Page 69 of Boundless

It was enough to warn people that the moment they crossed the pathway and went into that forest, they would be in Mysthaven.

Maera’s step didn’t falter. My attention was on her, so I saw. She wasn’t afraid in the least. Whether she was faking it or if she really felt it, I had no clue, but it was damn impressive. My hands were shaking the moment we stepped through those trees, and all my instincts were screaming at me to get back to Cloakwood as fast as I could—and I hadn’t even been caged for God knew how long by one of the sorcerers.

It made it easier to control my fear, though. Watching her taking step after step—and the four werewolves behind us follow without a hint of fear anywhere in their bodies—made it easier to get through to myself, to remind myself that I’d been in Mysthaven plenty of times before. I’d always survived it, and this time would be no different.

“I’ve been thinking,” Maera said a little while later, and shesoundedas relaxed as she looked, too. “The most obvious place to look for the Unseelie heir would be the Unseelie Court.”

I flinched. “I’ve thought about it, too. I don’t know—something tells me it’s wrong, though.” It was just a gut feeling, of course. “Could be because of those morvekai creatures that guard the ruined wall. They were…something else.” Beings made of fucking plastic. Too big, too vile, too…deadto be among the living.

“They are dangerous, indeed. They feel no pain and they do not get tired,” Maera said.

Shivers ran down my arms. “Rune will know. Vair will know,” I whispered, and I believed that with all my heart. If Rune couldn’t get us into the Unseelie Court, Vair could.

I missed the asshole so much it hurt, and my heart skipped beats at the thought of seeing him again. Whatever it was about the way I’d connected with that creature, it had taken root deepinside me all at once. And because of it I was certain that Vair would know how to find the Unseelie heir.

“The Midnight King should be able to request an audience with the current Unseelies holding the power. Plan a visit at the very least,” Maera said, lost in thought. “I think it could work. If we’re invited inside, we can search.” She waved a hand behind us to indicate the other werewolves. “We can find the heir if he’s being held in their palace.”

“You think he’s being held in the palace?” Because I hadn’t even considered it, but now that she said it…

Maera shrugged. “It would make sense. Those who are in power would keep an heir prisoner, I would assume. The ones who originally betrayed the court and killed the royal family were rumored to have killedallof them. They left nobody alive, but the Council was sure that an heir is still alive, and the only thing that makes sense is that he’s being held in a prison, possibly close to the ones who sit on the throne now.”

“It does make sense, actually,” I whispered. If they had left someone alive from the royal family, they’d make sure to have them under their control at all times.

“We’ll see,” Maera whispered, eyes on the ground, deep in thought still.

I had no idea where we were yet, but I was sure that we’d get through Mysthaven unbothered, despite my fear. Just like when I’d been with Maera and those three men before, and just like when I’d passed by here with Vair to and from the Quiet—it was going to be an uneventful journey.

And the moment the thought occurred to me, I saw the first sorcerer.

twenty-one

We all sawher at the same time. We all stopped in the same second.

The sorcerer was not alone.

She stood there half hidden behind a big oak tree, its leaves dark, almost completely devoid of color. Those colors would continue to fade the deeper into the forest we went, but here you could still see them. The sorcerer was hiding behind a branch, only one of her eyes visible as she watched us curiously. She wore black from head to toes, and a hood over her head that hid her hair completely, but she seemed old. Wrinkled.

Smiling.

Then I noticed the bald man standing not too far behind her, resting his shoulder against a tree, arms crossed in front of him as he looked at us. He, too, was smiling, and he seemed younger. He didn’t wear black but a light grey over his shoulders, and he didn’t mind that we could see him at all. He wasn’t trying to hide.

A bad feeling settled in my gut instantly. Something about sorcerers coming out in plain sight for you to see them…

“Keep moving.” Maera grabbed my hand and pulled me forward. The werewolves, who usually stayed about ten feetaway from us, were close,veryclose. Right behind our backs now. “They’re not going to try anything funny. We will keep moving.”

Whether Maera said this in hopes that the sorcerers would hear her, I didn’t know. But continuing to walk deeper into that forest when I felt their eyes on the back of my head was torture. It was going against my every instinct to continue to move.

Then came more.

Maera didn’t let me stop walking. She kept holding me by the hand, which I appreciated, and she held her head up and her shoulders back. She never hurried, and the werewolves behind us did the same, stayed about two feet behind us, and eventually one of them began to whistle, too.

But the sorcerers didn’t stop us.

It was one of the strangest things I’d ever seen. I could count eight of them, seven women and that one man, who were slowly following us from the sides, keeping their eyes on us the whole time, smiling to themselves, never uttering a single word. Never attacking. My magic was on high alert, and the cold had numbed the tips of my fingers as I continuously held myself back from releasing it.

But I would. By God, the moment those sorcerers tried something funny, I was going to use all the ice magic and all the frostfire I could muster to stop them. Yeah, I was scared shitless, but I was also angry, and impatient, and fucking tired of being afraid, too.

“What the hell are they doing?” I said under my breath because more of them were ahead, on our sides. More of them, like they’d known we were coming, and they’d been waiting.