Page 136 of Boundless
Over.It was really over. I was here.
Somehow, I’d started off running for my life the second I came through the Aetherway months ago, and now I’d ended up here.
Yes, yes. A dream.
And, in the dream. I went ahead when the gates, smaller than those of the kingdom, opened from the other side, and soldiers wearing silver armor stood and watched us, confused and concerned and everything in between. Again, the Midnight soldiers, just two of them this time, dismounted their horses, left them to the sides of the gates, and went ahead to speak to the others. Told them something to get them to move aside and let us through. Then they continued to lead us on foot.
It occurred to me that this was why Rune had sent those soldiers with me.
It occurred to me thathe,the Midnight King, had command over the army of the Frozen Court. The Ice Queen had given it to King Helem, and Rune had inherited it.
He’d made sure that I’d be safe, indeed, and able to simply walk through the court, even though he wasn’t there. He’d made sure I would get here.
More people gathered to my sides. Staff and soldiers, all of them looking up at me, their eyes adding a pound each over my already exhausted shoulders. I hardly recognized the gardens and the inside of the walls—there were so many of them now. More Ice fae than I’d ever seen before in one place—and to see the color of their hair and the blue of their eyes was like looking at a blurry reflection of my own self.
To look at me, you really would believe wholeheartedly that I was one of them.Ibelieved it, and I knew exactly where I came from.
More Midnight soldiers dismounted their horses, moved to the sides on foot to push the crowds farther away as we passed.
Ahead, ahead, look ahead,I said to myself when they began to whisper and call, demanding answers, I thought—but I couldn't really understand anything. I couldn’t understand my own thoughts.
What I did understand was that the people were getting louder by the second, and the Ice Palace was right in front of me.
The memory was there, ready to play the music from the small music box to my ears only, that haunting melody that was almost as beautiful as birdsongs from back home. The palace with five towers that had been in the box was in front of me now, as big as all other fae palaces I’d seen. This one had walls that were almost completely white, though. And darkness behind the many windows. The pointy rooftops of the towers must have been made out of crystals, too, because they reflected what little light they could catch from the moon hiding behind clouds.
The closer to it I got, the more I felt like a stranger in my own skin, and at the same time like I was finally aware ofallof me. My own self. Like I’d gone a lifetime without knowing myself, but now I did. Now I saw.
And it was uncomfortable as all hell.
Screams and shouts—they didn’t stop. Midnight soldiers all around me, and Maera was off her horse, too, the reins of mine in her hands as she looked around with those sharp yellow eyes, waiting to see if maybe the Midnight soldiers wouldn’t be able to hold back the crowd from reaching me.
It occurred to me that maybe itwouldn’tbe so easy to simply step inside the palace now that everyone knew I was here. That Vair wasn’t. ThatRunewas back in his own home.
It wouldn’t so easy to simply claim a kingdom, which was a ridiculous notion for me all on its own.
Maybe the best way would be to turn back. Back where we came from. Leave the gates and go to the Midnight Kingdom—but who was I kidding? Soldiers or no soldiers, nobody was going to let me leave now.
I looked at Maera standing near my horse’s head, and she looked at me. For a moment there, we were both of the samemind—we are doomed.It terrified me that I found comfort in that thought, even if only for a moment.
Because being doomedmeant Iwasn’tgoing to have to claim anything, didn’t it?
Then the polished white doors of the palace atop the four wide stairs opened, and a woman came out.
She wore silver from head to toe—and in her eyes, too. Her hair was a deeper shade but silver still, and her smile was barely there.
Everybody stopped moving all of the sudden, stopped shouting, stopped calling. My heart did the same, paused for a good moment while the memory replayed itself in my head involuntarily—of the sorceress in Mysthaven who’d become a seer right in front of all our eyes. The very same woman who was standing in front of the open doors now, all alone, the silver dress hanging on her slim shoulders, her hands folded in front of her as she looked at me.
She looked at me like she could see my face, but she couldn’t. I still had the hood on, and I couldn’t even tell you what made me push it off me. I couldn’t tell you what I was thinking or even if I was breathing, but the woman was there, and the crowd had stopped like they had all been unplugged at the same time.
The seer raised a hand toward me.
Even when Maera helped me off the horse, and even when the Midnight soldiers made sure the way to the palace stairs was clear, and even when the people whispered and moved back all on their own to let me through—even then, none of it felt like reality, but now it didn’t feel like a dream, either. Just something…in between.
I was walking, taking stair after stair, and then the seer was there, bowing her head to me, speaking. I tried to read the words on her lips, but I couldn’t quite catch them before she turned andwaved for me to move inside the doors. Into the Ice Palace. The very place that had held me captive once.
Now I entered willingly.
Maera was beside me. I wasn’t entirely sure that I was breathing. My eyes were trying to adjust to the darkness and the lights coming from the sides, but everything was a blur still. Everything moved both too fast and too slow, including my own legs.