I answered, voice clipped. “Lake.”
“Students at the academy are getting sick. These symptoms look like the human flu, but as you know supernaturals can’t catch that. I’m hearing whispers that it might be a human-made poison.”
My pulse quickened. “Poison?”
“Yes. The side effects are fatigue, chills, and weakness. Nothing natural for us.”
My thoughts raced.
Rune.
Venoms.
Curiosity.
Obsession.
Poison.
If anyone could figure this out, it would be her. “If it’s poison, Rune?—”
“Shecannot.” His voice cracked sharply. “If Rune knows, she will try to consume it. She’ll treat it like an experiment. Drecken, she’s my daughter.”
I swallowed hard. He wasn’t wrong. “But she understands poisons better than anyone I’ve ever met, and I’ve been alive a long time. It’s literally part of her special power to be immune, is it not?”
“And what if this isn’t like anything she’s ever tried?” Lake’s tone dropped, strained. “What if a human-made poison kills her?”
The silence stretched.
Impossible.
I pressed my hand against the vial of her venom.
Cold.
Fatal.
Beautiful.
Just like her.
“Okay,” I murmured. “I won’t let her consume any. But it stands that she knows this topic better than anyone. Venoms too. I may need to consult her in the future, but I need a blood sample from a sick student. If it’s poison, I can confirm.”
“I’ve already got one. Come pick it up.”
The crystal’s line went dead.
I sighed heavily, staring at the glow of her venom.
The butterfly-feeling fluttered again like it was mocking me, and it wasaddictive.
I whispered into the empty lab, “Viperling…what are you doing to me?”
rune
. . .
The walkto House of Twilight’s classroom this morning took longer than usual. Our squad moved as a loose cluster, half awake and half still groggy. I was probably one of the few fully awake—perks of my poisoned tea.
