Page 32 of Boundless

Most importantly—Iwould know why the throne room of the Ice Palace revealed the throne chair to me that night, just before it let me go. Like the Midnight Palace gave the throne chair to Rune when he killed his father and became king.

So much still to figure out. So much to learn.

“Nil,” Betty said, shaking me until I opened my eyes. I hadn’t even realized I’d closed them.

“I won’t come back here again,” the golem said. “If I leave, I’m not coming back.”

Except she would—and she wasn’t a very good liar, I thought. Easy to tell, especially since I’d spent what felt like a lifetime in the fae realm.

“We’re all ears,” I forced myself to say, not because I trusted her—I didn’t. But if she really thought she could help me get to Verenthia, then Betty was right, I wanted to know.Withoutgetting my hopes up, I thought, but…too late.I was already looking at the golem like she might have all my answers for me a second in, and I couldn’t even smack myself in the face about it.

“The ley lines,” the golem said. “I know where most of them are near this Aetherway, and I know one big enough to carry us through—ifwe can fire it up with enough magic.”

There went my hopes, crashing and burning in front of my feet, just like I knew they would.

“What the hell’s a ley line?” Betty asked when I refused to say anything, and I closed my eyes again. Tried to think if I’d heard the term in Verenthia just in case, but I hadn’t. I’d read about it in books here on Earth, but I had never heard of it spoken out loud by anyone.

“They’re these currents of magic. Basically rivers of energy that carry incredible power and potential,” said the golem, and suddenly she cast a nervous look around, like she was trying to make sure nobody was out there spying on us.

“I’ve never heard of ley lines before,” I said, not entirely sure yet whether I wanted to tell her to leave—and keep ker promise to never come back.

The golem looked at me again. “You’ve never heard of the werewolves of The Vale?”

Werewolves of The Vale.

I stopped, Maera’s face painting itself in the center of my mind instantly. “Ihaveheard of werewolves.”

“Do you know how they became werewolves then?” Wide greenish eyes locked on mine, and she hadn’t even blinked yet.

“Yes.”

“Then youhaveheard of the ley lines,” she concluded.

A moment ticked by. I was replaying every conversation I had with Maera in my mind as fast as I could, but…

“For fuck’s sake, can’t we sit down and talk like adults?” Betty said, and she let go of my arm and went to sit down near the tree right across from the Aetherway. “Come on, sit. Both of you.”

But the golem and I were still looking at one another.

My God, I hated to be sosuspicious.It was like a disease, the feeling almostslimy,sticking to me uncomfortably. And I hated threats even more, but I still forced myself to say, “If you try anything, Iwillkill you.” And as horrifying as it was to realize it, Imeantit.

If this golem tried to hurt Betty or my family, I was really going to do my best to kill her. I wouldn’t hesitate, not after all I’d seen.

And she knew it, too.

“Noted,” she said, and she stepped back and went to sit on Betty’s left without ever taking her eyes off me.

ten

“Ley lines are ancient,older than Verenthia itself,” the golem said as she made herself comfortable, pushed her skirt down her knees. She wore black boots that went up her shins, and her feet were big. Her hands were big. Her head was big. It should’ve made no sense that she would have such a small body, but here she was. “Think of them as these veins that spread across the universe. They connect realms together, different dimensions, different power sources—nobody quite knows how far they go, or exactly how much they hold. They’re like these magical roads, and if you’re strong enough to access a ley line, it allows you to tap into incredible power, to cross between worlds without the need for an Aetherway.”

I waited, and Betty was silent, too. But the golem stopped there.

So, I said, “But?” Because there was most definitely abutthere. I’d been around magic long enough to know that nothing like what she described came without a price. A very,verysteep price.

And the golem flinched, looked down at the sequins of her skirt, pretended to wipe away dust that wasn’t there.

“Well, I mean, it’sdifficultto tap into a ley line, obviously. And-and-and it requires incredible power.” Which wasn’titat all.