Page 142 of Boundless

A pause.

“Did you hit your head or something when you were away? Because the seer told me that you were a changed man, but I expected to find you withan armmissing—not your damned mind!”

I pulled my lips inside my mouth to stop a smile. “I’m not missing anything. I just know exactly where I stand and where I belong.” Which was with Nilah. “I do have requests that I will take your word on, though.”

“You can’t have my firstborn, if that’s what you’re thinking,” she said.

I was actually speechless for a minute there.

“What? Fae used to exchange firstborns all the time. Pick up a history book for once, will you?” The red on her cheeks continued to intensify—and somehow, I became more sure than I ever was that this was, indeed, the right decision.

“I don’t want your firstborn, Jasewine.” And as hilarious as it was thatthat’sthe first thing that popped into her head, I didn’t laugh. “Raja stays with you until she chooses to step down. She is the regent, in charge of your council and your army. That doesn’t change.”

“Are you serious right now?” Jasewine strode closer to us, hands on her hips—and it did scare me for a second until she said, “What the hell would any of us do without her? Forgetchoosing to step down—she’s neverleaving,” Jasewine said, then looked at Raja. “You’re never leaving, Aunt Ra. Right?”

“I will be staying here, in my home, as is my duty to my people.” The look she gave me cut me wide open all over again.

Patience,I reminded myself. I had to be patient with her. She was hurting. She felt betrayed. She needed time, and I’d give it to her.

“Your word, Jasewine,” I said. “In front of these witnesses.” Because fae affairs changed within hours, and though I was confident about who Jasewine was, I still needed to make sure.

“You have it,” she said with a nod. “You have my word.”

The whole room heard her voice.

I nodded. “The army of the Frozen Court. I hereby, as the Midnight King, formally renounce all rights transferred to me by King Helem based on his deal with the former Ice Queen over it, and when I leave here tonight, I leave with the army, and with their Key of Command, which I will deliver to the new Ice Queen personally.” The key that had been a symbolic token that Queen Veyra had created to promise her army to the Midnight King. It was still here, in the study—I’d seen it locked in a glass box. A diamond half the size of my fist, buzzing with power.

Whispers from the council members. They were surprised, and I expected nothing different. These people were used to clinging to any kind of power that they could without really understanding what was happening with their home, with their magic. It was because of the former king that they’d created the idea that an army was the most powerful thing one could possess in today’s Verenthia.

But it wasn’t.

Magicwas. It belonged to everyone equally, and the stars wanted balance. No court should have two armies—but more than that. Nilah needed it.

“There are no wars to fight. There will be no battles. An army of a people belongs to that people,” I said for their benefit.

“You mean, their queen,” Raja said under her breath, but I didn’t let it get to me. If she thought I was doing this for Nilah—I was. Whether she believed I wanted balance, too, at the same time, was irrelevant now because she would find out soon. When everything fell into place, they would all find out.

“And their queen, yes,” I said and looked at Jasewine, whose cheeks had gotten paler now, and she looked less excited and more concerned by the second. “Just like the Midnight army belongs to you now.”

The whispering continued, grew louder. Raja walked over to the council members with a raised hand, spoke to them aboutrespecting the king’s wishes,while I took Jasewine by the hand and moved her a little closer to the windows, to the waterfall. With a single thought, the magic that she’d no doubt put over it to keep the volume down removed itself, and we heard every drop, felt it on our side as it sprayed us.

“I don’t know, Rune,” she said, and when she looked up at me like that with those wide eyes, she looked so much like her sisters. Like her father.Myfather.

Like me.

“You were made for this. You know you will be better at it than me.” There was not a single doubt in my mind about that. She loved the Midnight Court. She loved politics, too.

She grabbed my arms, dug her sharp fingernails in my skin. “This is too much! I don’t know—I don’t know what you want me to say, Rune!” And she was downright terrified now.

But I smiled. “Simple. Sayyes.”

Jasewine didn’t sayyesright away, but I knew she would.

She asked me to go meet the Seer of Shadows with her down in her chambers in the Great Library, but it was only a matter of time. She wanted this, even if she thought she shouldn’t, because of whatever impact Helem’s attitude toward ruling had had on her. But she wanted to rule, and she would.

I went with her to the seer as Raja held an emergency meeting with the rest of the council members, and she hardly looked at me as we crossed ways, but I had hope that she wouldcome around, too. Especially when things settled, and she saw what the future could look like when the power was balanced, and all four fae kingdoms were equals, as it was always meant to be. I had faith, and I would wait as long as it took. She had me forever, and so did Jasewine.

But when this day was done, it would be time for me to leave.