked his lips. “Well, I’m in trouble, then.”
Mom sipped her wine. “I’m proud of you both, no matter who wins.”
Pops clapped his hands once. “Yes. Sibling rivalry bleeding into house rivalry. I love this time of year.”
Sylver laughed. “You’re so wholesome.”
At some point, Mom shifted the topic toward the triplets.
“We’ve been talking,” she said to them, voice gentler. “When you graduate, I was thinking of putting you on the squad that will investigate Cursinia Academy of the Enchanted Arts.”
Cora’s fingers tightened around her fork, and Nym’s eyes flicked to Sylver.
“What about Melody?” Cora asked quietly.
“Who’s Melody?” Zuko asked.
“Our best friend,” Nym said. “She’s a siren. Her father’s the Headmaster at Cursinia Academy of the Enchanted Arts.”
“And also a monster,” Cora added.
Nym nodded in agreement.
Mom sighed. “Rune doesn’t know your full story,” she said. “Do you want to share?”
The triplets exchanged glances.
Eventually, Sylver set her fork down and looked at me. “You are family now. You deserve to know. We were born on a blood moon tide. Where our pod comes from, that’s a big deal.”
“Of power and destruction,” Nym said. “A prophecy said we’d turn the sea red.”
“Our mother didn’t live long after we were born. The pod killed her and raised us. Groomed us. They wanted us as apex predators. Tools.” Cora’s eyes went distant. “We were supposed to sing to kill. Devour whatever was dragged in. No mercy. No questions.”