Page 56 of Lifebound

“How did it happen?” Rune asked after a moment. “How did he save you?”

I looked at him. “How did he saveyou?”

His eyes roamed my face like he was in search of a hidden treasure. His lips stretched a little, and then he stood up. “Time to go.”

seventeen

Rune mademe change into a dress. He insisted I’d be a beacon if people saw my jeans and my leather jacket, which was so obviously not madehere. So, as soon as we left whatever place that was where I ate, he took me to an actual clothes shop where a woman who wore a big ass lizard around her neck like a necklace told us she’d be happy to find me a dress my size.

The changing room smelled like dead fish and the fabric of the dress was rough against my skin, but it was black and it covered me from my neck down to my toes, so it would do. I kept my jeans on underneath it, but I put my jacket in the backpack, and then Rune fixed the red scarf over my hair to hide it.

I never actually saw him paying, but I did notice how the woman—who was apparently a lizard-tongue, a person who could speak to lizards—looked wary of him. Tried not to meet his eyes. Looked at the tattoo on the left side of his neck every time Rune moved.

We walked back outside and went right through those trident gates in between the legs of that giant statue. It was so perfectly done that I could almost see the leather of the boots wrapped around the feet, and the way the trousers hung a bit loose on the legs, and the armor that was half ruined, covering the front of the man’s body.

“Who was this?” I asked Rune.

“The fae who made the maze,” he said with a shrug.

“The maze?”

Rune didn’t answer, but I saw it for myself very soon.

It was an actual maze made of these small wooden structures, all identical, that the people used as shops. Must have been some sort of a market where they sold everything—from fish, to poisonous flowers with bright neon petals, to dragon teeth and claws, to potions strong enough to make you forget everything, including your own name.

At first, as we went through, I was terrified.

All those creatures around us, so many, in all colors and sizes. I also recognized a few of them, and Rune was kind enough to point them out as we went.

“Sorcerer,” he said as we passed by the first shop, where a woman with claws and a big nose and fangs on her lower jaw promised to make anyone who came close to your belongings die a painful death if you sprinkled her red potion over them.

“Pretty sure we call thosewitcheswhere I’m from,” I said. And this one only needed a tipped hat to look like something you’d see in movies.

“It’s the same thing,” Rune said. “They’re very dangerous. Very malevolent. They can cast curses with as little as a strand of your hair and control you through your senses before you understand what traps they’ve set for you.”

Well, damn. “Why?”

“Because they do magic. And because their magic requires an energy source, something that is alive. The bigger and the more powerful the offering, the more powerful the sorcerer, the spell or curse or potion.”

“Oh, my God, Rune,” I whispered. “They usepeopleas energy sources to do spells?!”

“Animals, mostly. But when they can get their hands on any kind of creature, they do it. They offer deals, make unbreakable oaths, and then they own you. They need so little, and they’re very good manipulators. Masters of disguise. Which is why they are the most dangerous species here. And there—that’s a golem.”

As we walked, he showed me more of them, men who couldn’t be taller than three feet with hands and feet too big for their bodies, who apparently dealt in flowers. Bloomsridge, their land, was home to the most unusual and most powerful plants Verenthia had and taking care of them came naturally to the golems. It was their power. They communicated with plants the same way lizard-tongues communicated with lizards.

The deeper into this market we went, the more shops there were. It looked like the wooden structures were actually coming out of the ground, like they’d sprouted there like plants, and I pointed that out to Rune.

“They do. They climb out when the sun rises and go down when it sets. It serves as the perfect neutral trading territory because the wood these shops were made of can feel when someone is about to steal. If it’s a renter, they slip into the ground and take everything with them. If whatever creature is stuck there survives the night, they come out in the morning. Most can’t do that, though. Except golems and ghouls and vampires—but nobody tries to steal in the maze. That’s why everyone brings their best offerings to sell here.”

I appreciated that he was chatty as we went, and five minutes in, I was no longer afraid. I was actually excited. I even asked him to slow down a bit so I could see what more they sold in the maze.

One was filled with artifacts like trinkets and stones and shapes made out of wood and glass that the owner, a woman with a set of glowing eyes who was apparently fomorian, promised she’d handpicked across Verenthia. A golem couple—though I really couldn’t tell which one was male and which female for the life of me—they looked identical!—sold planters full of herbs that they promised would make the finest potions the fae had ever seen. An actual bookstore run by a man who looked ordinary enough, save for his teeth made out of gold, who sold ancient tomes and spell books and enchanted tales.

God, I wished I had my phone with me right now just to snap a quick picture of this place so I would never forget the details.

And a pic of Rune, too.

You know, just to have it. Forever.

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