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They went ahead to the woman holding the golden bowl, who was welcoming them to the special feast.

Meanwhile, I was trying to stop my hands from shaking.

“Something’s off here, Rune,” I whispered, and maybe I was exaggerating things, but fuck, I hated the feel of this magic.

I hated what it reminded me of. What had come after it the last time I’d felt it.

How it had stopped me from accessing the energy in my own body, how it had locked the warmth and the cold away.

“It’s fine. It’s just a trick. Breathe, Wildcat,” Rune whispered.

“Where is he? Why isn't he here? What…”

“He’ll be here any second.” Rune stepped in front of me, held my hand between his. “And even if he has something planned, we can handle it.”

My God, that was actually worse. “You think he has something planned ?!”

“I don’t know, but knowing Lyall…” He shook his head, closed his eyes. “Whatever it is, we can handle it. We’ll get through this night one way or the other. Just breathe with me, Wildcat. We’re safe.”

I clung to those words and I closed my eyes, and I focused outward instead of in. I focused on the people coming through the same doors as we had, and the sound of that woman’s voice as she greeted them.

“I’m okay,” I said, and even if it was a lie, I was faking it until I actually made it. Because Rune was right—this was a feast and a lot of people were here, and we could handle anything anybody could throw at us.

Finally, we walked ahead toward the edge of the platform, eager to get off this thing, to get out there where the air alone wasn’t threatening to suffocate me.

Then the woman with the golden bowl was in front of us.

Her smile could have stolen the brightness from the sun. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a high ponytail, and every line of her face was perfect, from her bright golden eyes, to the sharp Cupid’s bow of her lips.

“If it isn’t the bastard himself,” she said, her voice not half as high as it had been before when she greeted the other guests. “You clean up nicely, Rune. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you wearing velvet.”

They most definitely knew each other.

“It’s a special occasion,” Rune said with a slight shrug, and his voice was pretty neutral. “How have you been, Hessa? Long time no see.”

“Oh, you know me, here and there,” the woman said, and her golden eyes fell on me. “I see you’ve brought company.”

“I did. This is Nilah Dune, my date,” Rune said, and I’d lie if I said I didn’t absolutely adore the way he said it. My date. Ugh—I wanted to kiss his face off right now.

If this woman hadn’t been here, smiling at me, of course.

“Oh, the prince’s Lifebound.”

“ Ex Lifebound,” I said.

That made her smile bigger. “Then you and I have something in common already. I’m an ex of the prince myself.”

My brows shot up. “Oh.”

“Hessa has been a good friend of ours since we were children,” Rune said, and again, he was smiling a little. He was at ease in the presence of this woman .

“The best friend any of these fools ever had, I tell you,” the woman said.

“Welcome, Nilah Dune, Ex Lifebound of the Crown Prince. Please put your fingers into this bowl before you go to take your seat. I don’t have time for chitchat, I’m afraid, but I’d love to have a drink together later, if you’d be so wise as to invite me. ”

The way she smiled. The way those wide eyes took me in before she winked.

“Have we met before?” I wondered because I could have sworn for a second there that I’d seen her somewhere.

“You haven’t had the pleasure, no,” she said with a giggle. “Oh, I’m only joking! Quick—there’s a line behind you.”

“The Veil of Obedience? Really?” Rune said, raising his brows at the bowl she pushed near his chest. It was full of what looked like plain water, except I felt what was inside it. I felt the magic humming so clearly, I almost didn’t trust my own self.

“His Highness wanted to do everything by the scroll,” Hessa said with a slight roll of her eyes.

“What’s the Veil of Obedience?” I asked, eyeing the water suspiciously.

“It’s—” Rune started, but the woman cut him off.

“It’s a ceremonial rite they used during royal court proceedings to ensure guests would be on their best behavior.

You know fae—they will steal and lie and manipulate to their heart’s desire, and this water is supposed to make them act in accordance with court law.

Bunch of bollocks if you ask me—but like I said, His Royal Highness insisted.

” She batted her lashes with a fake smile.

“Do it. Stick those fingers in. I don’t have all night, bastard.

” Then she looked at me. “And Lady Dune.”

I bit back a smile—she was funny, I thought .

And I really felt like I’d seen her somewhere before.

“Fine,” Rune said and slipped his fingertips into the water. I wanted to argue, didn’t want to go near that thing at all because it was chock-full of magic, but I also didn’t want to cause a scene. And I wanted to get the hell off this platform more, so I did it, too.

Without giving myself the chance to think, I slipped my fingertips into the water and expected to catch fire.

I didn’t.

No burning and no cold and no anything—just water.

“Let’s talk later,” Hessa whispered when we moved around her, and her wide eyes locked on mine for just a split second.

I don’t know what it was about her, but I felt that look she gave me to my very bones.

And then we climbed down the platform.

Just like I suspected, the magic didn’t extend to the rest of the room. My God, I could breathe freely again—until I turned to look at where I’d come from and saw only a white wall covered in ivy and flowers.

“Illusion,” Rune whispered, squeezing my hand over his forearm. “It’s just an illusion. Come.”

