Page 59 of Lifebound

“Someone to follow us around since he can’t.”

“Can’t or doesn’t dare?”

“Can’t.Vampires get weak in the sun. They stay in the shade at all times when they can help it.” Again, he grabbed my hand in his and moved forward.

I looked down at our hands, linked together, a little afraid to admit how perfectly well they fit. Like mine was made for his—the exact right size so he could wrap his long fingers all around my fist and hold it there comfortably.

“Why, though?” I found myself asking.

“Why what?”

“Why was he afraid of you?” Not that I was complaining, of course, but he was twice Rune’s size and also he had fangs. And moved like his body didn’t care for gravity.

“Because I’m fae,” was Rune’s answer.

The crowd of people was getting bigger around us, and I didn’t get a chance to askwhyagain. They pushed and pulled me in all directions, but Rune never let go of my hand. I was no longer as excited as I went through and saw the shops and what they sold, and all the different creatures of Verenthia that I could have never even imagined were possible anywhere in any realm or universe. Instead, I saw everything with a different eye, with a dose of fear, continuously wondering what more these people considered normal. Because drinking blood straight from someone’s neck and calling itbusinesswas not right.

And the way I feltsafewhile my hand was in Rune’s was not right, either.

It occurred to me while we walked that I had no clue who this man was. It occurred to me, and the thought tormented me until there were no more people around us, that just because he said he was going to help me, and that he was the prince’s friend, and that the prince had saved his life, too, didn’t mean that he’d told me the truth.

If a creature like that vampire was afraid of him, what couldIexpect? Was I a fool to think he’d protect me for real if it came to it?

“Here.” He stopped us behind an empty shop, and I hadn’t realized how thirsty I was and how much the sun had fallen on my head until he offered me what looked like a thermos, though a very old one full of dents on all sides. Still. The lid was off, and I could see the water in it, so I drank. I didn’t think anymore—I was so damn tired of thinking—and I just drank.

The good news was that I didn’t die, and the taste was that of water—tasteless.

When I was done, Rune took the bottle and drank, too, his eyes assessing everything around us and mine on him. I analyzed every inch of him, and the tattoo on the side of his neck that was apparently not a tattoo at all.

A marked,that vampire called it.

“What?” Rune asked all of a sudden—he must have noticed me looking at him even though his eyes were elsewhere.

“Why was he afraid of you, Rune?” I asked again without really meaning to. But the reality of my situation, I thought, wasfinallyhitting home and starting to actually make sense to me, and I needed to know who I was with. I needed to know that I wasn’t going to end up as food for a vampire or a mermaid or some monstrous version of the animals I knew.

I needed to know who he was.

Rune slowly turned to look at me, the water in his hand still. For a while, we just stared at each other and we didn’t even blink. My body was calm. My instincts were so trusting of him it was kind of scary because all I knew for a fact about him was that he’d known that horse’s name.

Then again, he’d admitted it himself that he’d followed us since Earth, so who was to say that he hadn’t just heard Helid say the horse’s name before the monkey monsters attacked us?

“I’m fae, Wildcat.”

Rune’s voice was hushed—that place between solid voice and a whisper. And he suddenly handed me the water bottle again. The movement made me lean back—not intentionally. Like I said, my instincts behaved like I’d known him a lifetime, and I wasn’t afraid of him in the least.

I was here, talking to him now because I thought Ishouldbe.

When he saw that I moved back, Rune stepped away. Lowered the bottle. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

“What does that mean, though?Fae—what does that mean? He was a vampire.” And that didn’t sound like a small thing.

“Vampires, sorcerers, even golems and shifters—everyone needs a source from which they draw their magic. Blood magic, soul magic, plant magic, animal magic—it all comes from somewhere for everyone, but not for us.” He put his hand over his chest. “Weareour own sources.Wearemagic. We don’t need to filter energy from anything or anyone, and that’s why we’re the most powerful species in Verenthia.”

“Oh.” That…actually made perfect sense.

Rune said, “And now we need to keep moving if we want to make it to a safe place to sleep by nightfall.”

He turned around and he started walking ahead between the shops, all of these now empty though people seemed to be coming from wherever he was headed.

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