Return of the Runebound Professor

Noah stared down at Eline-Karina-Bria. He wasn’t really sure which one was the real name, if any of them were. Part of him was just tempted to kill her and be done with it. She’d threatened his students.

But, if she wasn’t who she’d claimed to be, that meant there was a possibility that somebody did know where she was. Noah’s brow furrowed and his hands clenched.

“What a pain in the ass,” Noah said. “Right. Why are you here?”

“Is it wrong for me to want to see my fiancé?”

“Okay, I’m going to kill you now.”

“Stop! What’s wrong with you?” Karina demanded, pressing her back against the bottom of the bed. “Have you gone insane? You were never like this.”

“Tell me who sent you,” Noah said. “You’re wearing my patience very thin. If you don’t give me a reason to leave you alive, then this conversation is over. You threatened my students.”

“I thought you’d try to answer Eline’s questions and then try to sleep with her or something,” Karina stammered. “Father was right.”

Noah’s eyes sharpened. His hand shot down and he grabbed her by the collar, pulling Karina up. “You’re working for Father?”

“Then answer my damn questions,” Noah snarled. “Who sent you?”

“Nobody! I came myself! I just spoke with Father before he left – and he basically said I was going to die. He’s already written me off.”

Ah. That makes things easier.

“No – ah, Vermil?”

Noah paused, glancing over his shoulder. Lee stood in the door, holding a large squirrel by the scruff of its neck. Karina’s eyes flicked to Lee and a mask of terror washed over her features.

“Please, help me! This professor went insane and dragged me into his room. He’s going to do terrible things!”

Karina shot Noah a smug look as Lee stepped inside. That look vanished as Lee closed the door behind her and flopped down across from them, sitting cross legged and watching intently.

“Don’t let me stop you,” Lee said, shoving the entire squirrel into her mouth and swallowing it in a single gulp. “I’ve never seen this before. I should have brought more snacks. I didn’t realize you liked blondes.”

“I’m probably just going to kill her,” Noah said. “And she’s not my type.”

Karina’s eye twitched. Her body rippled, shifting back into Eline’s form. “How could I not be your type? I’m your damn fiancée! I can literally be anyone!”

“Oh, I can do that too,” Lee said, transforming into Karina’s blonde-haired form. Karina stared at her in disbelief.

“You replaced me?” Karina demanded.

“I have no idea who you are,” Noah said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. This was quickly going askew. “Nor do I care. I’ve wasted enough time on this already. What does Father have to do with this? Is he going to do something during the survival exam?”

“No. I told you, I came on my own. Father has nothing to do with it. He’s not planning anything for the exam, as far as I’m aware.”

“Then what was the point of this? Why are you threatening my students?” Noah asked, his eyes narrow. “What’s the point of pretending to be a Torrin family member – twice, now? What are you playing at?”

“Nothing that I haven’t done before,” Karina muttered. “It’s much easier than approaching as myself. People are a lot easier to control when they’re off guard.”

“That did little to answer my question. I want your motives, not your reasoning,” Noah said. “Your usefulness is running out very quickly – actually, I’m not sure if you were ever useful in the first place. You’ve caused trouble for me twice now.”

“Why do I need a motive to speak to my fiancé?”

“You haven’t given up on that angle already? I’m not your–”

“Yes, you are,” Karina insisted. “No matter how hard you deny it, it doesn’t change the fact that Father arranged our marriage when we were kids. If you’re going to play dumb, then I’ll do the same. I’m from the Ashwood branch of the Linwick family. You know, Father’s allies?”

Noah stared at Karina. She didn’t look like she was lying, and he wouldn’t have put it past Father to stick Vermil into an arranged marriage. Technically, it was possible.

He formed a spike of ash again.

“What are you doing?” Terror flashed in Karina’s eyes. “Shit. He told me you’d do this. You can’t just go and kill your fiancée, though! It’s wrong!.”

“No, I’m pretty sure that’s what you’re supposed to do,” Lee said, rubbing her chin.

