Page 153 of Boundless

While she read the passages over and over again, I played with the cube, traced the corners and every embossed line, prayed that Vair knew I was coming for him wherever he was.

The seer smiled at me, eyes as silver as the threads of the white dress I wore. That’s why I’d gotten to calling her theSilver Seerin my head.

“Your Highness, a word if I may,” she said.

“Yes?” I certainly wanted to hear anything she had to say. She literally saw things a world away.

“Everything will work out the way it’s supposed to.”

Warm words, but my heart seemed to be covered with ice just now. “Did you see that in a vision?” Because that would make it much easier to believe.

“No, but I saw you.”

I smiled. “Thank you, Seer. And the Curse?” Because ultimately, that was the thing that mattered most. The Curse of Rot that the Seelie Queen had put in motion, and the other royals had helped spread across Verenthia. The reason why I was here in the first place, and why Lyall was still alive.

The stars required balance between the courts, and we’d made it happen. Hopefully, that would be enough.

“It has come to a halt, but it will take its time. I feel it will be stubborn,” she told me.

I held back a sigh of relief. “That’s okay.” I wasverystubborn, too. “As long as it doesn’t spread.”

“It won’t. Not anymore,” the seer said, just as someone knocked on the door. “Your Highness…” She moved before Icould, went to open it and disappeared outside before I could even saybye.

Then I saw him standing there in front of the open door, smiling at me.

Rune wore a black suit with a silver shirt underneath. The same silver as the fabric of my dress.

Rune wore a fucking suit, and if I died now, I would have no complaints whatsoever. I’d forever be happy.

I didn’t die, though. Instead, he smiled and he came closer, put his fingers under my chin and raised my head until my lips met his, just a ghost of a touch.

I sighed.

This guy could make me bring down armies and worlds without even trying.

“Your Highness,” he whispered, and my knees were so weak, but his arm was already round my waist, so I was safe. “Your dress makes me jealous.”

“Mhmm…” I closed my eyes, let go of all my weight and he handled it perfectly. “Feel free to take it off any time you please, Your Highness.”

I felt it when his lips stretched all the way.

“I’m not a king anymore,” he said, and I leaned back a bit.

“But youwillbe, right? I mean, when we get married, and because I’m queen, that means…”

Realization hit me far too late.Oh, shit.My eyes closed, squeezed shut.

My mind twisted and turned and became dark, then really bright—what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, Nilah!?

“Not that…um, you know, not thatwe willget married or anything. That’s not…I-I-I just meant, you know…”Great. I am a fucking moron.

A chuckle. A hand on my cheek. Impossible to keep my eyes closed.

“You blush the same color as winter roses,” Rune said.

“I didn’t mean to imply that you—” But he didn’t let me speak at all.

“And, yes, Wildcat, wewillget married. We’ll get married every winter if you’d like.”