Page 92 of Boundless

twenty-seven

Rune loved to spoil me—somethingI always knew, but it still caught me by surprise to witness it again. He was so in tune with the palace that the lights moved when he did, and the bird was always following us, and the doors opened and closed for the staff to bring in food without him even having to leave my side, or evenlook awayfrom me for a single second.

It would have probably freaked me out had I not spent that week in the Ice Palace myself. The thought that I would have to return there haunted me already—but I didn’t need to think about it just yet.

Instead, I lay down in Rune’s bed, naked, and watched him feed me his favorite foods while he searched for my reaction and mentally catalogued where everything should be placed. I loved the light in his eyes while he did this, the care with which he offered me every single bite, the way hewaitedto see my reaction with his breath held and his eyes unblinking.

Fuck, I wanted to eathiminstead.

But we’d had our fun in the tub, and as he fed me, I told him all about what had happened to me since the day I got banished. I told him about home, about my family and about Arez, aboutthe wolves and the story and everything I could think of. It was so relieving to unleash all that was in my head in front of him like this without holding anything back—all exceptonething.

That throne.

“Talk to me,” Rune said, like he knew. Like he could really read my mind. Like he saw inside my head without even trying.

And as much as I wanted to run from this on all fours and never talk about it again, I didn’t.

“It happened.” Two words—and they were so fucking heavy.

“What happened?”

“The thing with the throne.” I closed my eyes and sat up straighter, and Rune pushed the plate full of cherries to the side to get closer to me. “The thing where the throne sort of sprung out of the dais for you when you killed Helem?”

He didn’t even flinch. “Yes?”

“The crystal dais in the Ice Palace did the same for me. It just…it broke. It opened, and up came a throne chair.” My voice shook. “I didn’t understand what it meant then, but when I saw it here in the Midnight Palace…”

Rune wrapped his hand on the back of my head and pulled me in to kiss my forehead.

“It’s okay,” he told me. “I would expect nothing less. The Ice Queen knew what she was doing, Wildcat. This is the reason why she did what she did.”

I jumped off the bed, terrified that he wasn’t shocked by this as he should have been, but Rune followed right behind. He stood up with me, as if he couldn’t bear to sit on the bed without me.

“She was…she wasa monster, Rune. And-and-and I have a part of her…” My voice trailed off again and I touched my chest—it felt like my whole heart was freezing. Like it was made of fucking ice.

Rune put his arm around my shoulders from behind and pulled me to him for a moment. “Let’s get one thing clear here.” Slowly, he spun me around until we were face to face, and the bird flew closer so he could see my eyes better. My glossy eyes full of tears. “You arenother.” His hand closed around my chin. “Wildcat, I’ve met her. And I know you. You arenotthe Ice Queen.”

The tears slipped. I didn’t want to ruin the moment, and I didn’t want to be weaknowwhen I’d gone through all of the story already without hesitation, but fuck it. It wasn’t in my control anymore, anyway.

Iwasweak, but I came together again between his arms in no time. While he held me tightly, I cried in silence until the tears ran all out, and my chest was a million times lighter within minutes.

“She made a deal with your father,” I eventually said. I knew Rune knew this, but I needed to talk about the ugliest parts of this, too.

He moved back a bit, raised my head and kissed my wet cheeks. “She did. He killed seven of his male children at birth to stop the prophecy—but he didn’t do it for her. He did it for himself.”

I squeezed my eyes shut. “Fuck—he’sa monster, too!”

“It’s fae royals,” Rune said. “They hunger for power. Most will do anything to keep it, even when they know they ought to step back. That was my father. He tried to keep his power for as long as possible, and having control over two fae armies gave him a lot more than he ever had before. But the Ice Queen didn’t do her part for the same reason.”

I closed my eyes. “Yes. She did it because she didn’t have an heir.”

“Exactly. She knew of the curse. Told everyone who would listen—but only my father did. That’s how he convinced her,trapped her, basically manipulated her into taking that deal. She told me about it herself, Wildcat. I remember all of it.”

My gut twisted a million times. “You remember her face?” Which, of course he did, but still.

“Yes.” He smiled like he knew what I was going to say next.

“Do I really look like her?” Because I’d asked everyone I could ask, but it was different when Rune said something.