He lifted her hand to his lips, his eyes burning with something unyielding. “I will follow wherever you are, Alora. I refuse to be apart from you again.”
Her breath faltered.
The proclamation was soft, threaded with an ache centuries deep. She tried to speak, but the words tangled on her tongue. The look in his eyes… it was too much. Too open. Too raw.
Then her heart clenched when she realized what he said,
Her voice came out faint, barely above a breath. “Again…?”
The word rocked something in her chest, making everything go still between them. Something hummed in the threads of her being. It shook in her veins.
Recognition.
Her memory fractured with a moment of her in the woods. She was dancing with a partner made of shadow. A warm hand at her waist. A soft laugh. A voice that whispered her name like a promise. He spun her around and dipped her back, as she looked up, seeing Rune’s face.
Alora gasped.
Rune went still. Entirely motionless, like a forest holding its breath before a storm. And she knew by whatever connection they had, he had seen the memory too. For a moment he looked at her, shadows of memory flickering behind his darkened eyes.
Then he gave her a dismissive shrug. “You fled the mountain, did you not?”
The foul taste of his words curdled on her tongue, angering her. Because she saw clearly through his careful response. It was misdirection.
A lie.
Thin as spider silk.
Rune turned away toward the cottage.
“That’s not what you meant.” Her voice trembled despite her effort to steady it and her throat tightened. “Don’t you dare lie to me, Rune. Not after everything.”
Not after last night.
He froze with his back to her.
Didn’t look back. Didn’t breathe.
“I will never accept a man who cannot be honest with me,” she said quietly.
His shoulders tensed.
The fear in her chest because of him, but for the secrets he hid behind his teeth.
Yet he didn’t reply. Her throat tightened, hurt that he still held back. Still hid himself behind glamor and charm. How could they ever be more when he hid so many secrets?
“Look at me.”
Rune finally met her gaze, expression unreadable.
“Tell me the truth.” She took a breath. “Have we met before?”
His eyes burned with something aching and desperate. His mouth parted, and for a single fragile heartbeat, she thought he might answer.
But then the ground thudded with galloping hooves.
Caelum burst into view, sword already drawn as if expecting a fight. “Princess Alora!”
He yanked on his reins, eyes wide to see Rune out in the sun.
