Page 103 of Boundless

Must have been the trauma.

“You can kill a morvekai,” Rune repeated, and he sounded so sure I was tempted to believe him.

“They guard this whole place. Vair said they existed to keep everyoneinsidethese walls?—”

“Unseelie, yes. Weak ones. They’ve already lost so much of their power when the royal family was slaughtered, and then with the curse. Ordinary fae are not like royals, Wildcat. Power-wise, they’re much weaker.”

“Yes, I know that. I’ve seen it.” I’d seen the difference more than once. “But I’m not…”

The words were there. The words wereright there,in my mouth, ready to come out, and I couldn’t make myself say them.I’m not a royal. I’m not a fae. I’m not-I’m not-I’m not—who the hell was I trying to fool here? Whatever I was, Iwas nothuman, either.

“You’re powerful enough.” Rune brought my hand to his lips and kissed my knuckles. “Don’t be afraid.”

“And if I am, anyway?” Because this fear didn’t have a button I could press to shut it the fuck down and relieve myself of it.

Rune smiled, and the sight made my heart squeeze. God, he was so perfect it wasn’t even fair. I was completely hopeless against this man.

“Thenbe. You carry your fear better than most people I’ve ever met. I’m not worried, wildling.” And he leaned in to give me a feather-soft kiss.

Eh, maybe it wasn’tsobad. If Rune believed it, maybe I really could take on a creature like that and survive.

“You’re something else, Your Highness,” I muttered with a sigh, and the next second, I could feel every muscle in his body lock down tightly. “What?”

I turned to look around, to see if he’d maybe spotted someone coming, but instead Rune grabbed my chin and turned me to face him again. “The only time I wanna hear those two words is when you say them.” And he kissed me again.

It was deep, this time, not merely a brush of lips, but a real kiss. One that took my breath away and wiped my mind clean and made my toes curl in my boots all the way.

Just like that, I couldn’t remember what the hell I was thinking about a moment ago, and my shoulders became so light. Unfortunately, it didn’t last long before we heard the footsteps.

Especiallyloud footsteps. So loud it was obvious that whoever was coming closer was slamming their feet against the ground on purpose.

It was Maera.

She’d shifted back to human, and she was wearing clothes that were definitely not hers.

But the way she was looking at the two of us sent blood rushing to my cheeks instantly, and I had no idea why I had the urge tomove,get away from Rune, put some distance between us. It was absurd. Rune wasmine,and we’d never tried to hide it. I was his, and I had no trouble with the whole world knowing—and they did. They all knew. So why was I suddenly so damn uncomfortable that Maura had caught me kissing him?

The look in her eyes. It was the look in her eyes that freaked me out, and when she squatted down in front of us, I could have sworn she was paler than normal.

“Where’d you get those clothes?” I muttered, just to break the awkward silence, because I wasnotgoing to move away from Rune. Fuck that—I was staying right there by his side no matter how Maera or anyone else looked at me.

“I stole them,” she calmly said. “I also threatened a guard and almost killed him.”

“What the fuck.” It was so sudden that the words slipped from my lips the very next second.

“The mountain borderline,” Maera continued. “The Seelie King went toward the mountain borderline.” She turned and pointed north.

Rune stood up and pulled me with him.

“Did they say why?” he asked Maera. He didn’t seem the least bit concerned about her threatening anyone, and neither did she when she shook her head.

“He only asked how much food his horse would need to get to the mountain borderline and back. The king didn’t speak to anyone other than the chancellor.”

The king,she said, and for the life of me I couldn’t imagine Lyall carrying that title.

“When?” Rune asked.

“Just before sundown.”