Page 75 of Boundless

“Why would the likes ofyoube in the Quiet?” he spit, but I pretended he hadn’t said anything.

“The heirs—all the heirs must remain alive. You, and Rune, and the Unseelie heir, the only one who is still alive from the royal bloodline. Without heirs, the power loses balance. Without balance, Verenthia cannot survive. The ley lines are acting up, Lyall. The werewolves can barely contain the gates.”

Another step back. He was nowdisgustedby me all of the sudden. “You throw all those words to me like you have any idea?—”

“Stop,” I spit. “For fuck’s sake,stop. YouknowI’m not lying. You know it! Ask around—your uncle knew about the curse. I’m sure you have books on it. You can ask your seer—you can find out. But you cannot attack me, Lyall. I cannot die.”

These words weren’t bitter, but they were so strange against my tongue. If Vair were here, I’d have suspectedhespoke with my voice, but he wasn’t.

Slowly, Lyall’s lips stretched into another smile, only now with his bloodshot eyes and pale face, he lookedpossessed.He looked pure evil.

My God, could you even blame me for not wanting to believe my own eyes? This was the boy who’d saved my life. The boy I thought asmy saviormy whole life.

Look at us now.

“Why ever not?” he whispered, and his soldiers all moved a little bit closer. The sound of metal on metal filled my ears as more drew their swords, and my magic reacted as if it wanted out of its sheath, too.

“Because half the soul of the Ice Queen is in me. I am her heir.”

I said those words. I said them with my own mouth.

I am her heir.

But I said it to save myself.

I said it to save Verenthia.

I said it because of Rune!

I said it because Maera ordered me—all these justifications crashed into my skull within the second, but none of them stuck.

For the longest moment, Lyall analyzed my face like he was seeing me for the first time.

“You—anheir?” he finally spit. “You’re nothing but a useless mortal thatImade with these very hands.”

“Lyall—”

“Did you know that you were never bitten by a snake? Did you know that it was a bug that bit you, and my magic that paralyzed you—did you know?”

What the actual fuck.

“Imadeyou, Nilah Dune! You were nothing but a tool in my arsenal, one that served me better than I’d hoped, I’ll admit. But your time is over. You die now.”

He raised both hands toward me, his palms lit with that golden light I knew well. That same golden light thatI’dhad inside me while we were bound.

Fuck, I’d thought him my savior all my life, and all this time he really was the fucking villain.

Too late,said the voice in my head. The light was too bright, and he was too fast. My magic reacted, but it would be too late because the shock got in the way. The pure shock of learning yet another hidden truth—and it was almost funny because I’d foreseen it! I’d thought about this very thing many times, yet I hadn’t had the heart to believe it. Not when I thought of the face of the boy Lyall had been.

That’s when the ground exploded and threw me back like an invisible hand had grabbed me and pulled me from behind.

The next moment, all hell broke loose, and it took me a good long while to understand what was happening: the sorcerers of Mysthaven were attacking Lyall and his soldiers right before my eyes.

A million blinksand the view in front of me didn’t change.

Hands on my arm, real hands now, pulling me back; Maera’s voice whispering in my ear, but I couldn’t hear a thing she said becausewhat the hell is going on?!

The ground had broken in half just there. It had cracked right between mine and Lyall’s feet, and a gaping hole the size of a fucking truck went on forever on either side of the forest, pushing trees to the sides, pulling out their roots to the surface as they tried to hold on but couldn’t.