Page 132 of Moonmarked

A tricky situation. Blame or thank?

The stars or…Lyall?

I was tempted to smile now when I thought of how he’d orchestrated the whole thing. Nobody would even suspect that he’d ordered me down there for no other reason than to put me in the Hollow. His soldiers had orders to push medown, and they did. I should have known the moment Cheris, the commentator of the game, looked at me with raw fear flashing in her eyes when she saw me.

Technical difficulty.He had me believing that one of the shields of the Hollow was experiencing interruption and the circle couldn’t close as it should for the game to begin.

And like a damn fool, I’d believed him. Like a damn fool, I hadn’t thought him capable of trying to get rid of me so easily. So quickly.

But now, as my hand clenched around the chain of bones, I wanted to thank him, too.

The moment I realized that I was notgoing to make it out of the Hollow without a fight hadn’t been so horrible. Not when I’d seen the chain around the giant’s hips made of bones.

Dragonbones. The only thing filled with more magic than any kind of gemstone dug out of the soil of Verenthia. The only thing fae couldn’t get their hands on.

It wasn’t a known fact. According to Raja, it was erased from history, this knowledge, because of how many fae had lost their lives trying to make it to the dragon mountains, to kill dragons, to steal their bones.

That was something I definitely thanked the stars for.

I’d planned to simply steal and hide the bones from the giant, but things had gone as things had gone, and now the creature was dead, and I’d barely made it out alive.

Withthe bones.

For that, I thanked my magic.

For that, I thanked my Wildcat because I was going to remain alive until I made sure she was safe no matter what. Nothing else truly mattered.

The bird I sent for her knew its way. My magic was drawn to her, no matter what that meant. I hadn’t neededto think, simply gave wings to the light and willed it to find her, and it had. In one of the towers where they kept prisoners—which I was sure was Lyall’s doing for one reason or another. But as long as they were bound, he wouldn’t hurt her. For now, I could count on that.

But the time had come. I was no longer willing to count on anything or anyone else because it wasn’t about me any longer. It was about her—and for Nilah, I would only count on myself.

I heard the sound of the horse approaching me long before I saw the golden light. My instinct was to hide, to call for the shadows, to shield myself, but I didn’t.

The sun had yet to rise, and I only had a little time. I couldn’t trust most people I knew because of what I was and because I knew what they truly felt toward me. None would ever take me seriously because of where I came from, and I’d had no trouble dealing with it before Nilah.

I’d had no trouble with pretending to live while I went through the days before Nilah, either.

Things were different now, and I actually knew what it meant to be alive. What a strange revelation it had been. I had decided even before the Hollow collapsed that I was going to have to rely on others one last time before this was over, simply because I had no other choice.

So, I waited by a tree, refused to reach out and hold onto it, refused tolookweak, even if I felt it, and I didn’t even think about who it was that was coming toward me on that horse. If I had been betrayed, so be it. I’d figure it out. If not…

The horse’s galloping slowed down. I kept my eyes forward, the colors vivid despite being under the cloak of the night. I didn’t allow myself to fear—or to feel the relief after.Things are as things are,my mother used to say. Byaccepting everything that came, I took control the best way I could.

Delias’s eyes were wide open, and he was most definitely afraid, and then relieved to find me there, right where I told him I would be. I’d sent him a beacon with my magic, something we used to do when he was a boy still, hoping to become a royal guard, weaker than all his peers—and I trained him most nights. I’d send him my shadows, and he’d show up, and we’d spar until dawn for months, until he becamebetterthan all his peers.

I thought he’d show up when I called for him. He’d become a good man through the years, which was a rare thing to see in the Seelie Court.

I hadn’t known whether he’d be followed, though. Or made to tell who was calling for him, if anybody was around to see the message.

But by the looks of it, Delias was alone.

“Rune.”

Even his voice carried the relief he felt when he saw me, and his white horse stopped. He jumped off without ever looking away from me, and the closer he came, the more he looked like he was seeing a ghost.

Which, I supposed, to him would be very close.

“By Reme,how?” he said, his armor making that annoying noise as he came closer, the gold-painted plaques rubbing against one another.

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