Hekate’s Bride

A body was found in school this morning.

Mangled. Mishapen. Broken beyond recognition.

But somehow, someone had placed a face to the body.

Alaric Grimshaw. A first year student, and Rune’s distant cousin.

I didn’t see the body when it was brought in, but a couple of students did and it’s all they have been talking about since. They seem pretty shaken up. There is fear in their eyes as well.

The schools are fortified and happen to be safest places in all realms, guarded by the Goddess’s magic herself.

How could this happen?

Some say Alaric was seen in the cameras trying to escape the premises and he fell in the void beyond. Some say the darkness took him. Some say there was a man covered in the darkness.

Regardless of what truth it is, none of them are great.

The school has been in a tizzy since the body was brought in and unorthodox communications have been made to the realms beyond, reaching out to the King and Queen of the Realm of Lycans.

Everyone’s in a fix and agitated, and Rune’s extra peeved today. He’s been having us repeat a series of grueling tasks in the past hour, and he isn’t even supervising. Master Kaelan is away with the rest of the teachers in an urgent meeting with the Chancellor and well, Rune’s in charge.

He is speaking to that blonde star again. I think her name’s Ginevra. It rings a bell but I’m too tired to figure out why.

I steal a glance toward where he stands and I spy the blonde cupping his face delicately and pressing a kiss against his cheek.

Oh?

As if feeling my eyes on him, he looks in my direction.

My mind races wildly and I look away abruptly. Foolish prince.

“Take partners now!” Rune suddenly barks, causing my pulse to rise higher. I am shoved and bumped from all sides as we begin the search for who to take as partners. I search through the crowd, peering into faces.

But no one’s looking at me or giving me a second glance. Their eyes slide over me and move on to the next like I am not even there.

A cold sensation washes over me the moment I realize that no one deems me worthy or significant enough to partner up with me. In no time, Rune crosses over to the front of the class and I am the only one stuck without a partner.

“Three paces away and– Blackwood, where is your partner?”

My jaw clenches. Great. Just great.

“I–” I start to speak, but my voice is little above a squeak. I try again, rubbing my clamming palms on my hideous uniform. “I do not have one.”

I hear the heavy, angry, thudding of his boots as he approaches me, and soon, he is peering down at me with his dark eyes filled with too many emotions that could not have stemmed up from admission.ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

The entire class of students watches us in stilled, intense silence, and it feels like even the air has paused to acknowledge this.

Whatever this is.

There is a long pause before he speaks in which the tension between us becomes palpable. He glances directly in my eyes and I can’t stifle the shiver that wrecks my body. I hate it when he does that; pulling an aura on me.

He’s only ever done it once, and I refuse to think back to that day three years ago. It is an unspoken secret we share and I keep it tucked away in the farthest cage of my mind.

He finally takes his piercing stare off me and scans the class. “I will spar with you then.”

There is that silence again as Rune takes up the spot in front of me. I have no idea what he is getting at, but I know I am about to get my ass handed to me.

“Take your stance!” He yells to the rest of the class and we call into place, placing our feet aside, crouching low and raising our arms in either a block poise, or an attack poise.

I raise my hands, blocking my face as I assume Rune will take full advantage of this and take his revenge on me, but he says to me, “Attack. I’ll defend.”

I blink, surprised.

When I do not move to obey his order immediately, he adds, “Surely, your ears still function well.”

My cheeks flame as I clench my fists and adjust my stance.

“In the next few minutes you will take take turn in defending and offending your partners, and you have but a few minutes to memorize their movements and point out their weaknesses. Do you understand why this is important?” Rune says to the entire class, even if his eyes never leave mine.

I let my eyes travel around the room to avoid his stare and it is in that moment I find the blonde star watching me from the back of the hall where Runs left her.

She grins at me and it is the scariest thing I’ve seen this year. It is all teeth and sharp canines.

“Yes,” the entire hall says in unison.

“Good. Start.”

I lunge into action, swinging for Rune’s face but he deflects it effortlessly, thwarting my attack like it was anything but one.

I swing for him again, but pain explodes in my midriff, causing me to stumble backward.

The bastard punched me.

“You said you would defend!” I yell at him, clutching my stomach as my breakfast rushes to my throat.

He comes at me again, wildly and swiftly, giving me no space at all to anticipate his movements or raise my arms in time to block. All his blows hit home and my groans and pants fill the air and I stagger away from him.

His eyes are glazed. He is hitting me… but I do not think he realizes he is doing that. Everyone has stopped in their movements to watch me try and avoid a barrage of blows and kicks.

But all hit home and I am in pain.

He grunts as I pull back, reaching for me again. I scuttle back quickly before he can grab me. This isn’t sparing anymore. Something’s wrong with Rune. I’ve never seen him this crazed– and unfortunately, I have seen A LOT of shades of Rune. Too much for my own sanity.

“Rune,” I rasp as I raise my hands to block another blow to my face.

Ginevra is instantly behind him. I have no idea how she got there but I’m hoping she can reach him because I can’t take any more of this. My body can’t.

“Stop it, Rune,” she says, grabbing his shoulder. Rune jerks and lashes out like a man hurt, and I see his dark claws slide out as he swipes for Ginevra’s neck.

She dives left, barely missing her neck being ripped open by a fraction and her baby blue eyes go wide with terror when she realizes the same thing I have.

Rune’s lost it.

“Get the Chancellor!” She yells to no one in particular, but a few dash out of the hall, sensing the direness of the situation.

He turns to me again and fear grips me when I see his eyes are bleeding into black and dark veins are etched on his face.

What the fuck is happening?

“Rune–” I start again but his fingers suddenly wrap tightly around my throat, lifting me in the air as cuts of my air supply.

My feet dangle and I kick out, slapping at his hand around my throat.

I struggle to breathe, gasping for air as my eyes bulge in panic. The world around me begins to fade, the edges of my vision turning black. My thoughts jumble in my mind as I try to understand what’s happening. I can feel his strength in his grip, his claws digging painfully into my skin.

I try to speak, to plead for him to stop, but only a weak choking sound escapes my lips. My arms flail, desperate to break free from his hold, but his grasp only tightens.

“Let her go, Rune! Please!” Ginevra cries, but she does nothing to stop him; nothing to prevent him from killing me.

She just stands there, crying like some stupid princess.

Perhaps she wants him to kill me. Perhaps she is scared of him.

I’d like to think it is the second option because even I am scared, and very little things scare me in my life.

Rune’s features are blank, empty, but his eyes… they are depths of the darkest coal.

A single tear slides down as the fight in me weakens. His dark eyes narrow on my left cheek and Rune goes still.

His eyes widen a fraction and ever so slowly, his hold around my neck loosens until I drop to the ground, gasping and wheezing.

People rush into the hall, but I am not with enough presence to notice who it is. Though I faintly hear the Chancellor bark an order to empty out the hall.

It hurts to breath. It hurts to fucking move. The darkness in my vision recedes a little and warm arms wrap around me.

“Are you alright?”

Breathing hard, I look up to find Darian peering down at me with a hard look in his eyes.

I blink thrice, trying to clear my vision.

“It hurts,” I croak, tears sliding from my eyes like a faucet’s been turned on.

His lips tug down in a frown and he lifts me off the ground, murmuring what sounds like, “Infirmary.”

But it’s all hazy, as my eyes search for Rune in the hall, even if he just tried to kill me. It hurts to crane my neck, and when I do, I see them watching me as Darian takes me out of the hall.

But I don’t see Rune.

Even if I can feel the tangible weight of his gaze on me.