Page 124 of Boundless

“Did you not hear me? Come down here at once—and don’t you dare try anything funny. I will know,” the woman insisted, stepping forward again, the sound of her heels piercing right into my brain.

Lyall smiled.

Maera was already retreating to the other side.

Two of the morvekai stepped forward—and they did so when the fake king Lox waved a hand and whispered something under his breath. They were inhiscontrol.

“I heard you just fine, woman,” Hil said, and his voice sent shivers down my spine—he soundedplayful.Mischievous. Like always. “But I think I’ll stay on this chair. It’s mighty comfortable.”

He fell back on the seat loudly on purpose—he wanted me to hear it. And my magic was at the ready, burning me with cold on the way toward my hands that were perfectly numb.

“You—” the fake queen started, but I pushed every ounce of energy I could muster out of me before she could finish whatever insult she’d had in mind.

It was my only chance, I figured. None of them would expect me to attack her mid-sentence, and the morvekai were still not engaging, and Lyall didn’t look like he was thinking about attacking, either. My only chance, and I took it.

A scream tore from my throat. All the energy inside my body rushed out at once, and I knew people moved. I saw more lights, and I saw more shapes coming, but the bright energy that exploded out of my hands took the world away within two seconds and pushed me back so hard I fell.

Hard wood bit into my back and neck. Every inch of me felt like it was on fire. I still had no clue how to properly use magic—or at least how to use it purposely. I had no clear intent in mind other than to push these people back, keep them away for as long as possible, until Rune was safe. Until Hil and I could get the hell out of here safely, too.

Screams and shouts filled my ears. My limbs were numb, and I thought I was moving, trying to push myself to my feet, call for more magic before it was too late. My eyes blinked a thousand times instinctively until I was able to see again.

It had worked.

Soldiers, morvekai, and the fake king Lox were trying to make it to their feet, much farther away from me now than theyhad been, while Lyall and the woman Codessa were fixing their clothes, their bloodshot eyes on me, no smiles left on their faces.

There was no blood on any of them, and I thought the most that magical burst had done was push them back, but no. There was more of it hanging onto them, the edges of their coats and their chins, and their hands—the white shimmer that seemed to melt into them, and it was slowing them down.

I blinked, and I wasn’t just seeing things, but all of them were moving as if in slow motion, just like King Helem had done. I’dmeantto stop him then, had focused my magic on him for that purpose, but it had worked the same way now.

“Any brilliant plans you’d like to share with me right about now?”

A hand on my arm and Hil pulled me back, up toward those wide wooden stairs, closer to the throne chair.

“Rune,” I said, eyes on Lyall as he forced himself to move forward with his teeth gritted and his hands lit up brighter by the second. “We wait for Rune, and we get out of here.”

A pause.

Hil let go of my arm as I tried to see behind the morvekai, toward the doors, hoping I’d catch a glimpse of Maera as she ran to search for Rune.

But she wasn’t there.

“We can’t leave, Nilah.” Hil’s voice pierced through my mind. He sounded serious, too, like he couldn’t see what the hell was happening here. He couldn’t see we were ambushed. There was no way out.

“We can and we will. We just?—”

“Enough with the games,” Lyall said, his voice rising with every word, and he was back to moving almost normally now as he slowly stepped closer to the dais.

“You’re a pathetic excuse for a king, Sunny,” Hil said, and my insides twisted violently because I knew what Lyall was capable of just fine. What he’d been capable of since he was a little boy.

Lyall paused for a moment. Looked up at Hil. Smiled like a deranged fucking lunatic. “And you’re a dead man walking.”

“Attack!” screamed the fake queen, finger pointed toward us. “Kill them! Rip them to pieces!”

Safe to assume she was mad judging by her screaming alone. You didn’t even have to look at her face. The fake king was at it, too, whispering, his hands glowing, though much softer than before. But the most important thing were the morvekai.

They were moving, coming toward us—slowly.So fucking slowly, like they really were robots and they were running out of energy or fuel, or whatever it was that drove them.

“Move!” shouted the fake queen at Lox, but Lyall wasn’t waiting for the morvekai. There was light in his hands. He had obviously gathered himself much more quickly than the others, and now his golden light was shooting for us.