Page 131 of Moonmarked

What were the odds that that woman wearing the emerald dress would whisperthosewords into my ear?Thelast woman who wore that face died screaming…Who in the world was she?!

“There’s nothing to figure out.” I looked down at my hands to make sure he couldn’tseehow they were shaking. Because a voice in my head was suddenly asking questions, suggesting that maybe it was better if I stayed for real, and tried to find out what the hell was going on here.

Because something was.

Something was definitely off if Ireallylooked so much like a dead fae queen.

Unless someone was trying to trick me. Fool me. Manipulate me.

Someone like this very man who sat in front of me now with those wide golden eyes. The same man who once saved me.

This washispalace, after all. His court. His fucking seer.

“Even you don’t believe that,” Lyall said. “There is a lot to figure out and you know it.” He dragged himself closer but still kept his hands to himself. “Nilah, you are not ordinary. You are not simply a human being—you’re far more than that. Everybody feels it. It’s impossible to miss. There’s something inside you…” He raised his hand and brought it almost all the way to my chest. It took everything in me not to jump back.

“Whatis it, then? If everybody feels it, surely somebody would know what name to give…this.” Because he was right. I knew there were things to figure out.

Whether whatever happened to me was real and normal, or whether Lyall was manipulating everything I saw and heard in this place—I still needed to figure it out.

“I don’t know. I’ll need time to?—”

“Idon’t havetime. I want to leave, Lyall.”

“A day.” He straightened his shoulders. “Give me a day to try then.”

I shook my head. “What can you even do in a day that you couldn’t in the week I’ve been here?”

“I’lltry,”he repeated. “I’ll try for one last time.”

“And if you don’t find anything?”

Would it really be so bad if Lyall found out about the Ice Queen? Because God help me, I wanted to know. Ineededto know the truth, even if it terrified me.

“Then we do the unbinding ceremony tomorrow at midnight. Then you’ll be free to do whatever you want—stay or leave. It will make no difference to me,” he said.

His words rang true, but I knew the ease with which he lied. I’d seen it in the Illusion Game with my own eyes, so I didn’t let myself believe him for a second.

“What if I say no?” Because I had a feeling that he wasn’t going to give me a choice, not really.

He paused for a good moment. “I’m afraid I must insist. It’s only a day, Nilah.”

Just like I thought.

“A day,” I forced myself to say because I knew perfectly well that trying to argue would be futile. “A day, and we do the ceremony.”

Lyall nodded, smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “We have a deal.”

forty-two

Rune Kalygorn

The night bled around me,the shadows thick as tar, yet I couldn’t get ahold of them as well as I should have still. Every step felt like dragging my body out of a grave.

The wound in my side throbbed in time with my heartbeat. It slowed me down, but it wouldn’t stop me.

Nothing would stop me now.

The giant had been vicious. Had it not been for the lava of the Hollow, I’d have never been able to kill him in the state I was in. Guess the stars were to thank for the timing—but then they would be to blame for my ending up in the Hollow in the first place.

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