The king’s cruel eyes and bared teeth flashed in my mind’s eye. The memory of his rage seeped into me, becoming mine, and it was hard to tell now whose anger was whose.
I tightened my fingers on the reins of my mare and ground my teeth together, which I was sure everyone could hear. My blood boiled through my veins as the memory of his hate and anger took over me. In my dreams, my seething wasn’t as bad as it was right now, but I remembered that I was annoyed and pissed at him.
I kept calling him a man-child, and that upset him, which only proved my point.
But something stuck out to me as I tried to calm myself down. I never saw Rune at the battle of the two kings. It was only me and the horse I’d dreamed that I rode on.
I glanced at Rune, who rode close by my side with a faraway look in his eyes and a pale complexion. He wasn’t himself, and something was wrong with him still.
Did I do something wrong?
Was my soul’s piece not helping him when I thought it would?
He must’ve felt my gaze on him because he blinked and glanced at me. There were dark circles under his eyes like he hadn’t slept in weeks, and his lively blue eyes were duller and missing the spark of life. My stomach twisted until I felt like I was going to puke.
“Rune?” I whispered, needing him to tell me what was wrong and how I could fix it.
He gave me a weak smile and moved his horse closer so he could touch my leg in comfort.
Why the hell was he comforting me? He was the one who needed it. Why wasn’t I doing anything? Why couldn’t I reach out and touch him to send my love through the contact?
It was because I was frozen in my worry. In my fear that he’d be taken from me.
His hand on my thigh squeezed, and his small smile fell, turning into a frown.
“I’m here,elskan mín. Don’t retreat into your mind. Stay here with me,” he said, voice deeper and thick with exhaustion. “No one can bounce back in a snap after having their soul consumed. It takes some time and rest. Your soul filling the missing piece is helping. But it takes time.”
That made sense. But seeing Rune—the god who looked like a Viking and stronger than anyone I knew—tired and weak worried me. This man had protected me as we were bombed, ran with me in his arms from a large group with mortars, wrestled with a hellhound, and never weakened from any of it. He never got tired or had bruises under his eyes like he did right now.
I swallowed nervously and nodded, unable to find my words.
Rune held my stare. His eyes were darker but not out of lust or love.
There was something he wasn’t telling me. And for whatever reason, our link was blocked again. I worried he blocked it from me this time so I wouldn’t hear his thoughts or feel what he was feeling.
“Isa is being trained, yes?” Hegnan asked. His voice was calm and the opposite of how I felt.
I blinked and broke the stare to peer at the brown-haired man. The others had been talking on and off, catching up with Hegnan and Rekja on what they knew. They were being followed, which was why they couldn’t meet up with us sooner. They didn’t want to bring the danger to me, but during their time away, they gained some info. It also sounded like they were looking for a smaller group to attack and get more information from, but were short of luck on that.
Rune shifted, turning his attention toward Hegnan. Rune’s usual proud posture was more slackened, with him bent a little, hanging his head like he was fighting off sleep.
We had to stop. He needed to sleep.
“She is,” Rune answered.
Why weren’t the others concerned about Rune’s sluggish movements? His words slurring from sleep? Or was it the weird medicine concoction Hegnan made for Rune?
Hegnan blew out a relieved breath, and I felt the weight of his stare on me before it disappeared.
“Rekja and I heard many things while you were gone. And these things aren’t good.” He paused, making me hold my breath and grip the reins tighter. What all did they hear? How bad was it? “A powerful man wants Isa, but no one knows why or what he’ll do to her. They only know he’s offering wealth, immortality, control over armies, and power. He wants whoever captures her to bring her to him in Plapidell, which makes me believe he’s related to the two kings from the battle of Wolf and Dragon.”
Fuck.
The hate-filled eyes and bared bloody teeth flashed in my head. The feel of my foot pressed on his wounded chest turned into the feel of me grabbing his ear and slicing it off. His bellow echoed in my head, sounding far away.
“You didn’t hear his name?” Rune asked.
I glanced at him, my mouth dry and pins and needles sweeping through me. The adrenaline rushed through me and put me in fight-or-flight mode from the invisible enemy.
