Page 9 of Boundless

Behind her was a storage room I’d been to with Mother before. The help kept supplies there, and also tables and chairs for breaks.

The fae turned, grabbed the handle, and pushed the door open. The room was empty.

“Am I in trouble?” I wondered because adults usually didn’t speak to me unless I was.

She smiled again, just like before. “Absolutely not. I merely want to talk to you.”

“About what?” What could a fae like her want to talk tomeabout? Now I was very, very curious.

“Tell me something, Rune. Do you know who you are?” she asked. “Do you know who your father is?”

Something inside me shifted.

I’d asked Mother about my father once. The other children had them. Their fathers worked in laundry or gardening orforges. But Mother said I didn’t have one, that she made me herself. That I was hers and hers only.

Of course, I never believed her. Everyone knows how fae are made, but she never once changed her answer.

I tried to speak now, to tell this fae that I didn’t know the answer to her question, but I found I couldn’t. I only shook my head.

She pushed the storage door open all the way and walked in. “Come, Rune. Let’s sit down. I have a very important story to tell you.”

For a moment, I hesitated, tried to find a reason as to why Ishouldn’t.I tried to stop myself, but the curiosity was still there. I knew Mother had reasons for not telling me who my father was. I knew I should honor her memory and refuse knowledge she didn’t want me to have.

I walked ahead and into the storage room anyway. Mother was no longer here. I was alone. And if I actually had a father who was out there, I wanted to know. I had the right to, I thought.

The storage room smelled of bleach and dust, and the first table was already prepared with two chairs to the sides pulled and ready for the both of us. As we sat, the fae raised a hand and her magic wassilver,almost completely white. It fell on the door, spread on the wood, into the keyhole, then disappeared. It was like shimmer.

I liked it, I thought. It was cold, too—just like my shadows.

The fae folded her hands over the table, and I couldn’t help but notice how the skin over her fingernails was blue. Maybe she’d painted it?

She sighed deeply, and when she did, white came out of her mouth. Like she was freezing. Like the room was cold—and it wasn’t. It was normal for spring.

But before I could wonder about it more, the fae began to speak, and I listened.

“The Seer of Shadows made a prophecy a while ago about me, Rune.”

The Seer of Shadows—I knew who that was. Seers were powerful. They were sacred, Mother said. They were to be obeyed and respected always—but I’d never seen the one who lived in the Grand Library underneath the palace. I wasn’t allowed there yet.

“According to that prophecy, the son of the Midnight King was going to be the end of me,” the fae continued, her voice light. “Naturally, I panicked. Tried to escape it. Tried to do anything in my power to avoid it. Even gave away my army for it. Such silly mistakes.”

There, she paused for a beat, as if she wanted to give me time to understand.

And I did. I understood. I’d heard of the prophecy—Aldon, whose mother worked for the Midnight Queen, said he heard her talking to another servant one night about the death of the Ice Queen of the Frozen Court.

The Ice Queen that came to the Midnight Palace often, but she always wore a veil over her head, gloves on her hands, a crown on her head.

Aldon said that the queen was a friend of our king and that is why she spent time here often, and his mother said once that the Midnight Queen hated it. Hatedher,the Ice Queen. She was never allowed into the room when the Ice Queen was visiting, Aldon said, but she’d seen her face once, and the Ice Queen was ugly.

Those had been the words of our queen, according to Aldon’s mother, but they were wrong. Because ifthisfae was the Ice Queen, she was beautiful. I could see her face just fine. She woreno crown or veil or gloves, only a dress and a smile—and she was the most beautiful fae I had ever seen.

“But things are as they are, I’m afraid, and the time has come for me to accept my fate. The Midnight King has killed all of his male offspring at birth, as was his deal with me. I will forever hold the weight of their souls on my shoulders.”

Everybody knew this. The adults spoke openly about it even in front of us.

I looked at the fae—thequeenof the Ice fae, more curious than ever. I’d never needed to hear more words coming out of a person than I did now, but Mother said it was important not to be rude to strangers, so I didn’t try to rush her.

“Yes, that was the deal we made.” Her eyes were down now, on her hands. She touched her knuckles and looked at her long fingernails polished with color that made them look like she had ice over them. “Just as we agreed, he killed all of his sons as they came…” Her voice trailed off as she looked up at me. “Except one.”