Demon courting rituals must really be something else – but this is honestly too much of a bother for me to deal with. I’m not going to have to marry anyone if she’s dead. But, if she’s telling the truth, then she might have some useful information on Father. Should try to get that before I do anything else.

“You spoke with Father recently?” Noah asked. “I don’t suppose you’ve got any information that would make me more inclined to not kill you?”

Karina swallowed heavily. He could tell she was considering using her Runes, but Noah was also confident that, between him and Lee, they could kill her before she could try anything.

“I – he said that he wouldn’t enforce the marriage, but he wouldn’t let me out of it. I’m here to ask you to break the contract so he’ll let me out of it.”

“And you do that by pretending to be from the Torrin family?”

“I didn’t think you’d assault me!”

“I literally did it once already when you were pretending to be someone else from the Torrin family,” Noah pointed out. “Why in the world did you think it wouldn’t happen a second time?”

“I thought I could seduce you into agreeing to break off the marriage without letting on who I was.”

“By threatening my students?”

“Threats always get me in the mood.” Karina’s eyes shifted to the side. “I think I might be starting to prefer death.”

“That can be arranged,” Noah said.

“Wait, no! I lied. Please don’t. I don’t want to die. I’ve been in seclusion for the last year, all to avoid this. I really don’t want the last year of my life to have been wasted. I’ll leave you alone, I promise.”

“The fact remains that you threatened my students. And, if you aren’t lying, I really don’t want you as a fiancée,” Noah said. He crossed his arms and sighed. “I’m not asking Father for a favor, either. Bastard owes me, and I won’t be wasting it on this.”

“I can help you,” Karina said desperately. “I know about the Torrin’s plans. If you care about your students, then you need the information I have.”

Noah raised an eyebrow. “You mean from Contessa?”

“Not just her,” Karina said. “Evergreen is coming to watch the exam personally, and Eline wasn’t someone I just made up. She’s actually participating in the exam, and she came here along with Garrick, a member of the main branch from the Torrin family. He’s one of their assassins.”

“How does that make you useful to me?” Noah asked.

“I’ve got a spy in their group,” Karina said. “That’s how I’ve known their plans. They’re actually looking into you and Moxie, and if they find any reason to suspect that Moxie has actually betrayed their family, they’ll kill her.”

Noah pressed his lips together. “And you propose you can help avoid this?”

“I can participate in the exam,” Karina said. “They’re probably going to try to kill Isabel and Todd, you know. They’re one of the main reasons they think Moxie has failed her duties – Blacklisted students interacting with Emily are going to ruin her social standing in the future.”

“You’re proposing that you’ll protect Isabel and Todd?” Noah asked, tilting his head to the side. “You lost a fight to me. What makes you think you can stop someone that’s trained as an assassin?”

“Garrick won’t kill students, they aren’t worth his time. That’s what Eline is for. He’ll probably go after Moxie,” Karina said, some of the confidence returning to her voice. “And you only beat me so easily this time because you sucker punched me and because I didn’t have my sword. I nearly got you the last time we fought.”

Noah studied Karina for a few moments. Then he rose to his feet, gathering the residual smoke floating around the room and directing it out a crack in the window.

“Is that all you have to offer?” Noah asked. “I already knew it was likely that Evergreen would try something, and I don’t trust you to protect anyone. If this is it, our conversation is done.”

“I can swear a Rune Oath to–”

“I don’t want a Rune Oath from someone that’s probably going to die. Unless you convince me to leave you alive for the time being, then it’s not happening.”

“What do you want, then?”

“That’s the problem,” Noah replied with a shrug. “I’m not seeing any reason to keep you around. You’re a threat. You’ve attacked us twice now, and killing you would actually solve a problem. I’ve got no plans to get married to you.”

Karina’s eyes clouded as she thought furiously. Her eyes lit up and she shot Noah a triumphant look. “You don’t have the support of any Linwick branches right now. Father said he’s on equal footing with you and isn’t interested in pursuing the fight at the moment, but that means he’s also not helping you. If you work with me, then you’ll have my resources.”

Now that could actually be useful.

