Taurus

Chapter 8

Lawan sipped the red wine she had poured for herself when she learnt that both she and Niran knew the same person. 

"Why did he not tell you directly?" she asked after chugging one glass. Erica, like a faithful friend, poured her another glass.

Niran gave her a long look before he said in a faint voice. "Because he was not supposed to interact with Gaelan?"

Lawan crossed her legs. "Why not?"

"Gaelan is a prisoner," Niran answered, leaning on the sofa and pulling a still-flustered Rune against him. "Up in the sky."

Erica tried to drink directly from the bottle, but one glare from Rune, made her scramble to get herself a glass. "What did he do?"

Niran frowned. "I don't know. I am not a star. I just work for one."

An awkward silence fell over us and the two females just sipped their drink while Niran was tracing Rune's veins up his forearm. And I just felt like that red capsicum amidst the green ones. Should I help myself with a glass? Find someone to cuddle with? 

This was difficult.

Lawan blinked at Erica. "So," she drawled. "Your neighbour Omicron is a half-star?"

Erica nodded. "Riley is. That's why he left his coven to start a new coven."

"He could have challenged that Omicron and ruled the coven he came from," Lawan said. "Why start a new coven?"

Erica shrugged and emptied the bottle. "I don't know what happened in East Coven or why he left. But he still has a close friendship with East Coven."

Lawan waved her hand. "That's tedious. To start a coven all on your own. But leaving that aside, you knew stars existed?"

Erica hummed. "Yes. Nox visits us frequently and reminds us again and again."

I gave my mentor a pointed look. "And you did not?"

Lawan drained her glass. "Look, I worked with Nox, but that does not mean he told me who he was! Neither did Gaelan for that matter. I don't know if Mali knew or not, but she was the one who introduced me to them."

After learning what Mali's powers were, I did not know if I could ever bring myself to believe her. Who knew what she had done? 

Lawan then looked at a flustered Rune. "You don't know? I thought Julius might have told you something."

No one ever spoke of Rune's father. We spoke of him in hushed whispers without a witness. As far as Rune was concerned, his father was Sadka, Apinya's mate and Mali's father. 

Rune sighed and squeezed Niran's hand. "Julius did, but not completely. He was always drunk or high whenever I was around. Not to mention, Beau told me that he was always like that. He told me he was related to some star."

Just like that, the atmosphere turned dark synchronising with the rising night. The last sunray died and shadows crawled into the house, uninvited and demanding. Everything they touched, they claimed to be an item that belonged to them. Just as they invaded further in the house, the artificial intelligence Rune had installed detected the time and the lights flickered to life. The second the photons came into the room the shadows accepted defeat and left the house.

I blinked. "You're half-star?"

Rune shook his head. "Nope. Descendant of one. I guess that's why Royals are powerful because they are descendants of a star."

My brain raced. "If that's why Royals are powerful, does that not mean Riley is more powerful than them? What is stopping him from becoming the monarch, then?"