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“There they are, my favorite— favorite couple in all the realm!”

Lyall was at the table, dragging a chair from where a fae woman had been sitting close to us. He sat down and drank the last of the wine that had been in his glass.

What the hell is happening?!

He smiled and his eyes sparkled with excitement, and he was in a better mood than I had ever seen him before.

As I looked at him, every instinct in my body came alive at the same time.

A fae waiter wearing black and white velvet came closer and poured wine from a crystal bottle into his glass, but Lyall didn’t even turn to look at him.

He never once took his eyes off Rune and me.

Just sat there and smiled and breathed for a good long moment…

Run, said Hessa’s voice in my head, at one with my instincts.

Too late now.

“So, tell me—what did you think of my speech? I didn’t want to go overboard with it, but I did want to make an impact, if you know what I mean.” He grinned. “Tell me the truth. Was it good?”

He was looking right at me when he said this.

My lips opened, the need to get his attention off me too strong. “It was a good speech.” Not that I’d listened carefully, but he’d obviously rehearsed it. Had taken his time to prepare it.

Lyall laughed. “You have good taste—for a…twisted mortal or whatever it is that you are, Nilah.” He then raised his glass to us and drank.

My stomach fell. I looked at Rune only for a second as he, too, sipped his wine, but he was focused on Lyall, his shoulders rigid, his hold on my hand tight.

This is not good at all, the voices in my head whispered.

Clearing my throat, I breathed in deeply, put aside my discomfort and looked him right in the eyes. “Thanks, Lyall. And if you don’t mind, we’d like to be on our way now. I’m not feeling very well.”

I tried to sound as nice as possible, but my words had bite—and he didn’t miss it.

But the look on his face didn’t change at all when he said, “It’s Your Highness to you, mortal.”

I didn’t even get the chance to be surprised before he leaned closer and rested his elbows on the table.

“May I ask what you think you’re doing, Your Highness ?” Rune said then, the mock clear in his voice .

Around us, the music continued, the band played their instruments, the people pretended not to watch while they did…

Run.

“What do you mean? She is a mortal, is she not? And I am soon to be king,” Lyall said. “Just like you are a banished bastard, Rune Kalygorn. Unwanted by your kingdom, by your family, even the lowlifes of the Neutral Lands. All of these are facts.”

I expected heat to rise up inside me like always, but instead a new wave of ice seemed to take shape inside me as Lyall spoke. My shaking fingers were suddenly wrapping around the golden knife at the side of my plate— this motherfucker. How dare he?!

“I think you’ve had too much to drink, Your Highness. Maybe you should call it a night,” Rune said, but he didn’t seem pissed off at all.

Instead, he was smiling.

Lyall’s smile faltered as he leaned a bit closer. “Oh, but the best part is yet to come, bastard.”

“Then we will,” Rune said, and letting go of his glass, made to stand.

Lyall stopped him.

“Not yet, not yet. And don’t be so sour—you won, too, didn’t you?

You won her, and I bet you didn’t even try.

It just comes naturally to you, doesn’t it?

Everything just comes naturally to the bastard son of the cruelest fae king to have ever lived among us.

” Another long sip of his wine, and he slammed the empty glass on the table.

My heart all but beat out of my chest, and a monster had risen inside me, threatening to explode, and tear me into a thousand pieces as it did.

“ Kind Rune. Nice Rune. Loyal Rune—and you hope to fool everyone when they all know who you come from?!” Lyall laughed. “The best part? You don’t even know what she is!”

His finger pointed at me now.

I stopped breathing once more.

“And it only gets better because, my dearest mortal, neither do you.”

His voice was laced with venom. I tightened my grip on the knife so hard my fist hurt, but I didn’t mind. I welcomed the pain because I was about to do something stupid. I was about to fucking stab this asshole right in the eye, no matter who he was or how many of his people were around him.

Fuck him and the palace and the entire fucking court.

“You’re a lying piece of shit, aren’t you,” I spit. “You found something out.”

More laughter. I didn’t miss how Rune slowly let go of my hand, how he brought his over the table, how he was preparing for the fight that was inevitable, I thought.

Screw it. I didn’t even want to stop it at this point. I wanted this man’s blood on my hands, God help me.

“Of course, I did. And had you just made the right choice, had you decided to stay with me, you’d know all about it. You’d be up there with me, selfish mortal. Do you have any idea how many would kill for that chance?”

I jumped to my feet, shaking with rage, the ice rushing through my veins about to come right out of my mouth and nose and fucking eyes.

“You—” I shouted, and who cared who heard or who watched, but…

“ Sit down. ”

My mouth clamped shut.

My body moved before I’d given it a command, and I found myself sitting on the chair the next second, barely breathing.

