Page 64 of Lifebound

He popped right in front of me. “Thenstop talkingto them.”

Them,he said. Like he wasn’t a part of the same creatures, the same world he lived in.

“Sure thing, Mr. Moody. I didn’t realize you’re so scared of them, too,” I said, just to spite him. He obviously didn’t care about my fear or my curiosity, and I didn’t care abouthim.

Again, the look in his eyes darkened. “I am not afraid—you are.”

“Fair enough.” I straightened my scarf and hooked my thumbs on the straps of my backpack. “But youareafraid of the prince.” I walked around him and behind the building.

He growled. An honest-to-Godgrowlcame out of him when I passed him by, and every inch of my skin rose in goose bumps.

“You only need to be alive,Wildcat…”

His whisper was so low that I convinced myself that I’d imagined it, and I didn’t acknowledge it at all.

Since there wereno trees in the field that surrounded this town of the Neutral Lands, we stuck behind buildings. Rune led the way and I walked behind him, my eyes on his leather boots most of the time because I didn’t want to be controlled by anything or anyone in this place. As much as I hated to admit it, he was right. I really couldn’t even begin to imagine what actual magic was capable of, but I also wasn’t keen on finding out. That’s why I stuck to him and I didn’t even complain when I was dripping sweat and every muscle in my body screamed from exhaustion.

Soon, the sky grew dark, and finally, Rune said that we would stop to sleep in something calledguesthaven,which was basically an inn, judging by his description. It was a place he’d been to before, and he trusted that the food and the room he’d rent for us wouldn’t be laced with any kind of magic or eternal debt.

Yeah, I didn’t ask.

Even so, he basically hid me behind a building that was empty, apparently abandoned, and he told me to wait while he went to make the deal. Luckily, he came back quickly and then hesmuggledme through the back door of the tallest building we’d seen in this town, which was only four stories. But it was wide and it seemed to be constructed mainly from stone, but with wooden extensions and brick walls here and there, too. It had stairs made of stone that led up to the fourth floor where we would be sleeping, and Rune kept my hand in his through every step of the way.

Other creatures came down while we went up, and the stairs were narrow enough that I had to stick to Rune’s back the whole time. But the corridors were lined with doors on one side and open on the other, so plenty of fresh air came through. I didn’t feel like suffocating—even if my mind insisted that I was—by being in such a tight space with all these creatures that could kill me without breaking a sweat.

And finally, we reached the fourth floor. Our room was at the very end of the corridor, and there was noise coming from the one right below. Music—someone was beating something made out of metal to create this chaotic melody that didn’t make any sense to me.

But, finally, Rune opened the door with this big brass-colored key, and we were inside.

Tiny space. One bed. One dresser. One window.

Now I wasreallygoing to suffocate.

“I’m not—”Going to sleep in the same bed with you,I was going to say, but there was a possibility that this guy could read minds because he stopped me.

“I’ll be sleeping on the floor.”

The words died on my tongue. “Oh.”Good.

He pointed at the edge of the bed and ordered, “Sit. We need to eat.”

The problem was that right now I had absolutely no energy to argue with him or to remind him that I didn’t care about his orders because I’d only eaten in the morning, and I was starving. I even had a headache because of it.

Rune had a leather bag in his hands that was supposed to be filled with food. He said we’d eat inside where it was safer, and I had no complaints. Just the idea of seeing another plate full of blood soup was enough to make me want to give up on food forever.

We sat together on the bed, and he’d brought us plenty of things to eat—bread and cheese and fruit and meat he promised was beef and perfectly edible.

“You sure there’s no magic here?” I asked possibly half a dozen times, and he nodded and said he was—withoutgetting pissed off, which was impressive. But maybe he was just as hungry as me because this time he was eating with me. He hadn’t at breakfast.

He’d brought us two new metal bottles full of water, too, which tasted like heaven. I never really knew how much simplywalkingaround could exhaust you and steal all your energy. Betty and I used to do over ten thousand steps—according to our phone apps—when we went shopping at the only mall in Lavender Hill, but I hadn’t felt the exhaustion so much then. Maybe because I’d been in a better mood.

Rune was silent for a long time, and he ate only half of what I did. More food remained in the bag, and he wrapped it up and put it on the dresser for tomorrow, then led me outside toward the bathroom. It was a common bathroom for every guest on the floor, so when he opened the door and I walked in, he followed.

I turned, my jaw touching the floor. “No way in hell.” If he thought I was going to use the bathroom with him inside, he was fucking delusional.

“I am not leaving you out of my sight.”

I extended my arm to the side even though I had no idea which way I was pointing. “You left me out there when you came to pay for this room!”

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