With the enemies knowing where we were, I was sure we weren’t safe here now. Not that we were safe to begin with. We never were. But we were attacked here once, and clearly, lives were lost, so it wouldn’t be smart to stick around for long. We had to leave and probably didn’t have time to dig a grave for my best friend. For me to make her grave pretty with her plants and beloved angel figurines.
“I’m so sorry, beauty, but we don’t.”
His voice in my head was laced with his sympathy even though his dislike for Aaliyah filtered through our link. I didn’t know what she did to deserve his animosity toward her, but Rune didn’t seem like the type to not like someone just because. Either way, she was my best friend, and I would’ve told him to get over it if she were still alive.
I continued swallowing over and over, and my head throbbed as I held back the sobs.
“What’s the plan?” Hluti asked.
Rune kissed the top of my head as he kept rubbing my back, waiting for my answer along with everyone else.
I inhaled a deep, long breath before I opened my eyes as I leaned away from Rune. Sniffling, I rubbed my eyes and sighed.
“I guess we burn her body. But I want to say goodbye.”
Rune’s ocean eyes flicked over my face as a sad frown pulled at his lips. Lips that I wanted to kiss now to wipe away the frown. It always bothered me to see anything but a smile on his face. And not in the sense that creepy and misogynistic men told women to smile because we look prettier with it. Or that we didn’t have anything to be sad about.
No. Seeing Rune upset wasn’t what I was used to. He was playful, teasing, and made sexual comments at every chance he got. He was a happy-go-lucky guy with me. Yeah, I noticed he’d snap someone’s neck for me, but he wasn’t frowning atmewhile doing it.
Was this what he felt when he watched me get upset?
He stopped rubbing but kept his hand on my lower back. His heartbreak for me filtered through, doubling mine.
My tears bothered him like his did me. It made sense since we were soulmates. We were one soul together, and everything was enhanced.
“Of course,” Rune whispered.
I wasn’t sure if his answer was in response to my wanting to say goodbye to Aaliyah or my thoughts about him feeling the way I did seeing him upset. Or about us being soulmates and whatever bond we had was enhanced. It didn’t matter. Not at this moment, anyway.
Without a word, Rune stood with me in his arms and set my feet on the ground. He grabbed my hand, entwining our fingers as he led me down the dark hallway to Aaliyah’s bedroom. With each step closer to the bedroom door, my heart raced faster, and my breaths quickened. I couldn’t hear anything with my pulse thundering in my ears and my breaths echoing in my head.
The hand Rune held shook as he gently opened the door. It creaked, the sound low and ominous as the door slowly opened. My head spun with dizziness, and my face flushed as sweat beaded on my upper lip. As he led me through the doorway, I went stiff and couldn’t keep going. I stood frozen after two small steps into the bedroom that was lit by the bathroom light, which gave the room an orange hue from the type of bulb used.
My eyes were stuck on the floor that was a mess with the debris of shattered glass, drywall, blood, and the decapitated body of the man who killed Aaliyah and me. His head was off to the side with his grimy black hair covering his face. His body was surrounded by a pool of crimson blood that hadn’t dried. A foot away from him was another puddle of blood, but not as large as his.
Staring at the dead body of my killer, I couldn’t breathe through the strangling tightness in my chest to my throat. The memory of his dark, hateful eyes narrowed at me as he stabbed me played over and over. The echo of each thrust of the glass shard dotted along my chest and stomach, sending twinges in the muscles of the now scarred wounds.
Rune’s soul wrapped itself around mine, snapping my gaze to him with a hitch. His invisible touch brushed along my cheek before he did it again with his hand; his calloused fingers eased me. He chased away the panic that rose in me seconds ago, and I could breathe a little easier.
Ocean eyes kept my green ones prisoner, not allowing me to look away. His hand on my cheek rested on the back of my head, bringing me into him for a hug. I closed my eyes, releasing a shuddering breath as I held onto him with my nails digging into his sides.
“You’re safe,” he whispered, smoothing his hand on the back of my head in gentle strokes. “I’m here, and you’re safe. I’ll never let anyone hurt you again.” Pain tinged in his last promise that held guilt. And with our souls somehow now touching and trying to merge, and our link open, I felt his regrets and guilt for my death.
It wasn’t his fault.
“It is,elskan mín. I left you alone and didn’t get to you fast enough. Since finding you, you’ve been hurt because of my negligence.”
A lump rose in my throat as I drew away to look at him. Really look at him. He was covered in dried blood that had crusted on his skin and stained his mortal world clothes. I realized now that he wasn’t wearing the armor I had grown used to. He was in regular clothes from this realm, jarring me from the fantasy Viking look he had while we realm hopped. Stains of blood darkened his black shirt and his washed out jeans. I was sure some of it wasn’t mine, but a lot of it was because I remember he held me as I died and then did CPR.
“She’s on the bed,” Rune murmured with a tilt of his head, breaking me out of my drifting thoughts and sightless stare.
I blinked, turning my gaze to the messy bed where Aaliyah lay on her back. Her face was bloody, and I hardly recognized her from where I stood. She was still. So, so still. I waited for her chest to rise and fall, still holding onto a thread of hope she wasn’t dead. That finding her in the In-Between going through her death echo was something made up.
Her chest never moved. She didn’t sit up, brushing her hair out of her face while laughing about how she got me good in her prank.
I was glued to my spot in front of Rune, unable to go to her. My nails dug into his forearms, my breaths quickening.
Why couldn’t I move?
