Page 6 of Moonmarked

Thoughts and memories rushed through my mind. My entire life had turned upside down since the moment I saw that video of Fiona being bullied at that party, and my brain was insistent that I replayedeverythingthat had happened since that very night. I kept going, seeing absolutelynothingthough I was pushing back stalks, snapping some in half, trying not to think about what could be waiting ahead or what could be following me close behind and I wouldn’t even realize it until it was too late.

My God, how in the fuck had I ended up in this position? How had everything changed—again—so goddamn quickly?!

But my head was too crowded to even try to come up with a sensible explanation, so I just kept on pushing myself to move, deeper into this field, with no idea just how big it was, or where it led. The sky continued to lighten up with the rising sun, and I wasn’t sure whether to be happy about it or to panic. Because light meant I could see, but it also meant that everyone else could seemeas well.

I don’t know for how long I ran or how many times I fell on all fours and had to force myself to get up again. I couldn’t even tell how much the sun had moved in the sky, just that I eventually reached the end of the grain field. With my hair and my dress sticking to my back from sweat, and my breathing faster than it had ever been before, I made it to the end, and finally saw something besides grain.

Pulling my lips inside my mouth, I tried to slow down my breathing, to slow down my heartbeat, because it occurred to me that I was surrounded by fae, and they could hear so much better than me. If those guards were nearby, they could hear me, and then I’d have gone through all ofthatfor nothing.

So, as much as I wanted to just run and never stop until I reached the end of the world, I closed my eyes and breathed in through my nose and I forced my mind to clear for a moment. Just one moment until I figured out how to get away from this place.

Then I could panic all I wanted. I could scream and cry and pull my hair out all day.

Eventually, I calmed down enough to control my breathing, then pushed the last row of stalks in front of me to the sides to see what was ahead.

The queen’s palace looked even more ethereal in sunlight. Every inch of it shimmered golden, and the reflection in the glass of the many windows made it look like it had eyes that could see everything around it. On the other side of it, far in the distance was the outer wall of the Seelie Court, and it looked even taller and wider than it had seemed when I first came here with Rune. Impossible to climb even if I were invisible and had all the time in the world.

The palace had a wall of its own, too, surrounding it. I must have gone underneath it to get out here with the river. A branch of it passed by just a few feet away from where the grain field ended, and it bent inward, forming a smooth, shallow basin a little farther away. Wooden washboards leaned against mossy stones, and half-filled baskets floated near the bank. On the other side were two large trees, right across from one another, and on their branches hung lines of rope full of clothes in all colors, in all fabrics, moving gently in the breeze.

The faint scent of soap and sun-warmed water was in the air. On the other side of the river, beyond the trees, were buildings made of dark wood that kind of looked like barns. Four of them stood in a row, almost identical to one another down to the size and shape of the doors.

Nobody was around here that I could see, but it was only a matter of time, I figured, because the sun was already up. I would only get thisonechance.

Without another thought, I moved. Jumping between the stalks I’d parted, I didn’t stop, just went into the river without any idea how deep it was.

The water only reached up to my hips, and those boots that Rune had stolen from Raja for me were half the reason I didn’t slip. No fish that I could see—and frankly I didn’t dare look twice because the thought ofglowingfish that could eat magic was far too fresh in my mind still. Whatever was in the water, I would rather justnotsee.

Thankfully, the river was only about thirty steps wide—I counted to keep my mind busy. I passed the wooden washboards and the floating baskets with wet fabrics in them, and I made it all the way to the other side, to those clothes that were hung there, just waiting for me to pick them up.

A jacket made out of dark green velvet, threaded with silver. I knew it, had seen it before—Helid’s guards had had something similar on them when they came to my house. When they so thoroughly fooled me into thinking this would be easy.

Come to the fae realm, heal the prince to pay my debt, and go back home.Easy.

My God, I felt like such a fucking fool now.

The jacket was a little too big for me, but I didn’t care. I grabbed a pair of pants to match, too—same colored velvet. There were five rows of clothes drying under the morning sun that hid me perfectly until I went closer to those buildings. Until I saw that nobody was around the one closest to me, but there were fae near the last one on the right, near four carriages attached to those gigantic horses that were considerednormalhere.

Fear tried to lock my limbs in place, but I didn’t let it. This was my only shot. If those fae came closer, and if the guards thought to look for me here, I was already as good as dead. Might as welltryto hide while I could.

So, with the velvet jacket over my wet dress, and holding the pants tightly to my chest, I moved.

I walked around the last row of clothes drying on the rope, and I headed for the first building with my head up and my jaws locked.

My eyes didn’t blink. I didn’t dare succumb to the urge torun,get there as fast as was possible, because if those people by the carriages saw me, they’d know something was up. But if I walked, they might think I was one of them. If I walked slowly, they might think I was supposed to be here, too.

I didn’t dare even turn my head to look to the side, to see if they saw me, if they knew I was there, if they rang thealarms. I didn’t stop moving at the same pace until I slipped inside the doors that were twice as tall as me.

From the outside, it had indeed looked like a barn—long and low, with carved stone columns wrapped in ivy and moss. But when I stepped inside the building, the scent hit me and it wasn’t that of animals. Lavender oil, starch, silk. The air was heavier in here, too. Towering shelves lined the walls, packed with bolts of fabric in every color and texture I could imagine. Rough wool and coarse linen were stacked like stone bricks, while gauze floated over the edge of open trunks like foam. Rolls upon rolls of silk everywhere I looked.

The stained-glass windows near the ceiling spilled a rainbow of colors across the floor. Massive chests sat open between the aisles. Cotton, lace, silk—you name it, and it was here. Plenty of dark green velvets, and golden and silver threads, scissors so big I had trouble imagining who could even use them—and needles the same size as well. Deeper in the back of the open room was a row of dummies, tucked between hanging bolts of brocade. They wore half-stitched gowns and twisted corsets, their headless forms frozen mid-pose, like they’d once moved and might again if I looked away long enough—but that was just my fear speaking. To it, every thread and every piece of fabric in this room was out for my head, and if I didn’t get the hell out of this court soon, I was going to die a very painful death.

Then I heard the weak sound of wheels turning somewhere outside.

I moved. Black dots exploded in my vision and I hardly saw what I was doing, but somehow, I did it anyway. I went to one of these chests full of silk, pushed back the fabric and got in there, then pulled it over my head.

All that mattered was that nobody saw me. Nobody could know I was here, not until nightfall, at least. The chest was big enough to fit me perfectly, and the dark wood it was made of had holes everywhere, and I didn’t even think about food or water in those moments. I just held my breath and prayed with my everything until I heard the footsteps coming through the doors.

This was it. My eyes squeezed shut and even my heart stood perfectly still. I fisted my hands and I waited for them to either leave or scream bloody murder and call for the guards to come get me.

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