Page 104 of Boundless

“Where’s thismountain borderline? I thought the kingdom was surrounded by the Eternal Water at the back.” And the Frozen and Midnight Courts were at its side—that’s what I knew. That’s what I’d seen with my own eyes.

“It’s not behind the Unseelie Court,” Rune said. “It’s the edge of Blackwater.”

My mind went blank again for a moment. “Wait, wait, hold on a minute.” I stepped away from Rune, looked around at the buildings and the people. “What’s he doing in Blackwater?”

That same second, shadows erupted all around Rune, and I’d have jumped and screamed if the fear didn’t freeze me in placefirst. As it was, I only watched the big black ball of shadows gathering at his side, and his eyes were closed, and Rune wasn’t even breathing.

“I have no idea, but I have the feeling Raja will know,” Maera whispered, and with a hand on my arm, she pulled me back, farther away from Rune, as if to give him space.

Raja.He was reaching out to Raja—of course. She would know, wouldn’t she? She knew Blackwater—she was the vampires’ Keeper of Secrets.

Then Rune drew in a sharp breath like he’d gone hours without air, and my heart skipped a beat. I was by his side before the ball of shadows faded away into the night air, like it had never even been there in the first place. Rune breathed heavily, and when I touched his cheek to invite his eyes to me, for a moment there I could have sworn he didn’t even recognize me.

“Of course,”he then breathed, put his hands on my cheeks and kissed me. “Of course, he went to Blackwater.” And he let go of me and stepped back.

“I’m gonna smack you in the head if you don’t tell me what the hell that means right now,” I said through gritted teeth because I was at the end of my patience here.

Rune smiled that half smile I adored, and his eyes lit up with mischief instantly. “As much as I would like to see that, Wildcat, there’s no time,” he said. “I know where Lyall went, and I know where the heir is.”

thirty-one

A prison.

Apparently, there was a place called theAshfall Keepat the edges of Blackwater, just before the mountain borderline—themountain borderlinebeing the place where giants and dragons lived.

Yes.Thosemountains at the edge of Verenthia—those were the mountain fucking borderline.

And we were going to have to get veryclose to them, too.

“The ashes from dragonfire fall on it constantly, like snow,” Rune said as we rode the Unseelie horses toward the large gates of the court.

These horses he paid for. He also put his magic over us, a shitload of it, and we’d been on our way without anybody even looking at us twice.

“That’s where it gets the name—Ashfall,” Rune continued. “I should have seen it sooner. Raja, too. But since it was the Unseelie heir, she was so certain it would behere,in Unseelie territory…”

“Why? Why are you so sure it’s the place from the reading?” I wondered.

“Because it is,” he said. “It’s a prison made in a deep gorge below the mountains, and it is only accessible through a single bridge. Each cell has a silver light over it to both indicate that the inmates are locked in, and to keep an eye on them. Each is tied to the blood of every prisoner, and the silver light looks exactly like a full moon. That’s what the rumors say, and Raja confirmed it.”

“I’ve heard of Ashfall many times,” Maera said from my other side. “I’ve heard it’s managed by vampires, not fae.”

“That’s just it,” Rune said. “No king has ever laid claim to it, but all of them buy cells for their most dangerous prisoners. They have been sending people there for centuries, and there are guards permanently appointed to it from all kingdoms.”

That’s when it hit me. “The court with no throne.” That’s what the reading had said—the court with no throne.

“Which means it’s not the Unseelie Court, because this onehasa throne. It’s only empty at the moment,” Rune said.

“The Keep doesn’t have one at all,” said Maera, and each one of us sounded more and more in awe of the words coming out of our mouths.

Because it clicked. It fit perfectly. It feltright.

“So, that pretty much means we’re screwed, right?” Maera said, catching me by surprise. “If the heir is in Ashfall, that means he or she was too dangerous to be kept in an Unseelie prison.”

“Or maybe they knew who they were and wanted to take them as far away from the throne as possible.” That’s what the Thornevale pack had done with Maera, had sold her off to the sorcerers in hopes that she would die.

Except…

“Those people slaughteredallof the royal family, didn’t leave a single extended family member alive. They do not strike me as people who would care about keeping a clean conscience,” Maera said. “Of course, I could be wrong.”