Page 51 of Boundless

“How in the world do you hear prayers?” I’d prayed like crazy, true, but I thought I was doing so in the privacy of my own mind.

“I’m your alpha, Nilah. I hear when I want to hear. We’re connected like that.” She pushed her thick waves behind her shoulder, and I was thrown back to a different time, a different place, though I was staring at the same eyes made of yellow shimmer.

She looked softer,Maera. Her features hadn’t changed a bit. Her jawline remained just as sharp, her brows dark and thick straight lines that went up toward her temples, and her hair wasrunway worthy just like before—blonde around her face, then a darker brown on the rest of her head, so long it touched her hips.

Even so, she looked…fuller. Had gained some weight, if I had to guess, and her shoulders were more open. Her chin a little higher. Her smile a little easier. She radiated power.

“Here I thought my prayers were private,” I said with a smile. “You look good, Maera. You really do.”

She laughed. “Thank you, Nilah. You don’t, though.” She reached out a hand and touched my cheek with the back of her fingers. “Tell me what happened. You used a ley line—that’s against every law we’ve ever had. What happened?”

Ah, hell.I closed my eyes, breathed in deeply, and reminded myself again that I was safe. Not just because I believed that Maera would never hurt me, but because ofmeas well. Rune was right all along—I had magic. And after using it every single day now for over a week, I had much more confidence in my ability to protect myself. At least to call forth magic at a moment’s notice.

So, I told her. I didn’t hold anything back from Maera—couldn’t if I tried. Something about the look in her eyes, the way she smiled, the way every emotion flashing on her face reflected all that I’d felt when I felt it. The pain and the fear and the disappointment.

I could have sworn that I told her the whole story much faster than I should have, like I’d needed fewer words. I didn’t have to explain much to her like I did to Betty and Arez, though, so that was probably why.

At the thought of them, my heart shook. I hoped they were okay. I hoped Arez had made it through, too. I hadn’t exactly considered pulling her in with me—it had been too much, and most of it not in my control at all, the way the ley lines had sucked me in.

But I would make sure that she made it one way or the other—just as soon as I found Rune. He was the Midnight King. He could send word to Bloomsridge. He could make it right, bring Arez back home. I had no doubt about it.

“Let’s sit and have some tea,” said Maera, waving behind us near the other end of the balcony where the stairs were, as well as a set of three chairs around a low, round table. My mouth was dry as a desert, so I didn’t complain. I thought the tea would be cold by now since the cups and the blue jug had been there since we arrived, but it was steaming hot when Maera poured it for me. Steaming hot and it smelled delicious, too—peppermint and honey and oranges.

“It does make sense that you are the heir to the Frozen throne,” Maera eventually said, and the delicious taste of the tea was lost on me just like that.

“I’m notan heir—I’m human,” I said, but I’d told her the truth, hadn’t I? Thewholetruth like even Rune didn’t know it yet. Only Betty and Arez.

“The throne presented itself to you, Nilah. It would only do so for the legitimate ruler of a court, I’m afraid,” Maera said, the yellow of her eyes even brighter as she sipped her tea and looked out at the blue sky while the sun slowly descended beyond the horizon to our side.

And I was here, and Rune was here, and I wanted to be on my way to him already—but at the same time I was not in a rush. Whatever this place was doing to me, I was not in a rush to leave. I wasn’t nervous. I wasn’t anxious. I was just…thinking.

“Maybe I can give it away,” I said, my voice small, weak. “Maybe I can take whatever part of the true queen I have out of me and give it to someone who truly deserves it. Who is meant to rule a kingdom.” Which was most definitely not me.

Silence for a heartbeat. I felt the weight of her eyes on the side of my face just fine but didn’t dare turn.

“Sheisyou now, Nilah. There is no one without the other.”

My stomach fell all the way to my heels. “You don’t know that.”

“I do. If you hadn’t been one, you’d have died or shifted when I scratched you. Only those of royal bloodline are stronger than moon magic and can make it submit. No other kind of Verenthian.”

So much wrong with those sentences. “I amnotof royal bloodline, and I amnotVerenthian.”

“Yet…you are,” was her answer.

And I was tempted to lose it. I was tempted to get angry, to scream and shout, torefuseeverything she was telling me, and run all the way to the Midnight Court.

But it wasn’t Maera’s fault for the position I was in. She was only speaking the truth as she knew it, and I was choosing to be thankful instead of angry.

“I need to go to the Midnight Court, Maera,” I said with a defeated sigh.

“To the new king,” she said with a deep nod that I only caught through my peripheral. “Your Rune. The bastard son.”

“Yes.”MyRune. That sounded exactly right to me. “I need to go to Rune.”

The wind blew, whispered in my ear as it pushed my hair back. The blue of the sky grew darker and darker by the second right before my eyes.

I released a loud breath—it’s good to be back,I thought.