“What kind of resources?” Noah asked. “You have Runes we could use?”

Karina blanched. “No. My parents didn’t give me access to anything beyond the Runes that I already have, but you’re discounting what we can do. Look at how much information I’ve gotten already. Don’t discount political strength and information. I could get you information about the Torrins, or get you into places that you wouldn’t normally be able to access on your own.”

Noah tilted his head to the side. “Like what?”

“Noble parties and secret events.”

Noah’s lips turned down in a grimace. “Really? That’s it?”

“Don’t discount them. That’s where all the deals and big exchanges happen. Auctions for rare Runes, information about Great Monsters or new locations of interest, everything. You can get all sorts of information from them.”

That… might actually be really useful. One of the things that all of us lack right now the most is information.

“Keep talking,” Noah said.

“There might even be a way to get your students un-Blacklisted,” Karina continued. “I could look into it and see if we could convince the people that signed the Blacklist to remove their signatures. That would reinstate Isabel and Todd as nobles with all the rights that come with it.”

Noah nodded thoughtfully. “Okay, I’ll bite. I’m interested. But you’ve still yet to give me a reason to trust you.”

“Don’t you care for me at all?” Karina asked, her eyes watering. “We’ve had some arguments, but pretending not to know me is cold. Can’t you drop the act?”

“No. I don’t care one way or another if you live or die, and right now, killing you seems like it’ll be considerably less of a headache.”

“You’re literally carrying my gift on your waist!” Karina thrust a finger at the gourd hanging from Noah’s hip. “You wouldn’t carry that around if you didn’t remember me, would you? It’ll save you one day.”

Noah looked down at the gourd. Then he looked back up at Karina. They were silent for a moment. Then Noah burst into laughter.

“You?” Noah asked, catching his breath as Karina stared at him in shock. “You gave me this?”

“I – yes. What’s wrong with that?”

Noah shook his head, wiping the mirth from his eyes. “You know what – you’re right. You helped me more than you ever could have imagined. This poisoned healing potion was probably the best gift you could have given.”

Karina froze. “What?”

“I already drank it,” Noah said with a chuckle. “Alright, Karina. Here’s how things are going to work. You’ll swear a Rune Oath to do everything you just told me about, in addition to protecting my students with your life. In exchange, I won’t kill you for the time being. How’s that sound?”

I can always just kill her anyway if I need to. Even if my soul is damaged and my Runes break, I can just fix everything with the Fragment of Renewal and then put the Runes back together. It doesn’t hurt me at all beyond a minor inconvenience.

Karina nodded. “Fine. But you’ll agree to find a way to break the marriage, right? I need a way out too.”

Noah shrugged. “I’ll look into it, but I won’t be paying Father any favors. It won’t be part of the Oath either, so you’ll just have to trust me. We’ll put a time limit on things – let’s say a month. For one month, you’ll do everything in your power to protect Isabel and Todd while also following my orders exactly. You will not attempt to share any information about me, Moxie, Isabel, Emily, Todd, or Lee with anybody at any point and in any way. In return, I leave you alive.”

“That’s not really a fair Rune Oath. You could do literally anything you wanted and I’d have to follow it.”

Noah shrugged. “You attacked me twice. It’s this or die now. I don’t trust you at all. Prove yourself if you want something from me.”

Karina gritted her teeth, and Noah saw a flicker of what he suspected to be her true personality show through. Unfortunately for Karina, they both knew that Noah had all the cards. She wasn’t dumb enough to try to fight him again here, especially with a second mage of unknown strength backing him up.

“Fine,” Karina snapped. “On my Runes, I swear to agree to all the terms you just stated.”

A sliver of ice ran down Noah’s back as he felt the Rune Oath take hold. It wasn’t perfect, but it was more than enough for the time being. He hadn’t let on how serious it was to him, but Karina had confirmed that Moxie and his students were in danger.

“Looking forward to working with you,” Noah said with a cold smile. “Now, why don’t we start with you telling me everything you know about Garrick and Eline? I need to figure out if we have to kill some people before the exam starts.”

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