Page 70 of Boundless

Thirteen sorcerers that I could see now—and I was willing to bet anything that more would be there soon as well. Just the weight of the air around me, the intensity of the magic that came with so many of them so close together.

I’ve never seen so many sorcerers in the same place before,I thought. The most I’d encountered were three—the same three who’d chased Maera and me off the edge of that cliff.

“They’re just watching. We don’t stop walking,” Maera whispered, and again, it struck me howcalmshe sounded. Like she’d never been caged by these people before. Like she really believed that if it came to it, we could take them, even though we were outnumbered.

“Maera,whyare they watching us like that?” And why the hell were they smiling? So many of them—and just like I suspected, the more we walked, the more of them came through the trees. A whole fucking audience, none of them speaking to one another, just watching us.

“They feel you,” Maera whispered, and there went my heart, falling all the way to my heels again. “They feel your magic. It’s my best guess.”

“I’ve been here before. I’ve never?—”

She stopped walking. Two of the werewolves who’d been behind us were now ahead, to our sides, looking forward.

At a sorcerer I’d seen before who had stopped right in the middle of our way.

It was the one who’d laughed, the one with dark reddish hair, the one with a corset, and boobs that nearly touched her chin. It was the one who’d chased after Maera and me that day, together with her two friends—and just like that day, she looked purelyhappynow, too.

Fuck, I hated that smile on her face.

“The dead have awakened.”

Four words, and it felt like I turned inside out at once.

Magic at my fingertips, on the palms of my hands, so cold it burned me.

“Walk away, sorceress. We’re only passing through,” said Maera, and I wasn’t sure whether the sorcerer recognized her at all, but she hardly gave her a glance before stepping forward.

“Oh, but we’re only here to witness Her Majesty’s return.”

“I’m n?—”

Nails drove deep into my skin. Maera squeezed me so hard her nails left bloody half-moons on my skin.

My magic raged even more, coming up with the anger that seemed to explode from my very bones like a fucking volcano.

“Witness it from over there, then,” said Maera, nodding her head to the side.

The two werewolves who’d stepped in front of us started walking. Maera pulled me to follow. The woman, who was a head taller than me, turned to give me a quick look. Her yellow eyes shone, and I could have sworn she told me not to worry. The four werewolves hadn’t spoken to me once, hadn’t approached me, but this woman, at least, didn’t look like she hated me.

Hand in hand with Maera, we walked ahead.

“But it’s so curious, is it not?” the redhead sorcerer continued to speak, but she was moving, too. Backward and to the side. To the already small crowd gathered on our right, slightly smaller than the one on our left.

So many sorcerers…

“We thought the Ice Queen was dead. We felt it. And now her magic is among us. It signals us. We had to see, didn’t we?”

Her voice was like daggers straight into my ears. I bit my tongue before I started screaming at her to leave me the fuck alone.

“After all, we thoughtshewas dead once, too—the very same girl. A dead body with a long-dead soul. Asupposedlydead soul, of course.”

She remembers.

I wasn’t sure why that surprised me—of course she would remember me. It had only been a couple months since she and her friends were looking down at my body, telling me I was way past saving, that I was going to die soon because Maera had scratched me.

“Well, you were wrong. She never died. The likes of you couldn’t kill a queen if you tried. Step aside, sorcerers,” Maera continued, and though we’d slowed down a bit, we were still moving. We were still walking.

And the sorcerer, with a deep bow of her head moved all the way to the right, hands with nails tipped like claws in plain sight. No potions and no magic. No weapons—except for that smile on her lips.