Page 112 of Boundless
It was so sudden that I was tempted to believe I’d made it up, but no. The guy was laughing, and the sound of it was silky smooth, too. Which threw me off.
“Oh, I see how it is. The bastard king himself—and the Sunny who broke me out is the Seelie King, you said?” More laughter. “What’s next? You’re gonna tell me she’s the Ice Queen now?”
It was like he’d shoved a hand between my ribs and pulled my heart right out of me.
Rune and I exchanged a look. The laughter faded.
“I was promised that everything would make sense when he broke me out of prison, as soon as we got away.” A step closer, and orange light pulsated on the palms of his hands. “I see no sense in anything right now.Whereis the Sunny?” he demanded.
And that just pissed me the hell off.
“What the hell’s the matter with you?! Heleftyou,” I spit. “Are you serious right now? He fired a beacon and left you for that dragon to eat, and you’re demanding answers from us?” I was moving, too, going closer, and Rune followed, and the heir moved back—but I didn’t stop until he was right in front of me, and he looked confused as all hell. “I almost died trying to save your life, you prick. The least you can do isnot laughat us and believe us when we tell you—we donotwant to hurt you!”
It wasn’t his fault, I knew that. It was everything, all of the uncertainty and guilt and fear I was carrying, and to hear him laughing right after I literally was attacked by a dragon was the last straw. My thoughts were raging, my hands were glowing, and he saw just fine. The way he looked down at my hand as I dug my index finger into his chest said that he knew exactly what was going on.
The man wasn’t afraid, though. Not when he stepped back and said, “Then what do you want from me?”
I was prepared to answer. I was prepared to tell him the entire truth exactly as it was, even though I was half convinced that he was going to laugh at my face again, and then run or something. Or attack.
But I never got the chance to say another word before Rune grabbed me by the arm and pulled me back, a split second before a ball of fucking firefellonto the ground right where we had been a second ago.
The roaring and the shaking of the ground followed. I was thrown back for the second time, and this time I did feel it when I hit something hard with the back of my head. I did feel it when all my lightsalmostwent off but didn’t, and I was moving again, magic rushing through my veins, burning me with its cold.
It took me a few blinks to understand what was happening, to see that Rune had a shield of shadows in front of him as he tried to block the fire spilling from the dragon’s mouth. I couldn’t see much, only its large tail full of spikes, and its right wing just as it spread out all the way, and then the fire stopped.
The shadows retreated. The dragon flew in the air and roared.
Rune and the heir were running toward me, shouting something, screaming, but the sound of that roar was still in my ears, and I couldn’t hear them. What I did see was the way Rune was waving for me to move back, and so I did. I turned and I started running just as they reached me. I wasn’t even sure how my feet were touching the ground, but the dragon was over us, flying close to the tips of the trees, and the fire was just there, burning in his throat. I saw it each time I looked up. It was right there one second, and then it rained upon us from above.
My body came to a halt because I knew, even in the state I was in, that there was no running away from that fire. I couldnever be faster than a dragon while he wasflyingover me, and so magic it was.
My hands glowed silver, and the magic spilled out of me just like it had before. Frostfire, I thought, because it hurt so much my arms turned numb seconds in again, and in my mind all I saw was a shield. I wanted to create a layer of protection, in whichever form, maybe a dome, or maybe light like Vair had done to protect me from King Helem—it didn’t matter. A shield that would keep that fire away from me, fromus.
The heat reached me. My hands were over my head and silver light was mixed in with shadows like they were threads on a piece of fabric.
Yes, the heat did reach us, but not the fire. Because Rune was beside me, and he, too, had his hands up while his shadows spilled over us to keep the fire away.
Magic spread all around us within seconds, silver and darkness, beautiful to look at, but the fire coming through from the other side pressed against it, made it weak.
I cried out as the magic poured out of me, and I had no clue how long I could keep this up.
“Move!” Rune shouted, and at first, I thought he was talking to me, but no.
On my right was the man, the Unseelie heir who was just scrambling to get to his feet because he’d been on the ground. He was standing up, crouched over halfway, looking up at the dome of magic still holding around us.
“Help us!” I thought I shouted, but the sound of fire and roars swallowed my voice.
Even so, the guy must have read the words on my lips because he raised his hands and they had a fire of their own in them. He looked terrified when he said, “I’m not strong enough!”
His voice, too, was swallowed by the roars, but we read the words as he said them just fine. And Rune shouted, “I will need one minute! Just one minute!”
He stood right beside me, so his shout I heard. And the heir understood.
Orange magic like I’d never seen before spilled out of his hands and onto the silver and shadows that were wrapped around us still.
It was beautiful, I thought, but there were dots in my vision spreading faster now, and when the shadows retreated from the silver light, it wastoo much light.White and orange, and the heat coming from the fire that dragon kept spitting at us from outside was trapped underneath the magic, too, and all that energy leaving me, all the pain taking its place was getting too much.
Fucking hell, I couldn’t see. All that light around me, and I couldn’t see.