Page 86 of Boundless

“Is this the mortal?” said the woman, turning to look at me, her smile strangely genuine, though mischievous. It gave me the impression that she was messing with me.

“I’m Nilah,” I said when the silence got to me, still unsure what exactly to expect.

“I’m Princess Jasewine,” the woman said with a slight nod of her head before she turned to Rune again. “And you’ve brought wolves to our doorstep—how very…reckless of you.”

Rune took half a step forward and my heart skipped a beat. “They’re my guests. Is that going to be a problem?”

His every word weighed a thousand pounds, and it settled right over my shoulders. If these people here tried to attack Maera and her pack mates, I was going to fight them. God help me, I was going to try.

But…

“Well, you did trust me with the crown, and it’s my job to make sure the palace remains safe.” The woman raised the crown—the crown of the Midnight King, the same one King Helem had had on his head when I first saw him.

“But…” A big, bright smile was on the woman’s face. Rune refused to move a single inch, and I had no fucking idea how much longer I could take the pressure, when…

“Thank the stars you’re back now, Your Highness.” Fuck, that grin. “Allow me.”

She moved lightning fast, and my magic slipped out of my fingertips on instinct until I realized she’d put the crown right over Rune’s head.

“There. Much better. Welcome home, My King. Shall I see to it that a meal is prepared for your guests? I’d be honored.”

Hands against her chest, the woman blinked all innocently at Rune.

Rune, who had closed his eyes and who was finallybreathing.

The woman laughed. “Your face was priceless just now, brother. Come, come. I get bored standing here. Come on, now.” And with a wave of her hand, she turned around and slipped inside the doors, laughing under her breath still.

Why the fuck just happened?

I looked at Rune. He looked at me. Sighed. “Welcome to the Midnight Palace, wildling.”

I shook my head at the small smile on his lips. “I don’t understand.” Which might have been the understatement of the fucking century.

“That’s okay. I’ll try to explain.” He raised my hand to his lips and kissed my knuckles. “Come on in.”

Together, we walked through the doors, and Maera and her wolves followed.

twenty-five

The eating hall was quiet,save for the movement of the help who served the food.

Wheels turning. Footsteps, perfectly precise, hitting the marble floor at the same time. Seven Midnight fae dressed in dark grey and black uniforms moving platters and glasses from their metal carriages and onto the table in front of us like they were in a dance.

Nobody spoke a single word. They set the food down, then retreated toward the doors that didn’t look like doors at all when they closed, just an extension of the dark wall, half hidden by shadows where the light of the caged candles and the crystals full of fae light didn’t reach.

It was a long room, the eating hall, and it was safe, Rune said. We needed to eat—and I agreed, as much as I wanted to just hide away with him somewhere and make sure he was okay. Because I needed tothinkfirst, and I always thought better when I rested and when I had a full stomach, so here we were.

Sitting at a long black dining table, polished to a sheen and surrounded by dark walls and paintings of shadows, flowers I’d never seen before with deep purple petals that turned black closeto the edges. They were just as beautiful as those winter roses in the Frozen Court, though these smelled very different.

Rune sat at the head of the table, the crown no longer on his head. He must have left it somewhere I didn’t see on our way up here. I sat on his right, and Raja sat across from me on the other side together with Jasewine. Maera and her two pack mates were right next to me.

“Please, help yourselves,” Rune said to Maera and the wolves, while he took my plate and began to fill it with food. I watched him, my heart squeezing, in pain and relieved at the same time.

He looked good. Physically, he was just as perfect as always, and it hurt that I’d forgotten his face almost completely while we’d been apart. The shape of his lips and the colors of his eyes, the feel of his hair between my fingers. I’d almost forgotten.

Now, as he poured water into my glass, I couldn’t help but wonder, how long would it bethistime before something tore us apart? Because something always did. How long did we even have?

A new wave of tears pricked the back of my eyes when I saidthank you,so I picked up the silverware to eat, just so I had something to look at, and a moment to compose myself. I didn’t really taste the vegetables and the rice Rune had served me, but I chewed and swallowed in silence, just like everybody else.