Page 54 of Lifebound

“I’m sorry—dragons? And…andgiants?” As in the giants that lived in the sky inJack and the Beanstalk?

“Yes,” Rune said, like he couldn’t see the absolute shock reflected on my face or the fact that I’d raised a boiled egg halfway to my mouth when he started speaking and I hadn’t moved my arm up or down since.

Instead, he just reached for something underneath the table—a knife. A small knife, the blade no bigger than my index finger, but it had a pretty sharp tip. Rune looked behind him and at the bar—the bar where there were two women,identicalto one another. Thank God they looked ordinary enough. They weren’t looking at us, though, and once Rune made sure of that, he stabbed the surface of the table and drew an oval shape on it. He added some lines in it, too, then began to stab each shape he created.

“This is where we are,” he said, the tip of the knife on the southernmost edge of the shape. Then he proceeded to stab the half circle across from it. “And these are the faelands. Seelie, Frozen, Unseelie, Midnight—the four fae courts.”

“Wait, wait, wait—hold on a minute? There’s fourof them?” I was pretty sure I’d only ever read books with Seelie and Unseelie Courts before.

“Technically, there are three as of a few decades ago. The Midnight Court holds and controls the Frozen one,” Rune continued. “Focus.” Then he stabbed the space right near the Seelie court. “This is the Mercove. It’s the land of mermaids and we stay away from it at all costs. They are vicious.”

There I went, losing my voice again, and Rune continued.

Thankfully I was eating—just my body’s way of trying to cope again, to move, to dosomething.

“Next to the mermaids is Bloomsridge where the golems live. The smallest piece of land, and they are relatively quiet when they’re not provoked. But the shifters that are next to them, right here in The Vale”—he stabbed the square that was next to the shape representing the Neutral Lands where we were—“are just as bad as mermaids. We avoid them at all costs.”

Did I mention that Iwas basically stuffing food in my mouth and swallowing as fast as I could at this point?

“They shift into wolves and they have issues with anger. They’re very powerful—and they love mortal flesh. Can possibly smell it from a mile away. Which is why we stay away from this part of Verenthia altogether.” He dragged the tip of his knife from the Mercove, through Bloomsridge, and down to The Vale.

I stuffed the last of the cheese in my mouth at once and nearly choked.

“To the side of the Vale is Cloakwood, where the fomorians live. They can be anything—banshee, ghouls, imps, lizard-tongues. And to the side of Bloomsridge and the Mercove is Mysthaven, the land of sorcerers.” He stabbed the knife with even more force into the table. “They are the most dangerous kind of species here, and we have to avoid them first, and at all costs. They?—”

“Hold on a second—did anybody ever tell you that you suckat telling people things?” Because the way he spoke, it was like he expected me to just magically know everything, all the details, before he moved on to the next. “Because you do. Yousuck.”

“And I’ve seen wildcats eat with more manners when they tear apart their prey—but I kept that thought to myself.”

Oh, the fucking prick.

My hand closed around the metal cup he’d brought me water with, and it was a miracle I stopped myself before I threw it at his face.

Hissmilingface because now, apparently, he was amused. Now, when he pissed me off, he seemed to be in a great mood all of a sudden.

“I was starving, you arrogant bastard,” I spit. “What’s your excuse?”

He kept on smiling, but it wasn’t a full smile, though. I had yet to see one of those on him. It was just a curl of the left side of his lips, but it was his eyes that gave the look meaning. The way they lit up—and that silver line that went through the blue seemed to be glowing.

“I don’t need one,” he said, and this time Ireallynearly threw the cup at his grinning face.

But that wasn’t going to satisfy me, I figured, not after kneeing him in the balls.

What Icoulddo, though, that would fulfill my very wicked soul, was this: “More water.” And I slammed the cup on the table in front of him.

The smile vanished. His eyes darkened.

My soul thrived.

Rune wanted to argue. Now he wanted to be the one to throw that cup in my face, but he didn’t. He stopped himself, and I honestly envied his restraint because he stood up, grabbed the cup, and went to get me more water.

When he brought it back, he didn’t even slam it against the table. Just gently placed it to the side of the empty plate.

“May I continue?” he asked when he sat. His eyes were still sparkling, though he wasn’t smiling.

“Depends. Did you put poison in this water?” I raised a brow.

“No.”

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