NOVPUBGrandma Mayfair gave Rekha an eye roll, in her opinion the girl had no idea what she was wishing for. Living life as a council enforcer was like living as a eunuch in an old dynasty where your life belonged to the emperor. Similarly, the life of the council enforcers was dedicated to doing council duties and nothing else.
Enforcers never married and cut off all affectionate ties their families to avoid being tainted by personal emotions. They were council assassins, and they could hunt and kill their loved ones without hesitation as long those people had engaged in evil so vile that their existence was a stain on the earth. Who would wish to live such a life?
As they sat around the table to eat old lady Mayfair could not keep in her opinion anymore. "Rekha my newest granddaughter, the grass is not always greener on the other side, you are doing just fine as a junior guardian just work your way up and you will be where Maureen is." She advised.
A smile of uncertainty tugged on Rekha's mouth. "Granny, a girl can fantasize sometimes. I think they are cool because their magic is a myth, their skills a whisper and their outfits freaky but you should know that I will become the baddest guardian that has ever lived." She nodded once.
Her wish to be an enforcer was for back when she had nobody that really cared...no one to call family and no place to call home with loved ones. Now that she could not become an enforcer anymore, she was shooting for the stars. She would be a better guardian than Maureen...no, Rufus.
Phoebe was only listening in, and she returned her attention to Rufus who had stayed over for dinner. He was nonchalant as if he had not just threatened to leave an entire founding family fed to demons. He was engrossed in a deep conversation with her father, one that they were cloaking so that nobody would eavesdrop on what they were discussing.
Everyone else was keeping their eyes on their plates and phones or whispering to their neighbor. She had been one of those whose attention was on the phone, looking at Evelyn's latest social media post, which were pictures of her and Enigma.
She ignored the phone though, preferring to talk to someone and get some updates on where things stood currently at the academy.
"Grandpa Rufus, how are things going at the academy? I actually thought that we were going there today but I guess that was not possible given all that we had to do. Has anything suspicious happened?" Phoebe's voice cut through the mild silence at the table.
The old patriarch hummed in contentment, savoring every bite of the meal and his victory of the night. The enforcers were sending him updates via text, naming each betrayer they had rounded up.
It was a great win for the cause, and he was feeling hopeful. "Everything is going on just fine. Something did happen today afternoon, my trusted chef tried to poison me with a chimera's blood." He wiped his mouth with a tissue. After the poisoning incident Rufus was conscious of where he ate but not at the Mayfair manor. He was confident that the Mayfair's would never harm him.
This confidence was even more than that he had in those in the tower. Rufus knew that the best way to target him was through a Saxon. He would not put it past Azur to attempt such a thing.
After his confession, the only sound heard was cutlery dropping on fine China.
"A chimera's blood!!" David repeated the words, his eyes that were wider than a saucer roamed over his grandfather's body as if he could scan it with his very naked eyes to know his health status. "When exactly did this happen? Was it at the tower?"
Maureen who stood behind him, stood stiff hoping that whoever tried to mess with Rufus did not have a head sitting on their neck by now. "Damn! Those fuckers move quicker than expected." She sighed, frustrated.
Phoebe was yet to learn about the Chimera's blood; she was not the only ignorant person in the room. Her brothers, grandmother and mother also wanted to know.
"What does this chimera's blood do exactly?" Andre asked, already taking notes for his future projects.
The answer came from a very surprising source; Luna Elithera!
A knowing laugh escaped her lips. "A chimera's blood is very corrosive, it is a highly toxic magical poison that can cause mutations and hallucinations. It is undetectable with modern machinery, no one would even know what is happening to you especially from the scientific point of view as chimera blood is not exactly a registered poison." She revealed knowledge that was known by a few.
Like David's men, she was brushing up on her knowledge on magic in order to get into the academy. Even if she couldn't David's little town could also do the trick. It was where she was accessing books on magic from. She and Luke had gone for the books on poison first.
"Miss Elithera I hope that you are not trading in such poisons. Your knowledge seems to be quite vast on magical poisons." Rufus arched an eyebrow. 𝓃𝓸𝓿𝓹𝓾𝓫.𝓬ℴ𝓶
Luke let out a quick laugh. "Of course not! She would never do such a thing." He strongly denied on her behalf.
Maureen narrowed her gaze, staring intensely at Rufus. "You have a target on your back now that you are cleaning house. There are going to be more and more attempts and all of us are possible targets. I think they started with you because they believe that with you out of the picture, no one can stop them."
Nodding, Rekha agreed with Maureen. "Azur and his minions are not the only ones to suspect. A lot of people are unhappy that normal commoners are going to be provided with the opportunity to access the academy under the new laws.
Some guardians are having trouble adjusting to the new aggressive hunts and compulsory training. Those whose positions have been affected through demotions are bitter as well.
Let us just say that a lot of people are unhappy with the changes and would not mind it if you dropped dead." Her voice was carefully measured to show the gravity of the situation to some without scaring the others.
"My goodness Rufus! you have accumulated quite the list of foes in such a short time. This is not surprising, but it is indeed scary, Prudence will worry about you even more than she already is." Grandma Mayfair sighed, feeling sorry for her friend.
She recalled that she also worried about her missing husband, and she sighed again. They had different problems but shared similar worries for their loved ones.
Wriggling his finger from side to side, a mischievous grin formed on the old patriarch's face. "No one will be telling her, especially you Rebecca, focus your energy on finding your husband." He advised warmly. "About that, I had a talk with Sabrina Spellcaster, she is ready to work with us discreetly so we might be bringing Cillian home sooner than we thought." He announced.
