She looked up at him warily, but he looked pensive as he studied the strange kitten, if not a little unnerved.
“I suppose it would do to have such a creature to protect you in times when you are…” His gaze returned to hers and this time she did see anger.“Unescorted.”
He held out his hand.
Alora hesitated before she took it and he lifted her back onto her feet.
A muscle ticked in Rune’s jaw when he noticed the scrapes on her palms. “Hadeon was supposed to be guarding you this morning.”
“It wasn’t his fault I managed to slip away,” Alora said quickly, worried for the stoic Harbinger.
Rune’s burning gaze shifted to her, his towering frame a wall of wrath. Shadows swarmed around him like a storm.
His growl echoed through the cavern. “It would be very much hisfaultif you had been harmed.”
“That was one of the Dominions, wasn’t it?” Alora whispered.
He exhaled sharply. “You should not have been alone with him.”
Had she been in danger? Perhaps a foolish question to ask. Her body had not stopped shaking.
Rune took one look at her and expelled a sharp exhale, rubbing his face. “I should feed him to the mountain.”
She blinked, an unmistakable shiver crawling down her back at the coldness in his tone. “That will not be necessary,” she said, struggling to steady herself.
“Idecide what is necessary. And at the moment, I find little reason not to disembowel him for frightening my queen.”
His voice was low. Guttural. Unbearably possessive.
She opened her mouth to argue, but Rune carefully took the knife from her shaking fingers. He cradled her palm withmaddening tenderness, so at odds with the fury carved into his face. A soft, unnatural warmth seeped into her bones.
His next words were a soft murmur in the quiet. “Only I have the privilege of making you tremble.”
His voice sank through her like molten metal, and she hated the way her pulse answered. The warmth of his touch was unbearable—too gentle. Too intimate.
Alora’s lungs caught with a breath. The scrapes were gone. He’d healed her.
She pulled her hand back, breaking the contact with more force than she meant to. “How did you know I was here?”
“I always know you where you are,” Rune murmured, glancing down at her ring. “I can feel the way your heart beats. When you’re sad. When you’re happy.” His eyes lifted to hers again. “More so when you’re afraid.”
Her stomach knotted with something perilously close to fascination. He had sensed her fear. The fury was fading from his features, and beneath it, she somehow also sensed his fear, too.
Of not arriving on time.
“Where did you get this?” Rune held up the knife, the black blade glinting.
Alora cleared her throat and shrugged. “I … borrowed it from Calla.”
The first thing Hadeon taught her was how to kill demons with Nightstone.
Rune arched a brow and tucked the blade away. “I warned you not to wander the castle by yourself, Alora.”
She rolled her eyes at his critical tone. “Then you should not have left me alone for so long.”
For a moment, his expression faltered, something flickering there. Then it was gone, replaced by that infuriating calm.
“Well, did you find what you were looking for?”
