Page 166 of Lifebound

“Very well. You are dismissed, bastard. Leave us,” she said, and it was like she drove a knife right through my gut.

“Yes, My Queen,” Rune said, and he looked at me for just a moment.

He looked at me, and in his eyes I gathered the courage I needed not to beg him to stay or run after him. I didn’t need to get him into more trouble with this woman. She was fucking nuts, I thought, and I would rather talk to the prince first.

So, Rune turned around and walked out the door the guard held open for him without another word.

Not enough air in my lungs.

Someone stepped in front of me—Helid. His hands were on my shoulders.

Please don’t touch me.The words remained stuck in my throat.

“Let me look at you—and here I thought we lost you! By the stars, you look good! Healthy, rested. A little bit of blood and dirt, but not too much. Good, good!”

My eyes moved from his face to the queen. She analyzed my every feature with a coldness I hadn’t come across before, like she was taking fucking notes about every detail those cold yellow eyes took in. She was beautiful, absolutely breathtaking with that hair and those ears and those beautiful full lips, but there was something about her that made me restless, that sent all my instincts into overdrive.

Helid said something else I didn’t hear, then stepped to the side. The queen came forward and every inch of my skin rose in goose bumps.

“So, you are the Lifebound mortal,” she said, looking down at my body next, her expression still unreadable. “Our seer saw you, but I didn’t really believe it, to be honest.” Her hand full of those golden rings moved to the side, toward the woman who stood by the armchairs and the fully set table together with the other two men.

A quick look and my heart skipped a beat. She didn’t look like the rest of them at all. Her eyes were so light they were almost completely white, and her hair as well. As white as a sheet of paper. Her skin was grey and wrinkled, her limbs thin, the white dress hanging on her shoulder possibly five sizes too big.

“I don’t believe it now, either—not until I see it.” The queen’s hand came to my face, but I raised my chin before she could touch me. “Youarebeautiful, though. It surprises me. Mortals rarely are.”

“I think you just haven’t met many,” I said, my voice hushed now. As angry as I was, it was easy to see that I was afraid, too. Without Rune, I was so…vulnerable.

“Perhaps,” the queen said. “So, you’re here to heal my son.”

“I am. It’s why I crossed the Aetherway with your brother.”

She pressed her lips together. “So…unrefined,” she whispered, and had it been any other day I’d have probably flipped her both birds. “Helid, search her, and let’s get on with it. I’m tired. I want to rest.”

She turned, moved back, and the vanilla scent she left behind infused the air as if it were magic.

Some of itwas,I thought. I realized now that I was forcing myself to focus that there wasa lot ofmagic in this room, in this entire Court. It didn’t bother me at all—I just felt it humming if I focused, felt it pressing against my bare skin. That’s why the hair on the back of my neck seemed to be permanently standing at attention since I walked in here.

If only Rune was next to me…

Instead, Helid stepped in front of me again and touched my shoulders, and it took everything out of me not to step away. I closed my eyes and reminded myself that this wasn’t going to last long. It was almost over—the prince was right there.

And Helid’s hands warmed up instantly against my shoulders, the kind of warmth I knew. The kind of warmth that wasmagicbecause it was the same as what I felt before I made things float on air.

Helid had closed his eyes, too, and for a moment, my heart stopped at the idea that he wouldsee. He would see right into my mind and would know that I had that warmth, and that was not good. Rune said nobody should know except the prince—nobody.

But before I could move back and jerk his hands off me in panic, Helid opened his eyes again and let go of me himself. For a second there, our eyes locked, and I could have sworn he could really see into my mind. I could have sworn he knew exactly what I was trying to hide.

Death had never tasted stronger on my tongue.

Then Helid stepped aside. “She’s clear. No weapons and no diseases, sister.”

I held the sigh of relief back with all my being.He didn’t see anything.

“Come, mortal. Come pay your debt.”

The queen raised her hands toward me. The seer woman and the two fae men drinking from their fancy golden cups remained right there by the table. And Helid walked with me all the way to the bed.

forty-three

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