What the fuck?!

“Lyall, what did you do?” Rune said through gritted teeth, shadows spilling out of his fingers as he looked at me, then at Lyall.

Rune looked terrified.

“Oh, stop with that, will you?” he said, waving a hand at Rune’s shadows, and…

They did.

The shadows disappeared under his skin again as if they’d never been there to begin with.

Fuck, fuck, fuck…

“You see, I had plans. We would have all had a great and happy ending, had you only behaved. But you went and fell in love, and now I have to clean up after you.” Lyall crossed his arms in front of his chest, tsk- ing and shaking his head.

“But I did save both your lives. And you are in debt to me still. Now, I am calling the both of you to fulfill that debt, right now—and after that, we’re square. How does that sound?”

Rune looked at me. His jaws were locked, his eyes dark.

“Lyall, don’t do this. I’ll warn you once,” he said, and Lyall flinched.

“You did it to yourself, ungrateful bastard,” he spit, and when Rune raised a hand, he said, “Don’t move until I say so.”

Rune stopped.

Just like I’d sat down without wanting to, he stopped moving. Looked at Lyall with his eyes wide.

“And don’t be so surprised. I put my own twist into the Veil of Obedience, nothing too big. You accepted my compulsion magic, and so now you do as I say. ”

My God, I couldn’t even believe my own ears. What the fuck was wrong with this guy?!

And to think that I’d felt guilty for not trusting him! For the way my instincts fired up around him— fuck!

“I saved your life,” I said through gritted teeth.

“I saved yours first. It was more convenient that I initially thought, though, I’ll admit,” said Lyall, and by now all the guests who’d been sitting at the tables near us were gone. Had moved farther away. Watched us, clearly afraid, curious, some excited, while the music continued to play.

“You…you said it was an accident,” I choked because like a damn fool I still thought he might be playing. That he might be acting up or something. That he might laugh and say he was just kidding all along.

He didn’t.

“I’ve said a lot of things.” Lyall waved me off. “Now, this is my command to you, Nilah, to pay your debt to me fully. All you have to do is…” His voice trailed off. His smile broadened. Every inch of my body was frozen in place from the inside.

“ Sit still.”

The words echoed in my head.

Magic, thick and warm, almost exactly like the one I felt inside me when I lost control before, spread over my skin, wrapped tightly around me like a suit. Locked my limbs to my sides and glued my ass to the fucking chair.

On the inside, I was freezing, and I was screaming.

On the outside, all I could do was look at Rune.

Rune who had his eyes closed and his hands clenched into fists, shaking as he tried to call for his shadows…

“Come on, you know better than to think you can break through the Veil when you gave your consent, bastard. Even if you weren’t sealed like a good little pup.” Lyall laughed a little, and it was forced. He was doing this for show.

“Does that make you feel all big and manly, Lyall?” I spit before I could even think through what I was about to say. “Do you feel better about the size of your dick when you’re insulting Rune? Guess what, he’s twice?—”

“ Stop.”

My God, the way my vocal cords cut off. The way my lips sealed shut. The way I screamed and screamed but no sound came out of me at all.

“And you,” Lyall said, pissed off, no longer smiling now as he looked at Rune.

So angry his eyes were bloodshot. “This is my command to you, Rune.” Slowly, he reached for something in the inside pocket of his jacket and pulled out a knife made of gold and precious stones, the blade sharp and thin and straight.

Pushing back the plate, he put the knife right in front of Rune and said, “Take this.”

Rune’s fists unclenched. He growled low in his throat like a beast, but he still took the knife in his hand.

Then Lyall smiled. “Stab her through the heart, and your debt to me will be paid in full.”

His voice was calm, almost tender now.

In that moment, everything around us disappeared for me. Only this table and these two men remained. Even if I could have moved, I wouldn’t have been able to even raise my hand. The silence between my heartbeats was so thick it pressed on my ribs.

Rune didn’t speak a single word, either.

With the knife in his shaking hand, his fingertips dark with shadows he couldn’t access, he slowly turned toward me with his whole body. His face was unreadable—stone and shadow and secrets .

My lips parted, the urge to say his name as my fucking prayer so strong, but my voice didn’t work. The golden blade gleamed between us as he leaned in, brought it closer and closer to my chest.

All I saw was his eyes now. Dark and unreadable. Full and empty at the same time. My salvation—and the deep dark abyss that could eat me raw.

“ Trust me,” Rune whispered, and his whisper remained in the center of my mind, echoing to eternity.

One second in which our eyes didn’t blink, and our hearts didn’t beat…

Then Rune drove the blade right into my chest.

—THE END OF BOOK 2

Thank you for reading MOONMARKED !

I really hope you enjoyed the continuation of Nilah’s story.