Page 46 of Lifebound

“I mean like grogs,” he said. “They are cave beasts, and they don’t wander so far away from their mountains.”

I paused. “Meaning?”

“Meaning someone brought them here.”

He turned to look behind him again, and I did, too. Nobody there.

“But…but Helid said that we wouldn’t be attacked because we were here by order of the Seelie Queen.”

“Helid was wrong,” Rune said. “Someone knew you were coming, and someone lured those grogs here to kill you.”

Kill you.

My stomach fell all the way to my heels. “How? How would they have known?”

“The same way I did.”

I looked at him. “You werefollowingus?” He simply nodded. “Since when?!”

“Since you entered the forest in Nerith.”

“I—wait,Nerith?”

“Earth,” he said.

I shook my head, at a loss for a moment. “Why? Why were you following us? Andwhowould have sent those monkey monsters to attack us? Just…why?”

“A lot of reasons. There are plenty of creatures in Verenthia who despise mortals, don’t think them worthy of stepping onto our soil. The Seelie Queen has enemies, as all royals do. The prince himself might have them as well.” Our eyes locked again, and the way my heart tripped all over herself wasn’t even funny. “Whichever it is, it’s safe to assume that someone doesn’t want him to wake up.”

His every word rang true, and his voice, the way he sounded, was not helping my focus.

“Andyou? Who are you?” My own voice shook, not half as powerful as his.

“I’m Rune,” he told me. “And I can take you to the Seelie Court safely if you promise to doexactlyas I say.”

He leaned down closer, and my knees grew weak.

My idiot of a brain thought,yes, daddy,which was a joke between me and Betty, whichhewouldn’t have understood, so thank God I didn’t say it.

“What about Helid?” I said instead and forced myself to focus now because this was getting out of hand. I understood that half of my idiotic thoughts and analysis were coming from the need tonotlose my mind to fear and panic, my own instincts trying to distract me—but this was serious. I was stuck in this forest with a stranger, and I had no idea what came next.

“Helid will be fine. They searched for you for hours. I kept them away,” Rune said.

This time, when my heart skipped a beat, it had nothing to do with his hotness.

I stepped back. “Why did you do that?” His brows rose again as he watched me move farther back. “Why would you—why did you follow us?”

“Are you afraid of me?”

I’m fucking terrified.“No.”

“You should be.” He came closer. “But I will not hurt you, Nilah.”

Talk about ambivalence.

“So, why did you keep Helid away?”

“Because he travels with the royal guard. The same people who orchestrated the grog attack will do it again if they know where you are. The whole land will know exactly where you are at all times if you travel with Helid, even if he takes another dozen guards with. Theywillattack you again.”

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