Something new caught my eye.
"What's this?" I asked, noticing the large dining table in the kitchen. It was a lighter wooden table with six matching wooden chairs around it.
Aimon ran a hand through his hair with a cheesy grin. "I figured we needed somewhere to eat that wasn't sitting on the sofa."
"It's beautiful." I ran my fingertips across the smooth wood. "When did you do this?"
"This morning. I woke up a little early and conjured it myself. It reminds me of the one that I had growing up," he admitted with a smile.
"Well, you did amazing." I grabbed the plates, cups, and utensils and set the table.
Then I grabbed a bowl of fresh fruit that Aimon had made and placed it in the middle of the table before placing my hands on my hips and looking at how quaint and sweet it looked. I'd never had a space specifically to eat at. "You really outdid yourself with this."
Aimon's hands tickled my waist as he wrapped his arms around me from behind and placed his chin on my shoulder. "Anything for you, bug. You deserve it. I just finished the pancakes, so now we're just waiting for them to wake up. I wonder how we can busy our time?"
He peppered kisses down my neck, and heat pooled between my legs as I turned to meet his lips with mine. "Aimon," I moaned against his mouth as he lifted me up and set me on the table, taking extra care not to knock into any of the stuff that I set.
"I wonder if Bastian wants to join," Aimon mumbled, and I gasped out as he licked my collarbone.
"Ask him," I pleaded breathlessly, but the heat in my body was extinguished as Bastian cried out in pain.
Panic flooded through me as we both turned toward Bastian to see him standing over the cauldron with a red bubbling potion spilling all over his hands. The liquid turned bright green, sizzling and releasing a gust of smoke.
Bastian stumbled to the side and grabbed a vial that had been sitting on the table just as his arms began to change color rapidly, turning a vengeful red. He grimaced in pain, and a funneling phantom pain throbbed through the bond as his veins pulsated with an eerie glow.
Aimon and I jumped into action, running over to him as fear raced through me.
"Rage potion," he croaked, gaze boring into me. "I'm taking the sleeping potion before it affects me." He downed the contents of the vial that he had grabbed.
Aimon was quick enough to move behind him and catch his falling body. "Shit." He lifted him up and moved him onto the couch.
Silas and the twins rushed out into the living room, eyes wide with awareness. "What happened? What the hell was that pain?"
"Bastian accidentally poisoned himself with rage potion, and he took a sleeping potion before it could affect him." I took a shaky breath, running my hands through my hair as I stared at my sleeping potion mage.
Aimon frowned. "He's going to be fine, bug."
I nodded my head mutely.
Of course he would be fine. He was Bastian. He had to be fine. He was one of the best potion mages I knew, but I also never thought he would accidentally infect himself with a potion.
The group descended into silence as we ate our breakfast at the new table Aimon had conjured, and I kept glancing back at Bastian just like the rest of the guys kept doing. It was nice to sit at a table and share a meal, but it would've been nicer to have theentiregroup present the first time we did it.
A few hours of agony passed before a groan slipped through Bastian's lips, and the five of us stopped whatever we were doing and huddled around him on the couch.
He stirred awake, but his normally sweet expression was replaced with a scowl as he sat upright. His blue hair was disheveled and wild.
"Are you alright? We were so worried about you. The rage potion..." I trailed off.
Bastian's eyes flickered with a hint of anger, and his voice was laced with irritation. "It was a stupid mistake. I was distracted by you and Aimon at the table."
"I'm sorry, Bastian. We wouldn't have done anything that would've distracted you on purpose." Aimon frowned. "You've never been one to be distracted from your work before. I didn't think about it."
Bastian's hands tightened into fists. "This could've been prevented," he spat out bitterly, anger flaring through the bond. "Tell me someone at least stirred the potion while I was out."
"I did," Silas muttered as Bastian pushed himself up off of the couch and stormed over to the cauldron to inspect the potion.
"At least someone can do something right," he muttered, grabbing the ladle and stirring it.
