Page 68 of Blood Red Woes

If I was someone else, those words might’ve made my stomach flutter, but I’m me, so it takes a lot more to make me feel butterflies. Hell, I don’t think I’ve ever really felt butterflies in my gut for any guy, ever. No offense to Frederick, but the guys in my world are just…

They’re dumb. I learned young to never get my hopes up, to never truly let my guard down. I don’t plan on starting now.

So I smile and tell Frederick, “You know I will.” And then I turn away from him and venture onward.

Through the markets, through the slums that are eerily silent after last night’s shadowstorm. Out the front gate of the city—which takes a blast of magic to move on my own since I have nomuscles to speak of. I emerge into the abandoned farmlands that surround the main road out of Laconia.

I don’t even need a map. Not really. The castle in Acadia was easy to get to. Easy enough, I should say. All I have to do is get to the Southern River and follow it through Acadia’s fields, retrace the steps I took when I first left Laconia on the hunt for Fred and his research.

And now that I know I can surf on water pretty much as fast as I want, it’ll be an even quicker journey. It took me days to realize I could do that last time.

Time wears on. Days pass. I don’t come upon the scourge until I hit Catarin Tower—which I decide to bunk in for the night. If the storm is big enough to swallow up the area between the tower and the castle… it’s a big freaking storm. I don’t see how the Emperor could survive it.

Then again, he’s survived this long against all odds, so what’s a bit longer?

The inside of the tower is near pitch-black, but I light up the way with my tattoo as I head up to the top, where the beds are. Wind howls outside, whipping at the stone tower’s walls, raging on its own. I don’t know how I’ll sleep with that going on, but I should try. If the storm is constant from here to the castle, I don’t know how much more sleep I’ll be able to get before I see whether or not the Emperor is alive or if, somehow, he caused this.

I lay on the bed, the same bed I chose the last time I was here. The light from my tattoo fades, and I’m surrounded by blackness.

Rune and I… we haven’t really talked since Laconia. I don’t really know what to say at this point. We argued, and neither of us thinks we’re wrong. I don’t see Rune leaping to apologize to me, either.

Still, I don’t know what I’m going to find in Acadia’s castle, and I don’t want to go into it being pissed at the only company I’ve had in this crazy world.

“So,” I say, “you’ve been quiet.” A part of me wonders if he’ll even respond, or if he’ll ignore me as he obviously has been doing. I try to roll onto my side, but my arm is still a little tender, so my back it is.

Rune doesn’t say a word, which makes me chuckle. “Are you really going to ignore me now? After everything we’ve been through? Come on, Rune. I know you have something to say. Youalwayshave something to say, so let’s hear it.”

I know Rune’s going to respond because the tattoo on my arm lights up before he replies. “I assumed you didn’t want to hear anything I have to say. You made it quite clear you don’t care, Rey.”

I close my eyes and sigh. Admitting I was wrong was never something I was good at. If anyone’s stubborn, it’s me. My dad always told me I got it from my mom, though I never understood how he could say that. I mean, if my mom was stubborn, why didn’t she try to stick it out with my dad? Why not stay with us and work on being a family?

It takes me a while to whisper, “I might’ve said some things I didn’t mean.”

Rune makes a thoughtful sound, but he doesn’t say a word.

“I’m not… good at things like this,” I say. “I’m not good at talking about emotions and keeping myself calm. I’ve been alone for so long. Maybe I got used to letting my anger guide me—I don’t know.”

“Perhaps that is something we have in common, then.”

His admission makes me smirk to myself. “Oh, really? You’re saying you have an attitude problem, too? Gee, I never would’ve guessed.” Maybe I pile on the sarcasm a bit too much, but oh, well.

“That is, in fact,notwhat I said.” Rune’s snippy tone is back, but compared to his silence, it’s welcomed. “You have a habit of hearing things that aren’t there, Rey.”

“And you have a habit of getting under my skin. You’re pretty good at it too, for a tattoo—” I smile harder because I know he’s seconds from correcting me, as he always does when I call him a tattoo.

“Rune,” he mutters with a sigh.

I chuckle to myself. Can’t help it. “I know you don’t remember what you were like before, when you had a body, but… do you think we’d get along if we weren’t connected? Do you think you’d even pay me any attention?” Please don’t ask me why it matters. It doesn’t.

Not really.

He’s silent for a moment, and I’d give anything to know what he’s thinking. Without seeing his face, he’s so hard to read.

Now that I’m thinking about it, if I didn’t know any better, I’d almost say I have a crush on Rune. Which is just ridiculous. Even if he did have a body, there’s no telling what it’d look like. He could be old or hideous or something.

“I…” His reluctance to answer makes me think he doesn’t want to say. “What do you think?”

What do I think or what do I want to hear? The answers to those questions might be different, or they might be similar. Again, it’s impossible for me to pick up any context clues when it comes to Rune and his outlook on things. On me.

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