I went still again, staring at the photo on my desk of my parents, smiling brightly. Before they’d had me.
My hand hovered, tracing the frame.They’d been so happy. They were fated.
“Rowan…I’m too old to find my mate. I’ve been alone too long. Maybe the Fates don’t think I am meant for one.”
“I thought the same before Wren,” Rowan said softly. “And yet…”
The silence stretched between us.
I turned back to my workbench, uncorking the vial I’d barely remembered to seal before grabbing Blair’s journal.
“Let’s see what her venom does to me, then.” My hand didn’t shake as I tipped a single drop onto my tongue.
“Drecken, don’t you dare try her venom!” Rowan barked, sheer worry threading through his tone.
Fire blazed down my throat, then,nothing. No collapse. No pain. No organ or bone liquifying. Just warmth, spreading through me like when my parents used to hug me before bed.
I laughed, astonishment swelling through me. “It didn’t kill me.”
“Thank the Fates you’ve been poisoning yourself for centuries,” Rowan muttered. “You scared me.”
“Or maybe,” I said quietly, “it’s because I wasmeantto survive Rune’s venom because…”
“She’s your mate,” he finished for me.
The crystal went silent.
I returned to my notes, Rune’s venom glistening under the fae light and her smile seared into my mind long after the call ended.
Could Rune Bloodwyne be fated to be mine?
rune
. . .
Jarvins had givenus our week-five assignment for Charm and Deception. It was a one-on-one scenario with a house instructor of Jarvins’s choosing, who was unknowingly a neutral contact.
Each squad member must use charm, persuasion, or deception to gain access to a personal item of the professor.
The slip burned in my palm before I set it on my desk and left our classroom to head toward House of Arcane’s. My assigned “neutral contact” was Professor Drecken Grimsworn.
It was perfect.
At least Dimitri looked worse off, his slip said Gavin Bloodwyne. Pops wouldn’t be easy to deceive in the slightest.
I was curious to see how everyone would fare with the different professors.
Drecken’s classroom was unusually quiet, with no students in sight. The only sounds were the scrape of his pen and the occasional flick of a page as he bent over a book at his desk. His aura of concentration was thick enough to choke on.
His fingers stilled the moment I stepped across the threshold. He didn’t look up, but I knew he’d felt me enter.
“No students?” I schooled my features into an innocent expression and let my voice drift through the quiet.
“They were sent out on an alchemy field assignment,” he said smoothly, not looking up yet.
“I was hoping I could ask about how the potion is going with my venom?” I walked until I stood directly in front of his desk.
His head lifted, the corner of his mouth tugging into a grin. “Wonderful. Very fascinating, actually. I’ve already completed your mother’s formula, as you know. I’m almost finished with yours.”
