He must sense my stubbornness, and with an exasperated sigh, he drops his hands from his face. I cover my breasts as much as possible with a hand and forearm, and drop my other palm to cover my vagina in an effort to save his virtue. Wekun looks over at me warily and quickly scans my body. He twirls his fingers, indicating that he wants me to turn. I do, moving my hand from my crotch to cover my ass crack as I go.
I stand with my back to him for a beat and look over my shoulder when I hear fabric rustling behind me, as though he’s climbing off the bed. Wekun comes closer, his eyes fixed on the lines of runes that run from under my shoulder blade to the top of my ass cheek on the right side of my back. He reads the symbols left to right like you would a book, and it confirms my suspicion that it’s some kind of written message.
“You can cloak,” he tells me, his tone shocked, and he runs a fingertip over a handful of lines on my back. “I’ve never seen anyone with these marks, but that’s definitely what they’re saying. Vinna has new ones too; the mixing must be creating new abilities,” he states contemplatively, still studying the lines like he’s triple-checking that he’s right.
“What does that mean?”
“That when you activate this sequence, you can blend into your surroundings to the point that no one can see you. I don’t know if that means invisibility all together or more of a chameleon effect?”
My eyes go wide, and I try to look down at the marks on my back, in shock. He touches my shoulder blades. “These are spears of some kind,” he tells me. “And these four bands are how you can slip through space.”
“Slip through space?” I question.
“Teleport...like you just did earlier when you disappeared for five hours. It looks like you can physically move from one place to another, like I can, but you’re also able to separate from your body and move around that way too. Sentinels call it projecting, and it’s very rare, although at this point withyourSept, that shouldn’t surprise me.”
He runs a finger down the thin bands of symbols on my forearm, and I turn to face him.
“These are shields. But interestingly, they shield you from outside attacks and also from yourself, you must have a weapon that takes a lot of skill to wield. Your runes will protect you from it.” His eyes drop to the rune garters high up on my thighs. “I’d guess it’s these. They look like symbols for long swords but different.” He shrugs as he crouches down so he can study them closer.
I’m feeling a little lab rat-y, with the way he’s looking at my runes. He vacillates between intrigued scientist and reverent worshipper, and I can sense he’s cataloging things while also wading through awe. I’m surprised by his astonished reaction altogether though. The guy can portal between worlds at will, but he thinksmyrunes are cool?
“These are your mate runes,” he identifies, pointing to my ring finger and the line of marks above my breast on the right side. “Treno has runes that allow him to control water. That’s what this line on your left side is. It’s not a natural elemental affinity, because it’s just for the one element, but it’s a strong mark.”
Wekun stands up and lifts my arm: between two of the thick bands of runes on my upper arm is another of Treno’s marks. It looks like something a kid’s Spirograph toy would make. I had one when I was little; I used to love putting my pen in the different pattern wheels and circling it around, making endless amounts of perfect spirals and intersecting shape patterns on paper. I could sit and do it for hours, and this mark is ovals and triangles that all cut through each other to make a cool symmetrical pattern.
“These are blades too, not swords though...something smaller.”
“And this?” I ask, tilting my head back and pointing at the circle under my chin.
Wekun smiles, satisfaction lighting his features. “That, Falon, is your Sept rune.”
“We can’t find her anywhere, are you sure that—” Treno’s question chokes off as he storms inside the tent and quickly takes me in. His eyes jump to Wekun’s close proximity to my very naked body, and his purple and blue gaze flashes with fury. “What in the rut do you think you’re doing?” he bellows, stomping over to place himself in front of me.
Wekun wisely slips himself to the opposite corner of the tent, his hands up and his face and body radiating innocence.
“I’ll rip your eyes from your head for looking at her and then choke you with your own severed hands,” Treno threatens.
I wince at the visual.
He takes a step in Wekun’s direction and then stops himself. Treno seems momentarily torn between wanting to rip him apart with his bare hands and protecting my naked body from Wekun’s unwelcome gaze. Treno has the same marks on him that Zeph does, that I do, and I realize that Wekun never answered my question about what went wrong when trying to sever the mate bonds.
“He wasn’t doing anything, Treno. He was just telling me what my runes mean. I asked him to,” I defend, reaching up to his massive shoulder and trying to pull him back.
He doesn’t budge.
“That’s not his place, not like that, and not with a mated female,” Treno argues, fury and self-righteousness wafting off him in waves.
I snort. “Then whose place is it? And we’re not mated. This is none of your business,” I counter.
He rounds on me, stepping forward until his tunic-covered chest is pressed against my naked one. “I could have told you what my marks mean, and the fact that you’re still wearing my runes, and I’m now adorned in yours, proves that we’re as mated as we ever were.”
I narrow my eyes and shake my head at him. “You had plenty of time to fill me in, Treno. You were too busy blaming me for your problems and your brother’s attempts to kill you.”
“Falon,” he implores, cutting me off and lifting his hands to gently cup my shoulders.
I shrug him off. “No. You have no right to come barging in here and accusing anyone of anything. Wekun is trying to help me, which is more than I can say of anyone else.”
“We’re mates, Falon, this will take time for all of us to adjust to, but you need to hear me on this,” he orders.
