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“Good, Josie,” Rune praises when I dodge his fist coming straight for my nose, and a sense of pride washes through me. “But remember, the key is to anticipate, not just react. Watch my stance, the shift in my weight.”
I do, and I see what he’s talking about. The slight tense in muscle right as he—oof.
“Holy hell.”
The force of Rune’s punch catches me in the shoulder and is about to send me to the ground again when something much softer than hard, packed dirt catches my fall. Thick arms cradle me in place, and the ribbon of Rune’s bond thrums happily between us.
He bends over to smile at me. “Almost got it.”
I bat away his braids when they tickle my face. “I should have seen that coming.”
He pulls me back onto my feet and I roll my shoulder, wincing when a joint pops.
“You will next time. But for now, I think you’ve had enough. It won’t do you any good to go into tomorrow’s trial if you can’t move. Spending the afternoon with your spellbook is a more constructive idea.”
I laugh. “You’re just afraid I’ll beat you and you’ll have to live up to your bargain.”
He grins. “No, babe. The bargain is in play for as long as we spar. No way am I quitting on you getting to call the shots. Just not today.”
Thank Gaia.
“All right. Let’s hit the showers.”
Rune lifts me off my feet and flips me over his shoulder. With a smack to my butt, he starts racing at vampire speed toward our floor. “I thought you’d never ask. Your shower or mine?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
SEBASTIAN
“Why do you go to them, darling? They should come to you. You are their king.”
“I’m very fucking aware of that. Thank you.” I ignore Manon’s roll of her eyes and storm down the private stairwell that joins my penthouse floor to the one below.
That’s where Finn, Rune, and Josie reside.
“I’ve left four messages for Fintan, and he hasn’t returned one. I realize he and his sire are at odds right now, but perhaps Rune knows where the hell his brother has fucked off to.”
At the bottom of the stairs, I place my hand over the scanner and the door opens. With long, quick strides, I close the distance to Finn’s suite.
I knock, but there’s no answer.
My patience has worn threadbare, and the last strings have snapped. A kick to the door has the wood splintering and the door swinging wildly out of my way. “Celt? Are you here?”
A quick search of Fintan’s suite makes it clear he is not here.
Maybe I can get some answers out of Rune.
That’s assuming that the Viking can keep his cock in his pants long enough to actually be of use to me. Since he bonded with Josie he’s been nothing but?—
“Oh, Sebastian, excellent.” Josie is standing at the wooden table in Finn’s library with her family grimoire open before her. “Do you have a moment to talk?”
“Have you seen either of the two assholes who are supposed to be running things for me?”
She blinks and gestures to where Rune is sitting in a chair in the corner reading a book.
Seriously?
When has the Viking ever read a fucking book?
