Page 66 of Realm Walker's Awakening

How could I heal him?

“It doesn’t matter, I’ll be fine,” Rune said with finality.

Slátra clicked his tongue in disapproval and mumbled something under his breath, most likely cussing about me not healing Rune. I listened to his heavy footsteps retreating. Rune carried me as we walked through the green outcropping with a babbling creek. He slipped his arm around me, tucking me close as he swayed a few times. I wiggled to free myself but stopped when he swatted my ass.

“Isa,” he warned with a rumble in my ear. “You’ve already got a spanking coming your way. Don’t add another.”

What? What did I do that deserved a spanking?

My cheeks warmed as I remembered when Rune warned me about where my thoughts were going while I said goodbye to Aaliyah. He was a man of his word, and I was sure he’d been waiting until we had a moment alone without being rushed or walked in on.

The others positioned around us, with Harper in the middle between me and Hlíf on her other side. I didn’t know why or how we ended up out here in the outcropping. It must’ve been close to the cottage where we were attacked, and Hlíf thought to take Harper out here to keep safe.

Every time Rune wobbled, I squirmed in his hold, trying to get down and walk.

“You get on your feet now,elskan mín, and the world will close in on you until you faint,” he murmured in my ear, his fingers running through my hair lovingly.

My necked burned, slowly rising to my cheeks as I locked eyes with him.

“You’re about to faint yourself,” I huffed under my breath.

He kissed my temple and cupped the back of my head so I rested my cheek on his shoulder. I hated that I enjoyed this. I hated that I wanted him to keep holding me when I should be walking and not weighing him down. Obviously, his balance was off, and I didn’t know if what they injected into him was something to make him lose consciousness that he’d been holding at bay.

I wanted to ask questions like why we were staying here when we could’ve had one of the others flash us to where we needed to go. Or why we didn’t call forth a portal. I could have done that for us. I couldn’t promise where it’d end up, but it would be somewhere else and far away from where we were attacked.

I stayed quiet, but Slátra’s question ran over and over in my head.

“You slipped, yes? You weren’t you back there as you killed those men. Is there any way you can heal him?”

I could heal people?

ChapterSeventeen

“He needs water,” Harper announced, looking over Rune, who held me on his lap as he dozed in and out of sleep.

We had stopped for a rest when Rune couldn’t keep going and needed a moment to sit down. Thankfully I made him put me down at some point so I wouldn’t slow him down or make him lose his balance. I kept holding my breath and watching his face every time he swayed while carrying me.

What the hell did they shoot him with? It had to have been potent because of how it was taking down a god of all people.

My stomach twisted each time I heard Slátra’s question.

“Is there any way you can heal him?”

It had to be serious for him to ask me that because there was no way he’d lose his cool and show worry about having to travel by foot and not flash.

The question repeated over and over the whole time we walked until we found an old wooden bridge with moss-covered stones that held the weaker parts. The bright-green foliage shrouded it, making it hard to spot until you were right on it.

A blanket of fog came in during our travel, and I didn’t know how long ago it appeared. I only knew it was a good thing because it’d make it even harder for anyone to find us. But it also made it difficult to see any threats and traps that we might walk right into.

Slátra checked around the bridge and even under the small space to determine whether it was safe for us. We wanted to hide so we weren’t like sitting ducks. I needed Rune to have a break without being on high alert and possibly hurting himself further than he was now.

What creeped me out was when Hluti commented on checking for trolls under the bridge.

I asked him if they were real, and he answered with,“Yes, and they’re mean fuckers that take a lot more than a sword to kill.”

I shivered, darting my eyes around, looking for a troll.

I turned in Rune’s tight hold, studying his face, pinched with pain in his sleep. His eyebrows were bunched together, forming creases on his forehead and crinkles at the bridge of his nose. Even while passed out, he frowned like he was still upset over the whole thing that happened with the attack.