Page 133 of Boundless

His mouth was near my ear when he chuckled, then let go of the weight of his whole body over mine. “Good girl.”

I melted in his arms all over again.

forty-one

The sun washigh in the sky when we mounted our horses to leave the Unseelie Court behind.

Hil could not see us outside. Turns out, the Fire Palace wasn’t going to let him leave until it got to know him and their connection was strong enough—and Rune said he feared it would be longer for Hil than it had been for him because this palace had been dormant for so long.

He saw us in his throne room, though, and I could already see the changes in him, though they were subtle. What I could feel clearly was his energy—the magic that now coursed through his veins. Rune said he’d gotten all his power that came with the royal bloodline during their meeting the night before, and all the members of his assembly had witnessed it with their own eyes. Rune had made sure he was safe while he was out of it for a few minutes, but when he’d come to, Hil had radiated power. It was like a touch against my skin, warm and affectionate, like flames that weren’t too hot to burn, only soothe.

Yes, I definitely liked Hil, I decided. Especially when he gave me a bear hug when I went to shake his hand, and he told methat he was coming to sleep over inmy palacejust as soon as this one let him go.

He also begged Maera to consider staying with him for a little while longer because he wanted to take her to dinner—no joke—and though Maera pretended to not take him seriously, I could have sworn her cheeks were redder than usual. Until we got out, that is.

Until we were on our horses and on our way out of the kingdom, being escorted by three royal guards for no reason other than Hil insisted it would make him feel better.

By the time we made it to the gates, there were a lot of fae working on the ruined wall. No morvekai anywhere. They were all gone now, together with the fake king Lox, whose blood would forever be on my hands.

But the moment we stepped out of the gates, we saw the soldiers on the other side, and we all stopped in our tracks.

Armor painted black, dark hair and eyes—soldiers riding black horses.

Midnight fae, at least twenty of them, and they were looking right at us.

My heart about broke out of my ribcage.

“Rune?” I whispered, because these werehispeople, were they not? And three of them were already dismounting their horses, coming toward us on foot. Definitely Midnight soldiers.

Rune’s shoulders were perfectly rigid because he could see them, too. They weren’t just a figment of my imagination—they were really there, and when he looked at me for a second, his concern reflected clearly in his eyes.

“I’ll be right back,” he said, and jumped off his own horse.

That I didn’t cry out to him to not leave in that moment was a damn miracle, but somehow, I held myself back. Instead, I tried to focus on the Unseelie soldiers behind us, watching curiously, unsure of what the hell to do. I tried to focus on Maera, riding onher own horse on my right, looking at Rune as he made his way to meet the Midnight soldiers.

It’s okay,I tried to tell myself, tried to talk the demons screaming inside my head into calming down. The Midnight soldiers bowed when they were in front of Rune, spoke when he told them to, and he looked like he wasn’t even breathing while he listened—andit was okay.

“Can you hear anything?” I whispered despite my better judgment, but Maera was a werewolf. Her ears were far superior to mine.

“They’re too far,” she said, just like I knew she would.

Without thinking, I jumped off the horse myself.

“Nilah,” Maera warned and followed me, but I shook my head.

“I’m not going anywhere.” But fuck, I needed to move or this anxiety that had built up inside me was going to fucking kill me.

Rune wasn’t gone for longer than a few minutes, but it felt like an eternity to me. And when he turned to make his way back toward us, and his soldiers went back to their own horses, I knew the second I saw his face. The sun was still up in the sky, and I knew the colors of him perfectly. Whatever it was that those soldiers had told Rune, he hadn’t liked it, andIwas going to like it even less.

Still, with my hands fisted and my tongue between my teeth, I forced myself to appear calm as I waited for him to approach. Take step after step, eyes locked on mine, his expression never changing for a second.

Until…

“I have to get back to the Midnight Court, Wildling. I’m sorry.”

Just a few words, and they’d already broken me.

“Why? What happened?” I barely said, still trying to hold myself together. Still tryingnotto act like a little kid.