Page 85 of Moonmarked

To put in front of you everything you ever wanted, and then to make it disappear again, just like that?Fuck, what the hell is this place?!

“Not real.”

The words reached me in an echo just as I was about to run back to the edge of the river.

I froze in place again—because they were coming from Rune.

Both he and Lyall were still standing there, looking ahead to something I couldn’t see, but they clearly did. And I knew thattheywere seeing their biggest desires come to life as well. They were so completely focused on what didn’t exist for my eyes, and Lyall’s hand was raised forward, shaking, and Rune had his fists to the sides as he repeated,not real,another three times.

With my heart in my throat, I watched a second longer.

Lyall reached out his hand all the way. Rune said,not real,for the last time.

The Seelie prince closed his eyes and put his hands over his head.

Something flashed in front of Rune—a tiny object floating in the air right over the river, and he reached out his hand to grab it.

The token.

He won.

A game, a game, a game—yet I hadn’t even consideredrejectingthe image in front of me when Rune smiled at me like that. I remembered what Lyall said perfectly, how to win the game—it just hadn’t been possible to think at all.

But Rune had. He’d rejected whatever it was that themist had showed him. He had won, and now he raised his token and analyzed it calmly, but only for a second.

Then hethrewit at Lyall, who caught it in his fist with ease.

“Your game. Your win,” Rune said and stepped back.

My breath caught in my throat. Lyall smiled—he wasn’t even surprised.

“Gracious, as always,” he said instead and held up the token to inspect it better.

“I just don’t want to have to hear you complaining,” Rune said, and I could have been mistaken, or they could have been too far away for me to hear properly, but I could have sworn that he soundedoff.His heart wasn’t into the teasing at all.

If Lyall noticed, he didn’t comment, only laughed. “I’ll take it.”

Then he turned and started to look around. “Where is she?”

Just like that, my body moved on its own. The moment I walked off the bridge, the mist took away my vision of them completely. All I saw was white, but I moved ahead anyway because I’d seen where they were. I couldn’t even tell you what the hell I was thinking or why I was so shocked that Rune would give away his win like that. He had a reason. I was sure of it—he always had a reason for everything he did—but I couldn’t for the life of me imaginewhatit was.

“There she is!”

Lyall was in front of me, smiling brightly, reaching for my hand. “Come, let’s get away from the mist.”

I put my hand in his only because I wanted to get this over with quicker, and it worked. He pulled me forward, and the more we walked, the more color the world gainedas the mist faded away—until we were outside of it completely.

Rune was there standing by a tree, just like in that image the game had showed me—except here he had his arms crossed and his shoulders rigid, and his eyes were dark as he looked at me from under his lashes. My heart broke all over again just like it had when the image disappeared because once more I was reminded that it wasn’t real.

Just a game that could somehow pull my greatest desire right out of my heart—when I wasn’t sure I even knew what it was myself until I saw it—and display it in bright, vivid colors in front of me to get me to reach for it.Of course, I’m going to reach for it—that was everything I wanted!Safety and no more running and no more confusion about how Rune and I would make it, just that we would. Just that we were together and there was nothing standing in our way.

Reality had never felt duller than when I turned back to see the river, and instead found a white cloud where it had been, the mist so thick it was impossible to see anything through it. It didn’t go higher up than seven or eight feet, though, which was probably why I’d seen them from the arch of the bridge, but now we saw nothing at all.

“I won,” Lyall said and held up the token Rune had given him for me to see—a tear-shaped crystal with no engravings on the clear surface that I could see.

I glanced at Rune just for a moment and reminded myself that he had his reasons for doing this, and neither of them knew I’d seen them. It was important I didn’t call them out on it.

“Congratulations,” I said and offered the best smile I could muster.

---