Page 53 of Boundless

“I understand, Maera,” I finally said and released my tight fists. It was over now. Done. I couldn’t run, not from so deep inside their territory. Not without a plan. “Lead the way.” I would rather get this over with quickly.

sixteen

The Vale hadnine wolf packs in total, Maera said. Thornevale was hers. It was a medium-sized pack with close to fifteen thousand werewolves in it. It was most definitelynotwhat I expected. I thought their numbers would be much smaller, but apparently what we saw from the top of her balcony earlier was just Thornevale, the town. Apparently, there were nine other centers across The Vale, some built more like cities, others like villages, some made of stone blocks, others of wood.

This Council that the stars chose out of the blue whenever they felt like it had a member from each of these packs. They gathered all across The Vale, Maera told me, wherever they were needed, and tonight, they’d come to the temple built in their honor here in Thornevale, which was the reason why she was so sure that they’d been gathered because of me.

Unfortunately, the more I understood how this worked, the more I agreed.

“I just need you to do one thing for me, Maera,” I said as we moved through an open field and toward the next, where a single building stood against the dark, with two large torches burning on either side of the doors. They called itthe Chamber. Theorange golden flames looked like they were waving at me, but the closer we got, the colder they became. “Whatever happens to me next, I need you to reach out to Rune. A letter, a messenger, anything at all—reach out and tell him what happened.”

Maera turned to look behind at the men and wolves who were following us. At least two dozen of them had joined us as we went from her house at the top of the highest hill, through the Thornevale town and toward the edges of it. I wasn’t sure how they knew who was to join and who to stand back as I hadn’t seen Maera give any kind of signal, but they knew somehow. They kept their distance, but they were there.

“I will go to him myself,” Maera said, then looked at me. “With you.”

When she stopped, all who were following us did, too.

“But I need one thing from you as well. Claim your title. Claim your throne. A queen cannot be punished by our Council the same way an ordinary fae would.”

It was like she put a knife into my gut and twisted it.

“Maera,” I said, her name a warning falling from my lips.

How was I going to explain to her that I hadn’t allowed myself to even dwell on the fact that a fae throne had revealed itself to me? How was I going to explain to her that I hadn’t even told my family, my own father, that I’d left them with nothing but a kiss and a note on the kitchen table, because the very idea of it terrified me? Because if I reallyclaimedwhatever the Ice Queen had done to me, it felt like I was giving up onme.On Nilah.

The Nilah I had been my whole life.

“There is a good chance that they already know your story, Nilah. It is not a request,” she said, and touched my chin with the tips of her fingers, raised my head up. “You will claim to be who you are, and we’ll see where it takes us.”

There was power in her words, raw power that I felt. Part of me wanted to submit, to agree, to go above and beyond to make sure she was happy, but…only for a second. Because the other part of me was already thinking ahead, imagining the worst scenario, and that part did not submit to anyone. That part was so verymeit surprised me—I’d thought it would be the soul of the queen, but no. It was the stubborn me, the side of me that refused to back up or give in.

“Just talk to him in whichever way you can, no matter what happens,” I told Maera. “That’s all I ask.”

A small smile curled the corners of her lips. “I will. We both will.” And I wanted to believe in that with all my heart.

But I was also reminding myself that I could be locked away when we got to the Chamber. I was reminding myself that a building had held me hostage once, and werewolves were just as equipped to do the same, if they saw fit. I’d broken their rules, had used their ley lines. But as long as I was here in Verenthia, I could make it. Iwouldmake it one way or the other.

We continued ahead toward the building.

“Will we have to wait?” I asked Maera, because I saw nobody coming except the people and the wolves following us again.

“We’ll know when we get there,” Maera said.

Form that moment on, every step and every second seemed to pass by faster.

I felt the magic radiating from the Chamber when we were still ten feet away. It had a round roof, four pillars made of thick stone blocks that rose into towers on all corners. Each one was engraved with a sign that looked like the open mouth of a wolf. The wooden doors looked old and worn, but they still held. No windows, no way to see inside from here.

Maera looked back once, raised a hand.

The wolves and the men and women who’d followed us spread out instantly all around the building. The moon was half hiding in the sky tonight, right over me now.

And I was calm.

“Ready?” Maera said.

I meant it when I said, “I am.”

“I will try the doors. If they let us through, we go in. If they don’t, we go back.”