Chapter 31 Rune #3
“Sorry, toxin,” I said sweetly.
“This feels personal,” he said through clenched teeth.
“It is,” I said sweetly. “You are my mate.”
He laughed, breathless. “You’re fucking beautiful.”
I brushed a quick kiss over his lips again, softer this time. “I’ll make it up to you later,” I promised. “When there are fewer cameras.”
He shuddered. “I am suddenly very ready for this to be over.”
His emblem faded, marking him out.
“House of Torment is down!” Dad said, but irritation slipped into his tone.
I took off quickly.
By the time the dust settled, only two Houses remained.
House of Twilight and House of Fortitude.
I finally caught up with Dimitri, and he grabbed my shoulders and looked at me.
His nostrils flared as he groaned. “Really, lethal darling? Koa, Slater, and Zuko?”
I shrugged. “My technique worked.”
“I’m sure it did.”
Fortitude had three students left: Tibby, a hulking werewolf, and a witch girl I vaguely recognized from campus.
Twilight had only two: me and Dimitri.
“Not exactly balanced odds,” Dimitri murmured, eyes on the opposite side.
“We can handle it.”
“You’re right.”
Dad’s voice shook the simulation. “House of Twilight versus House of Fortitude!”
My brother stepped forward, flames flickering over his knuckles. His hair had come loose, sweat dampening his locks to his forehead.
“Roo,” he called. “Dimitri.”
“Tibby,” I called back.
Dimitri inclined his head. “Tobias.”
“How are we doing this?” Tobias asked.
I glanced at Dimitri, and he smirked. “I’ll take the werewolf and the witch. You two, fight it out.”
Tibby exhaled, relief and excitement twisting together in his aura. “Deal.”
We all moved at the same time.
Dimitri was a blur as he launched himself toward the Fortitude witch and werewolf.
I caught a glimpse of him dodging a blast of magic, then he was gone, a flurry of red eyes and the academy suit, but I couldn’t focus on his fight.
Tibby came straight for me.
Phoenix fire licked over his fists as he sprinted across the bridge, feet pounding against the stone.
I gave a feral grin and met him halfway; the illusion chasm stretched under us, shimmering with layers of cushioning magic.
We collided in bursts of hits.
He swung first, a flaming punch aimed at my shoulder.
I blocked, heat searing through my fingers as the impact rattled my bones.
He spun, catching my knee with his other foot.
Pain flared, making me stagger, then I drove my fist up into his ribs.
He grunted, fire blazing from his nose.
Hit, dodge, block, hit.
Over and over again.
“Are you holding back?” I demanded.
“No! Are you?” he shot back.
We exchanged another flurry of blows, muscle memory and years of sibling brawls guiding us.
He hit harder; I hit heavier.
Fire singed my hair, and my knuckles cracked against his jaw.
He tried to grab me.
I dodged, ducked, and slammed my shoulder into his gut.
He stumbled back, coughing. “You grew up,” he wheezed. “When did that happen?”
“Somewhere between your House winning last year and me being kidnapped by humans,” I explained. “It’s what you get for not sparring with me for a year.”
He softened slightly at that, eyes searching mine. “Are you okay?” he asked quietly, even as he flexed his hands for another round.
“Fight me.” I spat blood out. “We’ll talk about my trauma later.”
He chuckled, but his gaze softened as he launched himself at me again. He feinted left, then threw a flaming right hook at my head.
I ducked under it, grabbed his arm, and used his momentum to flip him over my shoulder. He hit the bridge, falling into a roll that broke his fall.
He popped back up as flames burned brighter along his skin. “Shit, Roo. I’m going to have to go all out.” He exhaled sharply, flaming wings flaring out behind him in a burst of golden fire.
“So, you’re bringing the wings out?” I gasped dramatically.
“Full spectacle.” He swept them forward.
A gust of flaming wind slammed into me.
I dug my feet in, my strength anchoring me, but it still shoved me back several feet. The edge of the bridge loomed under my heel.
“I’m offended you didn’t take me seriously from the start,” I snarled. “I will bite you!”
“Mom made you promise never to bite me!” he shouted back, grinning.
“Asshole,” I muttered, resigned only because he was right. I hadn’t bitten him since I was a child and gotten into trouble.
He lunged.
I grinned, dropping into a slide. My feet caught his ankles, making him stumble and lose balance.
His wings flared out instinctively for stabilization, but I used the opportunity to push up and slam my shoulder into his chest.
We both went down hard, falling back to the center of the bridge.
He recovered first, leveraging his weight to roll and pin me. His hands caught my wrists, forcing them above my head. Heat rolled off him.
“Forfeit?” he panted.
I bared my fangs. “You wish.”
He chuckled. “I’m winning!”
