Page 59 of Boundless

I looked up.

“We don’t know.”

The funny part? I wasn’t surprised in the least. “You don’t know?” Even my voice didn’t waver.

“No. But whoever they are, wherever they are, they are alive. So long as the four of you are alive, there is hope,” Udah said, with a deep nod, and for a second there, I was sure shepitiedme. But of course, it could have been my imagination. She was too far, too high.

“How long?” Maera whispered.

“It would take years for the damage to become irreversible. Possibly over a decade.”

Fuck, the relief was instant. That was good, wasn’t it? That mean over ten more years. One could do a lot in ten years.

“But…” Balor said, and all eyes turned to him. “The ley lines have been restless. The gates have been harder to keep closed for over three summers now. The rot might be the end of VerenthiafromVerenthia, but if I had to guess?” Balor looked around at his colleagues for a moment. “We only have another summer until we no longer have full control over them.”

Again, that silence, and everyone was suddenly looking down, thinking.

“Meaning?” I asked because I was the only one who didn’t know.

“Meaning the gates with the other realms will open,” Maera said.

“And what happens when the gates open?” Because I’d opened another gate, technically. I’d come through here on a ley line.

Maera’s bright eyes darkened with fear. “Verybad things. Anyone in the universe would have access to our realm, and we would have no means to stop it.”

“Wait, wait, hold on a minute—just how big is the universe, and what else is out there?” But perhaps even more importantly—did I even want to know?!

Maera opened her mouth but said nothing, only shook her head.

“There is a reason why the stars ordered these gates to remain closed at all times.” Udah’s voice made chills rush down the length of me. “There is a reason whywewere created to keep them closed. If they open, it will be the end of us.”

Those words. Those last four words echoed in the Chamber a million times, and while they did, they seemed to have paralyzed each and every one of us.

“Thank you for your time, Council,” Maera suddenly said with a deep nod, pulling me out of my trance.

“No, no—I have more questions,” I said because I couldn’t just leave yet. What they told me here—it wasinsane.What they were asking me to do was completely absurd!

Find a lost heir?

Sit on a fucking fae throne?!

No.Justno.

“We’ve answered all that we can answer, and now we urge you to begin your search. Tomorrow,” said Udah with her chin up and her voice crystal clear.

“But I don’t?—”

“We will get to it, Mistress Udah. We won’t let Verenthia down.”

We,Maera said, like she spoke for me as well.

“Maera, wait.” But she’d already grabbed me by the arm and was pulling me back. “I can’t—I can’t juststayhere forever. You have to understand—I have a family on Earth! My whole life is there!”

Another man stood up—his name I didn’t know. He leaned forward as if to see me better, then said, “Then why did you use the ley lines to come back?”

The shock of hearing those words fried my vocal cords, and I found, as Maera dragged me farther back, that I couldn’t make a single sound.

I knew the answer to that question. Of course, I did—I was here because of Rune.