Page 168 of Lifebound

“You’re a freaking prick, you know that?” I said, and I doubted he even understood me because my voice was shaking so much. “You never came back! Nobody b-b-believed me—you never came back!”

God, why the hell was I crying so hard?!

And I couldn’t even stop, not when someone behind me cried, too, and moved, and even screamed. I was focused on the prince, on his hands when they wrapped around mine over his chest, on the smile he barely smiled as he looked up at me.

“How?” he finally said, and his voice was dry and small, but he was awake. His eyes were open, and his heart was beating so much faster. So much stronger.

“Apparently youbondedwith me when you healed me that day when we were kids.”

The prince’s eyes widened, then closed again.

“By Reme—yes, I thought I did. It wasn’t on purpose, I swear it,” he said, and though he sounded so different now, I could actuallyseethe little boy he was back then. I could see the ease with which he offered to save my life, like it was nothing. Not even a minor inconvenience. “I’ve been trying to keep it a secret my whole life.”

“Well, you shouldn’t have. Had I known I’d have come sooner,” I said, shaking my head, so fuckinghappyI could burst.

“How did you make it all the way here? What…” He looked around as if to make sure that he was still in his home, not somewhere else.

“Your uncle found me and told me about you, brought me to Verenthia. Then Rune made sure I made it here safely.”

Thick blond brows shot up on his forehead.“Rune?” He was genuinely surprised.

“Yes—Rune. He brought me here just now.”

His smile stretched bigger. My heart beat with twice as much joy.

I knew it! The prince was not going to even hesitate to let Rune visit me and me visit him. He was going to help us. He was going to make everything possible.

“I can’t…I can’t believe it. You’re really here,” the prince said, and then his eyes moved up somewhere behind me. “Mother, Uncle, what—” He was cut off by this cough that came out of nowhere and pulled him up, shook the entire bed.

“Oh, my boy!”

Suddenly I was pushed aside.

Suddenly, both the queen and Helid were reaching for the prince, touching him, his mother holding his head against her chest as he coughed, but he was smiling. The prince was smiling, and when Helid pushed me even farther back to get closer, I stood up to give him more room. This was his nephew, after all—I imagined he was over the moon to see him awake after so long.

And the queen, too—she was crying and laughing at the same time, a completely different person from who she had been when she first saw me. Amother.

The prince looked at me for a moment. Our eyes connected. The color in them looked even brighter than a moment ago. I could have sworn I saw thethank youhe wanted to say but couldn’t. I saw it as clear as day.

But the coughing started again, and Helid was offering him a glass of water, and the queen was pushing his hair away from his face. He really did look sick, like he had pneumonia or something, but I doubted that was problematic now. He’d be back to himself in no time, I figured.

The closer the other two fae and the seer came to the bed to see the prince, the closer to the door I moved—on instinct.

It was done now, all done. He was awake and he needed a little time with his family before I could talk to him. He probably needed to eat, too, and rest before I could ask him to take me back home. To let Rune stay with me on Earth for as long as he could.

My heart beat fast with pride as I watched the prince trying to stop coughing, while the seer insisted on holding his hand for a moment longer. It was so chaotic over there because everyone seemed to be talking at the same time—the queen telling him to lie down, Helid telling him to sit up, the seer begging him to stand still.

The guard who’d let Rune out was right there by the wall still, and I asked him, “May I go outside for some air?” I wanted to give them a moment of privacy.

And I wanted to find Rune, too, to tell him that it was over. I would come back to speak to the prince once he calmed down and stopped coughing.

The guard nodded his head and immediately pulled the door open without ever looking at me.

“Thank you,” I said, and with one last look at the prince in his mother’s embrace, I stepped outside into the hallway, the balcony, and breathed in the fresh air.

The guard closed the door behind me. The balcony was empty. Rune wasn’t there, only a couple guards standing by the wall down the hallway.

Slowly, I made my way to the golden railing, hands slightly shaking. I took in the view I’d wanted to see before going through that door, thinking something bad was going to happen. Somethingawful.

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