Page 55 of Moonmarked

“As for you, Nilah, we can undo the life-bond any time you please, and then I will personally take you back home,” he told me. “Say the word and we will do it—tonight.”

Tonight.

I could beunboundfrom the prince this very night, and then I’d go home. To my dad and to Fi and Betty—home.I would be home in a matter of days, and then I would never see this place again.

Wrong.

That’s what the voices in my head said, all of them and at once—wrong.It felt wrong. It sounded wrong. This whole thing was plain fuckingwrong.

I lowered my head, looked down at my feet, and my reflection on the shiny surface of the floor caught my attention. My bright blue eyes, my light hair that fell like a curtain around my face. This girl staring back at me was notthe same Nilah I had been when I passed through the Aetherway. So much had happened, and so much was inside me now, the heat and the cold and the feelings—entirely too much.

And most importantly?

My eyes moved to Lyall’s reflection, as he, too, had lowered his head to look at mine on the floor. He was not the same boy he had been that day in the meadow either. He’d grown. We both had. We’d changed.

And I would be a fool to trust him now.

“Well, Nilah? Will you forgive me? Will you let me make this right?” he said when I raised my head again. His voice dripped sweetness. His eyes looked so earnest.

Wrong,went the voices in my head.

“Yes,” I said with a nod.

His face broke into a smile unlike any I’d seen. He was the sun for a moment there, as bright and as golden and as alive.

“Tonight then,” he said.

“No.” The word that came out of my lips was so final, I almost surprised myself. “I will need time, too, Lyall. I can’t agree to be unbound now. So much has happened. I’ve had to go through a lot to get to you and then to run away from you.” I raised my head higher. “I am in no condition to make this decision right now. I hope you understand.”

It was the best I could give him. Maybe he really was the guy he said he was, and maybe everything he told me right now was the truth, but our life-bond was my only leverage. He could not hurt me as long as we were bound. He could not kill me unless he wanted to kill himself.

No, I would not agree to cut ties with the prince—not yet. Not without speaking to Rune. Not without knowing all there was to know about this situation first. Because I’dbeen unprepared, to say the least, for Verenthia, and I’d had to go through some shit because of it. I’d had no knowledge of the people and the ways of this realm, and I had enough of not knowing. Before I decided to be unbound, I was going to make sure that it was the right decision first, no matter how long it took.

Lyall was silent for a moment, and the queen sitting on her throne had her eyes closed, a hand over her mouth. I knew they couldn’t force me for this—Rune said that to be unbound, both parties had to be willing for it to work. They couldn’t force me, but how far would they go to…convinceme?

Finally, the prince nodded his head deeply, almost bowed in front of me. “As you wish, Nilah. That is very smart of you, if I may say. I understand that you want to take your time and build your trust, and I will be honored to have you at the palace as my guest. What do you say?”

Guest at the palace,he said.

“I would actually like that.” Because Rune lived in the palace, too, somewhere, and I would find him. No matter where he was, I was going to find him by the end of this night.

Lyall smiled like I just gave him the world. He offered me his hand, and this time I willingly put mine over it. “Then let’s get you settled, clean and dressed. You deserve nothing less, my Lifebound.” Leaning down, he planted a warm kiss over my knuckles.

And when he leaned down, my eyes locked on the queen’s.

I was willing to bet a limb that she was plotting my demise even before I left the throne room.

eighteen

Must be a dream.

My hand was in that of the Seelie Prince of Verenthia, the same guy who saved my life when he was eight years old. The same guy I traveled through the fae realm for and almost died a dozen times. The same guy I healed and then was accused of murdering.

Yes, yes, must be a dream.

We walked out of the throne room and Lyall wrapped my arm around his, placed my hand gently over his forearm and held his over my fingers. Every little movement he made seemed to come so naturally to him, like he’d been doing the same thing since forever, every single day. I was in awe of how fully he embraced whoever he chose to be just now.

Because this wasnothis true face.

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