Page 125 of Boundless

It was too late to stop it, I knew that. But my magic was there, and I was going to use it, even if I couldn’t hit him in time.

Except a second before the light slammed against me, I was pushed to the side hard. It was impossible to keep my balance, so I fell.

As I fell, I saw it when that golden light hit Hil right on the chest.

He’dpushed me out of the way. He’dtaken the hit in my stead, straight from Lyall’s hands.

When I hit the wooden stairs on my side, my eyes didn’t even blink because I was too focused on Hil, how the magic threw him back,burnedthe front of his shirt completely before he landed right onto the throne chair. His eyes were closed, his arms over the armrests the only thing holding him up, and there was bloodon him everywhere—on his chest and trickling from his nose, even dripping down his arm.

A scream built up in me and I found myself holding onto the edge of the stair as I tried to make it to my feet, to get to Hil before Lyall.

Lyall—who was laughing that awful sound as he stepped onto the first stair of the dais. That same evil laugh that had remained in my head since the night he ordered Rune to stab me.

Too late, too late, too late,insisted a voice in my head even when I made it to my feet, because Lyall was there, and so were the morvekai. All of them had made it closer, and they were not moving at their full speed yet, but they were much faster now than a moment ago. Especially when they pulled out weapons—swords and axes and knives and spears. Their dead eyes were on Hil.

I ran without a plan. Lyall’s hands were glowing, and so were mine. Hil was just starting to blink his eyes slowly, move his hands. I ran up the stairs and in front of him, and I felt the heat of Lyall’s magic as my own rose in front of me, blinding light against blinding light crashing against each other now. Magic on magic. Silver on gold.

Fuck, I was weak.

Lyall couldn’t get to me, and by the time my magic lost strength, so did his, but my legs were so weak that they let go. I fell on my ass as the light disappeared into thin air, and Lyall and the five morvekai were already on the second set of stairs, coming closer.

“Nilah,” Hil said, and I looked up to find him dragging himself toward me, holding his bleeding arm near his torso, reaching his other for me. I took it and even when he pulled me to my feet, I held onto it for a moment longer to make sure I wouldn’t fall again.

“This ends here. This court is ours. We fought for it. We bled for it,” the woman said from behind the morvekai, standing side by side with her husband, or whoever he was. Imposters, both of them. “Kill them, now!”

Once more, I saw my whole life flashing before my eyes, not because this woman ordered my death, but because Lyall wouldn’t hesitate to deliver it. I had magic still, and I could maybe cover us from another attack—but what then? When they came again and again, when the morvekai unleashed those swords and axes and fucking hammers on us with their monstrous muscles—what was I going to do then?

Nothing.

I could do nothing, that much was perfectly clear.

But I’d be damned if I didn’t try until my last breath. At least Maera would find Rune, help him out of wherever they’d put him. Until then, I’d continue to make Lyall as miserable as I possibly could.

“Nilah, step back,” Hil said as he moved toward the throne chair himself, but my hands were lit up, and my eyes locked on Lyall, and I wanted to make him bleed so badly I felt like my magicheardmy wish and it was going to fulfill it. This fucker had almost killed me—the first time when I was only five years old.

“There’s no walking away,” I said, more to myself than to Hil. I thought we might be able to escape, but it was impossible. They were all there, all watching us, all ready, and it was just the two of us. No way out.

“Nilah,” Hil said, and I was moving, but I was putting myself between him and Lyall and the morvekai. I would try to push them back again because I had magic. It ran in me, rushed through my veins, and itcould.I could throw them all at the door once more.Maybe all hope isn’t lost,whispered a weakvoice in my head, and I hung onto it even if I knew it was bullshit.

“You’re not going to win,” I told Lyall, and I sounded like I believed it. Maybe I did—he still had to defeat Rune, and Rune had a whole kingdom at his back. An army—twoarmies. That of the Frozen Court, too.

“We’ll see about that, won’t we?” said Lyall in a slow whisper as he moved his hands in a circle, the light under his skin intensifying right before our eyes.

That was okay. The white light slipping from under my skin was still brighter, even though my hands were shaking.

“Nilah, stop,” Hil said from behind me again. “Look, Nilah—look…”

I didn’t, not at first.

But Lyall did.

He looked up at Hil, and then to the side, and he stopped moving. The morvekai had stopped moving, too, though I couldn’t really tell where their dead eyes were focused, but I had to turn my head, too.

Hil was smiling.

It completely threw me off, that smile, because it wasn’t mischievous. It was just genuine.

Hil was pointing the hand of his wounded arm left, and his blood was dripping down to the floor as he did, and I followed the blood. Then followed the finger.