Page 137 of Moonmarked

“She looks exactly like her.”

The words hung in the air, and for a long moment, Raja didn’t move. Didn’t even breathe.

Then she stood up again, slowly, pacing the small space in front of the fireplace as her mind worked.

“That’s impossible,” she finally muttered.

“I need you to tell me if you’ve ever seen her, Raja. The Ice Queen.”

She stopped, turned her head to me. “I haven’t.”

“You were part of the court.”

“And she was the Ice Queen. Nobody ever saw her, not without her veil. I wasn’t permitted in private chambers—you know this, Rune. They didn’t particularly like me in the Midnight Court.”

Silence in the ruined house. Only Raja’s light footsteps rang in my ears, and the crackling of the fire tried to hold my attention.

My side barely hurt—or maybe I was just distracted. I could move better, especially after Raja had given me some of her food.

Her potions, though. Whichever sorcerer she bought from, they were incredibly powerful and fast.

“Are you sure?” Raja asked after a moment.

“Yes.”

“She could have been seeing things.”

“She didn’t.”

“She said she lookedexactlylike her?”

“She did, yes.” And I remembered how terrified she’d been of the fact, too.

“And you believe her.” This Raja said as an accusation.

I looked up at her. “Yes.” I believed Nilah before I believed myself.

Raja opened her mouth to speak but couldn’t find the words.

“You know she’s no ordinary mortal,” I told her. “You saw her glowing.”

“Withmoon magic,no less.” She continued to pace in front of the fireplace again. “Like a true moonmarked—except she didn’t shift. She didn’t die.”

“And she took Lyall’s magic when he bound himself to her, too.”

“Unless…” Raja whispered. “She didn’t.”

My heart took a pause. “Meaning?”

She suddenly sat down near the wall across from me again, eyes on the floor but she didn't really see anything. She was lost inside her head.

“A fae cannot transfer magic to a mortal, Rune. That’s never been heard of before—unlessthe mortal isn’t really a mortal. Unless the magic was there to begin with.”

This time I was the one who jumped to my feet. I didn’t feel any kind of pain at all. Maybe because Raja had said out loud what I hadn’t dared to let myself acknowledge but had been secretly contemplating since the incident at the Mercove.

All that magic. She’d had so much, so raw. The way it had felt against my skin—not fullywarm,now that I thought of it. Not exactly like Seelie magic, though close.

“I don’t see how,” I admitted. “She was born and raised in Nerith.”

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