I flexed my core, pulling my knees up, and hooked my legs around his waist. Using my leverage, I twisted, rolling us so I ended up on top, his back slamming into the bridge.
He grunted. “Show-off.”
“Sore loser,” I retorted.
He surged up, bumping our foreheads together painfully.
Blood trickled down our noses.
He tried to buck me off, but I braced, balancing my weight.
“Get off!” His hands shot up to my shoulders, but I caught his wrists. Fire burst from his palms, searing hot against my exposed fingertips.
“No way!” I gritted my teeth, pushed past the pain, and slammed his hands back against the bridge, pinning him there.
My venom gathered at my fingertips.
His eyes widened. “Rune Bloodwyne,” he warned. “If you paralyze me on a bridge, I will never let you live it down.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” I said.
Instead of pushing it through his skin, I let it hover, shimmering over my flesh in a threat more than an action.
A selfish part of me wanted Tibby to forfeit or admit defeat.
His gaze darted over my shoulder, toward where Dimitri was fighting.
I risked a quick glance and found that Dimitri was a blur of precision and control.
The werewolf he was fighting lay unconscious near a shattered pillar, chest rising and falling. The witch just crumpled to the ground, eyes rolling back as Dimitri’s gaze locked off her will to fight for a brief, harmless second.
The last of Tibby’s housemates had been eliminated.
Tibby processed he was the House of Fortitude’s last man standing.
His jaw set.
“Okay,” he said quietly. “No more playing.”
Flames exploded over his entire body.
I jerked my hands and face back, hissing as the heat scorched my skin enough to hurt.
He rolled, knocking me off.
I caught myself with one hand, my foot skidding near the bridge’s edge.
Magic shimmered below—the illusion void hungrily waiting for someone to fall.
Tibby jumped up, surrounded by a rage of phoenix fire that painted him gold and crimson.
Shit.
He extended one hand, palm out. Fire coalesced there in a dense sphere.
“You’re not going to throw that at me in a no-kill event.” I gaped at my brother.
“I’m not,” he agreed. “At least not directly.”
He hurled it at the bridge instead.
The sphere hit the stone a few feet in front of me and detonated in a wide shockwave. Heat and force slammed into me, throwing me off my feet.
For a sick, weightless second, I was airborne.
There was nothing under me but the illusion chasm and the shimmer of catch-spells far below.
Something that would absolutely eliminate me.
No.
I reached out with everything I had. A basilisk’s magical power wasn’t only venom. Strength, impact, and agility played a big role.
My fingers barely hit the edge of the bridge as I fell past it, fingers digging into the stone. The momentum almost tore my arm out of its socket, pain screaming up my shoulder, but I held onto it, refusing to fall.
My body swung, slamming against the underside of the bridge.
“Rune!” Dimitri shouted.
“Focus on me!” Tibby roared, and a loud bang hit.
“House of Twilight and House of Fortitude are down to one house member each!” Dad announced. “Tobias and Rune Bloodwyne are the last two standing!”
Shit, Dimitri.
The bond throbbed with fading pain.
My muscles shook with the strain. The fabric of the suit smoked where the stone was still hot from Tobias’s blast.
“Is this your strategy?” I called out to Tibby, irritated. “Are you trying to make me do pull-ups?”
He exhaled a breath that sounded like relief. “You’re insane.”
“Genetics,” I grunted. “You are, too.”
I swung my other arm up, slamming that hand into the stone, too. With both arms engaged, I heaved, using my core and legs as I pulled myself back onto the bridge.
Tobias took an involuntary step back as I rolled onto my knees and pushed to my feet.
“Forfeit,” he said weakly, voice hoarse. “Please. You almost fell.”
“I’m not done,” I growled. Pain pulsed in my shoulder, my fingertips, and my ribs, but my body was already healing.
Worthy manifested and bit my neck, his venom fueling my reserves and speeding up my healing as he hissed at Tibby.
“Unworthy!” he hissed before fading back into me.
Worthy was incredibly helpful.
Tibby shook his head. “You are the most stubborn—”
“Sibling?” I said, climbing back to my feet. “We both are.”
He huffed. “Fair.”
We charged at each other again.
I ducked under a fiery swing and punched my fist into his stomach.
He wheezed and stumbled forward, swinging at my face.
I blocked with my forearm and turned, kicking him in the side of the head.
He spun from the impact, half-dazed, flinging a blast of fire that grazed my thigh, the heat searing across the fabric of my suit but not harming me.
He was getting too desperate to win, which made him messy.
Predictable.
I tackled him.
We crashed into the bridge, rolling. He ended up on top before I slammed my forehead into his, stunning him, and reversed our position again.
My thighs bracketed his hips, and my hands slammed his wrists down beside his head. I pinned him with all my strength, chest heaving, sweat and blood and smoke in my mouth.