Page 15 of Fate Unchained

She goggled at him. “Yetis?”

“Who is helping you? Your father? I scented him down by the cave this morning.” Kyril growled. “Stop lying. I can tell every time you do. Where is he? Who else is in the forest?”

“Is knowing if someone lies a vulk thing?”

His gaze was hard. “Yes. We have a lot of secret abilities.”

Up this close, she could see the color of his fur wasn’t all charcoal gray. The edges of his ears were tipped in a lighter shade, and pure black was woven in along his face and neck. If she touched him there, would it be soft?

“It’s just me.” She spoke it clearly, but her voice trembled slightly as her words echoed in the cave. It was always just her; she couldn’t depend on anyone. Even her aunt, a steady and comforting presence her entire life, had deceived Lilah, telling Lilah she was signing a form for her aunt’s will when it actually put Lilah’s name on all her debts.

Tears welled up on her lashes, and she gritted her teeth. No crying. This was not the place or the time. There was never a place or a time.

“Hey, stop that,” Kyril said, sounding panicked. He sat up, freeing her. “You’re all right.”

This great vulk, this vicious killer right out of the worst kinds of stories, appeared panicked. She blinked at him and sat too, tucking her legs under her as if she wore a dress, though she still had her father’s pants on. “Here. You can take the paper and read it yourself.” She held it out to him.

Everything was hopeless. Another sob bubbled up, but she bit it back.

Slowly, as if afraid he’d startle her, Kyril reached for the paper. His long fingers touched hers. “I don’t like to read.”

She felt like she’d been slapped. “What? That’s impossible.”

He growled. “Why? The words get muddled for me, especially cramped handwriting like that.” He turned his face away, and a muscle ticked in his jaw. She suspected he hadn’t wanted to tell her that, and something softened in her chest.

“I have a young boy who comes into the library who has trouble reading in the same way. He sees the words differently, but we figured out he just needs to think about reading in a unique way. It’s sort of like … finding a code.”

His expression changed. The line between his brows smoothed, and his gaze gentled, as if he weren’t looking at someone who angered him any longer. “The library? What library?”

As she opened her mouth to answer, a brilliant golden light filled the cave. Kyril leaped to his feet, hauling her up and tucking her behind him, his arm in front of her. Protecting her. She’d caught him in this trap, and his first instinct was to keep her safe. Who was this vulk?

The golden light shimmered, then formed into a symbol in the air over their heads. It looked like an upside-down triangle with a line bisecting it. A rune, but not one she’d ever seen before. It was so beautiful, like a star. A voice filled the cave, the notes ethereal, and pure, like the sound of the wind through tall grass.

“First, a rune will bind,

But only a bite permanently entwines.

With true love, it must be done,

Or two will never be one.

“The vulk focuses only on the next fight,

He reacts to life with a bite.

“Will he find his true home?

Or will he endlessly roam?

“The lightwielder has lived among her books,

Content to remain overlooked.

She keeps herself locked away,

Will she continue to keep her life at bay?

“It isn’t a decision made lightly,

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