Page 143 of Lifebound

It was this wide, rounded out space, with walls made out of grey rocks, smooth and cut out so perfectly, like someone had just scooped a dent into it with a giant ice cream scoop.

Rune took us to the very end, and we sat with our backs against the rocks. He took out the wooden boxes he’d carried in his bag, one with pieces of fruit—grapes and watermelon, what I’d eaten the most during dinner with Raja—one with bread and cheese, and the third with grilled fish. He had a large metal bottle full of water, too, and he set everything on his lap, then basically fed me while he asked me questions.

“So, they all just believed in him? Called him a god?” he asked while putting a piece of cheese in my mouth.

“The god of all gods, actually. Zeus with his lightning bolts. It’s one of my favorite mythologies, the Greek one. So many interesting characters. The stories are incredibly rich. Even today, they have a gigantic statue of him somewhere in Greece.”

“But they are stories,I understand that. Thebeliefis where I’m having trouble,” Rune said.

“You should hear about the Norse gods, too, and Asgard—oh, and Loki, who might be one of my favorite characters of all times,” I said as I ate. “They make movies about them, too. All of them—the Greek gods and the Norse gods, about Jesus and Noah and Mohammed.”

“The glass screen?”

I smiled. “TheTV, yes. But the cinema is where you get the best experience watching movies. You get to eat popcorn and drink soda and you have this gigantic screen in front of you and enough sound that you can’t even hear your own self thinking.” And while I was at it, I thought,damn, I miss the movies.

“I would actually love to see that,” Rune said after a while, and my stomach twisted instantly.

“Then you should come,” I said, slowly turning to him as the idea took hold of my mind and promised toneverlet me go. Suddenly my heart was beating fast, too, becausean option.That sounded like a fucking option, just when I’d convinced myself that there werenone.

“To Earth?” Rune said, popping a grape in his mouth.

“Yes—to Earth. You should come with me. There’s so much to see, and we can see everything together.” I gripped his wrist and squeezed tightly until he looked at me with those beautiful eyes. “You should come with me to Earth.”

And that was the solution to every problem I had ever had. All of them.

Until Rune said, “I can’t do that, Wildcat. I could never survive on Earth.”

There went my hope, crashing and burning right in front of my feet again. “But…but Helid was. And the prince.Youwere there, too, spying on us.”

“I mean, I couldn’t survive on Earth for long. We can come to your realm any time we want, and a little distance from Verenthia doesn’t harm a fae. But weeks and months do.”

I shook my head. “I don’t understand.”

“We’re magic. We’re fae. We’re tied to the land, to the magic in it. Without it, we fade. Without it, we simply cease to exist,” Rune said, touching my cheek with the back of his fingers, smiling sadly.

“Oh.” Yes, that made perfect sense, even if I wished it didn’t. “Just…just to visit then?”

“I will,” Rune said. “Lyall would have to allow it, but I will.” And he held up a grape in front of my mouth until I opened wide and pulled it between my teeth.

All that mood, all that excitement I’d had for hours now as I told him about my home faded away so quickly.

“I’m full. Thank you,” I said, though I wasn’t really sure if I meant full of food or just full ofdisappointment.Regardless—I leaned against his chest and wrapped my arms around his waist and closed my eyes for a moment.

There would be ways, wouldn’t there? Because the first thing I’d ask the prince the moment he woke up was to allow Rune to come to Earth with me for as long as he could. That would be my first request, and I was sure he’d grant it. Just as soon as he woke up.

And the second thing I would ask was to allow me to come visit, too. Never mind that that would mean that I’d have to stay home, close to the Aetherway. Never mind that part of me felt like I’d already decided that I wasnevergoing to leave Lavender Hill behind.

Slowly, Rune pushed away the food and put his arm around me, pulled me to his chest, almost over his lap.

The sudden silence in the tunnel got to me, but when I lay my head over his chest and heard his heartbeat, it got better.

Only until my mind, my worst enemy, reminded me of the fact that no matter what I did after this was over, Rune and I were never going to be like this again. Only until my memories reminded me of the fact that we actually really lived in different worlds.

“This must be some kind of a cosmic fucking joke,” I muttered against his shoulder.

Here I thought I was never going to find a guy to make me feel like they described in books and movies, and when I did find him, it figured that he was a literal world away.

“Even if it is, these are still some of the best days of my life,” Rune whispered. He could have just stabbed me in the gut. Would have hurt less.

---