I don’t know how he knew where we were sitting, but he led the way and I didn’t argue. Whatever kind of an illusion they’d made on that platform, it was as if it didn’t exist at all. As if that wall and those flowers were real, when I knew they weren’t. I’d just been there—they weren’t real.

It made me wonder how much else of what I’d seen had been fake, too. How much I hadn’t seen at all.

It no longer matters, I reminded myself. This was my last night in this place, and then I’d be gone.

The music that was coming from the band on the other side of the room was sharp and soft at the same time.

The band was made up of five fae, three blonde, but two with auburn hair, which made me think they were Unseelie.

Their faces were nearly identical, though.

They all had their hair back, pointy ears visible, and they played with such grace—slender fingers gliding over the golden threads of a harp, flutes made of crystal, and drums that pulsed like heartbeats.

They moved like they’d rehearsed this very melody for centuries, and the thought that that was an actual possibility made the hair on the back of my neck stand at attention.

The golden lights floating in the air seemed to follow their rhythm as they moved. The air smelled strangely of oranges and flowers, but not too heavy. Exactly right.

Then there were the guests.

Most wore white and gold, and most looked pulled out of a fantasy rather than real. Golden eyes gleamed under the lights, white teeth flashed every few seconds, laughter and whispers and compliments everywhere.

But the more I looked, the more I thought they laughed too loud.

Smiled too sharp. Whispered too harshly.

Maybe it was just the tension I’d put on myself, but by the time Rune told me to sit at one of the smaller tables near the left of the currently invisible platform, the more this entire place seemed to be a deadly beast coming to swallow me whole.

“Hey, look at me,” Rune said when he sat down by my side, my hand in his on his lap. “It’s as good as over now.”

As good as over.

I focused on those words, on his eyes, on the feel of his hand holding mine tightly.

When I smiled at him, it wasn’t hard at all. “I’m okay,” I said again—more for my benefit than his.

“Good. And ignore the stares,” Rune said with a small grin.

“The stares? What s?—”

I stopped speaking when I turned around and finally noticed that almost every person in that hall had their eyes turned toward us.

All those sets of golden eyes, some darker, some light. Some filled with malice, some with curiosity. They were all so damn focused on us, and they whispered in one another’s ears openly even when I was looking right at them. They laughed and giggled and cursed without trying to hide.

“Fuck,” I breathed, turning to the table again.

“It’s just because of me, Wildcat. Try to remember that.”

And that made me fucking angry. “They always look at you like this?”

“I’m a Midnight fae, and a banished bastard. They don’t much like me here.” As he said this, Rune seemed to be in the greatest mood ever. Even his eyes sparkled with mischief.

Impossible not to smile. “You don’t mind at all.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he said, leaning a bit closer. “Their approval would be a much worse punishment than being banished.”

Laughter burst out of me, and I brought a hand to my mouth to stop it a second too late. “I love it when you’re in a good mood,” I said, and his smile turned a bit sad.

“I know, Wildcat.”

“There is no magic on Earth, by the way. Just FYI. You never have to worry about someone attacking us or giving us curses or spelled food or something,” I said because I knew how much he worried when we were around these people.

I knew because I’d seen how he’d looked when we were at Raja’s.

I wanted him to be that relaxed the whole time.

“That actually sounds perfect,” Rune said.

“It is. And we can stay until you can’t anymore, and then we’ll come back here for a while, too.”

He paused for a second. “I’ve been thinking about that, Wildcat.”

“Rune…”

“Hear me out. I just think that it’s not fair for you to have to leave your family a second time after everything you’ve gone through the first.”

I leaned in and touched his cheek. “I am never leaving your side again. You’re stuck with me for the rest of your life.”

His smile turned bright again. “I don’t mind that one bit.”

Then the music stopped abruptly.

Suddenly, Rune straightened his shoulders and looked behind me—to where the wall covered in ivy and flowers was.

The wall that was slowly starting to shimmer, like a veil had been dropped in front of it.

A moment later, it began to fade.

“The illusion is coming undone,” Rune said, and everyone who’d been whispering and laughing and talking had stopped, too. All eyes were on that wall now, not on us.

I saw the woman first—Hessa with her golden bowl in her hands, her white dress impeccable as she stood at the very edge of the platform with a smile curling her lips.

Then, I saw the seer, sitting down in one of the chairs behind the long table in the middle of the platform, behind her two men dressed in green velvet .

The queen was there, too, dressed in gold, her crown shining bright even before the illusion of that wall faded all the way.

She stood behind the table with her hands in front of her, chin up, eyes down.

Her hair was combed back, her pointy ears peeking through, her soft red lips turned downward at the corners—and she looked tired, which I didn’t expect.

She looked exhausted as she stared ahead at her people for whom she had no kind of positive emotion.

Then, there was Lyall.

The illusion faded all the way. Lyall stood with his hands at his sides smiling, right near the edge of the table. He wore red velvet and gold in all shades, his face carved out of the smoothest marble, his shoulders back and his chin raised.

His eyes locked on mine for only a split second, and the cold inside me raged. Without the warmth that had been there before the unbinding, it took control of me within a second, and I felt my heart freezing over, even though it still beat.

A distant voice in my ear whispered a warning I didn’t understand until it was far too late.