Page 146 of Boundless

“I’ve seen it. The stars have revealed it. She carries the late Ice Queen’s magic and her soul. She is?—”

“An imposter.”

Lyall’s voice echoed even though we were outside.

His hand was on the handle of his sword, glowing golden from within, when he turned to the both of us. Maera growled in warning, but if he cared, he didn’t show it. He came closer anyway.

“You dare to claim you’ve been touched by the stars—well, the seer of the Seelies has seen through you. You are nothing but an imposter, too. A liar, deserving of a public beheading!”

The conviction with which he spoke sent goose bumps all over me. He wascertainof every single word, like he believedeverything he said himself, and that’s when it occurred to me that this could actually,reallyhappen. My God, he could come here, and he could point fingers, and he could call us liars and imposters and convince an entire people of it because he had power. He had an army, a kingdom. He had a reputation.

The truth didn’t really matter, did it? It hadn’t my entire life. Nobody had ever believed it when I told it back home—so why would anybody believe me now?

“No,” the seer said. “Iama seer. The stars have spoken to me. I have yet to complete my connection, butI see!”

The woman was shaking. I was sure she was going to collapse soon.

So, I stepped in front of her, put my hand on her arm, and gently pushed her back—she needed to put distance between herself and Lyall.

“Convenient, isn’t it? That a seer wouldn’tcomplete her connectionto the visions she claims to have right away—and I’d have believed it if I hadn’t been raised with a seer by my side. If she hadn’t told me how fast everything moved.”

“Because the queen wasn’t here—the queen—” the seer tried again, but I already knew it was in vain.

“There is no queen here,” Lyall cut her off, and his loud voice rang in my ears. “Only a king…should the people choose him.” And he waved an arm at the crowd.

The crowd that cheered and clapped, louder than before.

This is it.He was doing this, and it was going to fuckingworkbecause I was a mortal. I was not one of them. And I was alone against a man with a kingdom and an army.

But I’d be fuckingdamnedif I went down without a fight. I either died or I won—there was no third option. That was a decision I’d made even before I realized it.No third option.

Taking in a deep breath, I prayed with all my heart for Rune to survive Lyall, and the curse, and whatever else this place had yet to throw at him.

“Move, Maera,” I whispered because I wanted to get closer.

She did so reluctantly but stayed right next to me while I approached Lyall, until I saw every feature of his face in detail. His flushed cheeks and the gold specks in his eyes, and the malice hidden in them.

The smile on my face was forced at first, but then it came naturally. “I’m not afraid of you, Lyall.”

God, hehatedthat. I saw it in the way his eyes suddenly darkened, and his smile froze—he was trying very hard not to give me the pleasure, but he already had.

“You don’t scare me with your lies and your soldiers.” I spoke each word clearly, loudly—I wanted them all to hear, to remember how this went when I was gone. I wouldn’t die a coward, not in any way. And at least someone would remember it, I hoped. “I was five years old when you took over my life completely. I went through hell to get to you when you needed me to save your life. I was your friend.Runewas your friend, and you wanted to get rid of him because you knew he was a better man than you. He would be a better king than you any day.”

The look in his eyes turned murderous now, but I wasn’t done. Becausefuck this.

“Careful, mortal,” he had the audacity to tell me.

And I said, “I amnota mortal, asshole. I’m the Ice Queen.”

Words I never thought I’d ever say in my whole entire life—proudly.Words I had yet to understand the true meaning of, but I said them loudly. He heard. Everyone heard. And my magic must have heard, too, because suddenly my hands were burning with cold, and there was no pain to accompany it whatsoever.

Suddenly, something flashed before my eyes—a face looking back at me in a mirror.

Me,but not me.

It took me only a second to realize it was Queen Veyra of the Frozen Court staring at her own reflection in a time that was long gone.

Her hands had been burning bright with light then, and mine did the exact same now. Her eyes had been wide and her lips parted then, as were mine now. Her heart had skipped a beat or three then, I was sure, because mine did the same now.