Page 15 of Boundless

“If you know of any way to get out of here…” I said because a part of me still thought Raja capable ofeverything.If there was someone who could manipulate the Midnight Palace, it would beher.

“There isn’t,” she said without hesitation. “The only way you can leave this wing is if the palace knows you don’t plan to leave. You can’t fool it, boy. It’s as ancient as this land.”

It’s a fucking building!“She’s?—”

“Safe.” I stopped speaking. “She is safe. Away from all this madness. Away from magic and curses and anyone who would want to hurt her. Nilah is safe for now.Weare not.”

I’m not sure how long I stayed there, motionless, staring at nothing while my mind became more and more crowded withmemories of the past—the Ice Queen’s face, her eyes, her smile—and Nilah. My reason for being alive.

“She will be all right, Rune.” Raja had moved in front of me, put her hand over mine. “She’s a smart girl. As tough as it gets. For all we know she’ll find her way to you. She always does.”

That was true. She was the most stubborn, incredible person I would likely ever meet. But…

“She can’t. He banished her. She won’t be able to cross the Aetherway.”

Raja thought about it for a moment. “Then you can try to remove it, so then when you’re free to go after her, you can actually bring her back.”

Bring her back.

My stomach twisted uncomfortably, and the magic, those shadows, rioted inside me. Nilah had wanted nothing more than to be back home for so long, and now she was.

She was in her home now.

A thought occurred to me that shut down all others. Would she even want to come back?

“She belongs here, too, now,” Raja continued, as if she’d heard the thoughts in my head. “If the Ice Queen made her calculations right, the Frozen Throne will accept her. But you must make sure that the Midnight Court remains under your rule first.”

“She did,” I said, my voice dry. A headache developed behind my eyes so fast—by the sheer intensity of the magic that rose inside me, and my instinct to control it, push it down. “The Ice Queen made her calculations right. She was certain that it would work. The Frozen Court would have an heir.”

A moment of silence.

“Then it is settled.” Raja stood up. “You will remain here until the palace lets you go. Until then, if Nilah finds you, all the better.”

The walls, the stairs, the fae lights floating about mocked me, laughed at my face. Raja was right—I was trapped here. Not only because this building wouldn’t allow me to leave, but because even if I somehow did, and the Midnight Court was taken by someone whowasn’tof the royal bloodline, it wouldn’t matter if I got Nilah back. There would be no place to get her back to.

I had a lot of reading to do, and a lot to talk about with the seer, but Verenthia would not last if what the Ice Queen said was true. For now, it seemed I was trapped in these velvet clothes, in this palace, in this kingdom.

Raja cleared her throat from the top of the stairs behind me.

“Ready for the throne room, Your Highness?”

five

Nilah Dune

Sunlight on my face.It was…different. Likebefore—and I wasn’t even sure how I could tell. Just that the warmth of it felt better to me. Softer. Lighter.

Meanwhile, most things in Verenthia came with extra baggage—mostly magic spreading in the air. The same kind of magic that rushed through my veins now, too. Fae magic.

That’s because I was not merely a mortal. I hadn’t been since I was five years old.

Rune.

My eyes opened wide to a ceiling I remembered well. White, and with a single small crack from one corner of the wall to the other, practically invisible if you didn’t know it was there—but I did. After all, I’d woken up in this very room my whole life, and maybe that’s why I couldn’t move still. Maybe that’s why tears were sliding from the corners of my eyes while I stared at the ceiling and tried to breathe deeply, tried to calm my racing heart.

Home.

I was home—withoutRune.