I wasn’t sure why the relic didn’t fuck with her emotions the way it did with ours, but I wasn’t complaining.
She probably had a complicated relationship with the Fates. She wouldn’t be the first supernatural who had.
The moment we reached the spot we’d come in at, the mountain dissolved. White peaks turned into pale shards of light, and the bitter cold dissipated.
Everything around us smoothed into the featureless wall of the simulator.
“That was terrifying.” Aura sagged, the relic fading from her grasp.
Professor Bloodwyne stood next to the controls, his gaze burning into us.
“You pass,” he said, narrowing his gaze at Aura, “butyounearly didn’t. The only reason you passed after rushing into the thick of things without consulting your squad is because you severed the relic’s feeding on Rune and Dimitri.”
Aura nodded, relief clear in her expression. “I let fear override my logic. It won’t happen again.”
Bloodwyne’s gaze flicked to me for a moment. “Good leadership skills. You could take action and help the squad communicate. Rune, I need to speak to you.”
Zuko and Slater kissed each of her cheeks before walking outside. I knew they’d be waiting outside for her, and somehow, that comforted me.
“Dimitri, you as well. I’d like a word,” Professor Bloodwyne told me as I went to walk out.
My stomach went hollow. “Now?”
“Now.”
Rune stopped in front of her dad, and I lingered beside her.
“I received an encrypted email today that I can’t trace. About what apparently happened this morning. Darian is still harassing you?” Professor Bloodwyne waspissed.
Rune sucked on her fangs before sighing. “He’s trying to get back with me.”
A muscle ticked in her dad’s jaw. “Do you?—”
“Iwon’t,” she said, sharper than I’d ever heard her. “I hate him, Pops. I deservewaybetter than Darian. I’m already dating someone else. Two someones.”
“I’ve noticed,” he said with a wince. “But Rune, please be careful with your heart.”
“Darian never had my heart,” she said automatically, and relief spread through my chest at that. “But…I appreciate your concern, Pops. I understand.”
Silence stretched between them.
He glanced at me. “I heard that Dimitri intervened.”
Her lips twitched into a bemused smile. “Dimitri slammed his face into the stairs.”
Professor Bloodwyne’s lips curved into a deadly smile. “I know. Well done, Dimitri.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “I take care of my squad.”
He glanced between Rune and I, then back to Rune. “I’m comforted knowing you’ve made friends this year.”
I knew deep down the reason I’d smashed that prick’s head into the stairs wasn’t because Rune was on my squad. It wasn’t because she was my friend. It was because she…meant something to me. But I couldn’t have feelings for anyone who wasn’t my mate.
I wouldn’t survive something like that again.
rune
. . .
