Page 147 of Lifebound

“We’re possibly passing under the garden of a powerful sorcerer. They can basically give movement to plants they use for their herbs and potions. They generate more magic that way,” he said.

My skin crawled and I was nevernotgoing to look up now for as long as we were down here.

“That is so…so…vile.” I didn’t even know what thoughts to have.Give movement?How in the fuck did that even work?

“It’s the way of magic. The more you take from your source, the more power you have to create your visions. It’s a trade—one kind of energy for another. For Verenthians, it’s simply the price to pay.”

“Except for fae,” I said.

“Yes. The fae create their own magic authentically inside their bodies.”

“Does that mean the more you use the less power you have?” I wondered.

“Not at all. The more a fae uses, the more he is able to produce. More power creates more power.”

I looked at his profile as we continued to walk. He always referred to the fae asthem, never aswe.Had he really been so cast out all his life that he didn’t even feel part of his own kind?

Because it was possible. I’d always felt like I didn’t belong with my own kind, either.

“What did you do, really?” I asked in a whisper, almost sure that he would tell me to mind my own business. I hadn’t wanted to ask earlier because the situation had been too tense, and I thought it might make him uncomfortable, but I was so curious to know. “To get banished. What did you do?”

“I told you before,” Rune said, and he had—back when we started this journey.

“You said you don’t know.” Which was why I’d thought he’d lied, or that he’d just wanted to get me off his back or something.

Now, Rune nodded. “They locked my memory of it with the mark.” And he gently tapped his left shoulder.

I looked down at his arm, at his hand that held mine so tightly. “Are you kidding me right now?”

“Not at all,” said Rune, and he was most definitely not lying—or trying to get me off his back about it.

“But why?! What did they say you did? Just…why?”

Silence for a moment. My heart hammered as I tried to imagine someone messing with my mind, blocking my own damn memories. Fuck, Rune must have felt soviolated.

Finally, he said, “Because I killed someone.” My heart stopped. “I killed the Ice Queen of the Frozen Court.”

My legs stopped moving, too. My hand slipped away from his, and when he turned to look at me, Rune was so…desperate.So guilty. Like he was trying to getsmallall of the sudden.

“Wildcat,” he said, and it was almost a pleading, but I shook my head.

“No,” I said becausefuck, no.“There is no way in any hell that you would kill someone. A queen or whatever—no way.”

His eyes were wide open and for a moment, he had nothing to say.

“You were six years old, and you wereyou—there is absolutely no way, Rune. No way—they lied.” Don’t ask me how I knew this—I just did. I knew it deep in my bones that it was bullshit.

Slowly, Rune lowered his head. “They had proof. Eyewitnesses. I did it.”

“How?!” I stepped in front of him and grabbed his shoulders. “How in the fuck could a six-year-old kid kill a damn queen? That’s bullshit and you know it! Not just because you couldn’t have, but also because youwouldn’t.You’re you. I know you. Children whokillwhen they’re children do not grow up to be like you.”

“I don’t know how—they locked my memory of it. I don’t know what I was thinking or why—just that I did it,” Rune said.

“Well, youdidn’t.The fact that they locked your memory speaks for itself—you didn’t. If you did, why would they bother to lock your memory before sending you to that place? Think about it—theywouldn’t.”

He did think about it, and for a moment, he only looked at me like he was at a complete loss. “The Midnight King has no reason to lie, Wildcat. He doesn’t need to lie—he’s the king.”

“First of all, what kind of a king would banish a six-year-old boy with no magic and no means to protect himself into a place like that?!” I spit because this was ridiculous. This was absolutely crazy! “And second—I bet my life to you and to anyone willing right now that you did not kill anyone when you were six years old. You just didn’t.”

---