Page 151 of Moonmarked

“Yes. He wanted you for himself. He thought you’d be too afraid to do the unbinding ceremony if I died. He knows there’s something about you, and he’s dying to figure it out. Hereallywanted you to stay,” Rune whispered, and his lips curled into a small smile. “Then you went and showed him how little he knows you.”

“I saw the bird you sent me. If it wasn’t for it, I’d have thought…” Again, I couldn’t say it.

“I know, Wildcat. It’s almost over,” he whispered, kissing my hand.

“Almost over.”

We stayed there in each other’s arms for a little while longer, and we came to terms with the fact that everything we still wanted to say to one another had to wait.

I didn’t mind, though. Not now. Not when we’d already said the most important thing we would ever utter out loud to one another.

Everything else came second.

So, when he put his clothes on and kissed me for the last time, I smiled. When he slipped out the door with a wink on his gorgeous face, I blew him a kiss.

Tomorrow, our new life would begin.

forty-seven

Poppy,Pippa and Pera came to get me ready. They brought with them a dress made of white silk and golden threads—exactlylike something Lyall would love, so damn similar to the designs of the queen’s dresses that it made me sick. But when I told the chambermaids that I would rather wear something else, somethingblack,they made it perfectly clear that Lyall had ordered that dress for me himself, and it was the only one I would be allowed to wear.

I clamped my mouth shut and kept my head down and I swallowed the anger—which was very much not like me. Hopefully, though, this would be the last time I would have to go against my own self.

By the time they were done with my hair, I wanted to burn the entire fucking palace to the ground, especially now that Rune was back and I felt semi-normal. I feltcalmknowing he had his magic back,allof it, and he could protect himself so much better from everything. He’d been dangerous enough with that seal, and without it, I wanted to think that nothing could hurt him anymore. Nothing at all.

And that’s what I focused on while the girls finished my makeup, then helped me get dressed. That’s all I allowed myself to think about—Rune and the end of this fucking torture and the beginning that awaited us far from here. My family and my home, what it would be like when I returned and finally saw them again.

With Rune. On Earth. In Oregon, USA.

So fucking surreal.

The vial I was playing with that the seer had given me had lost its shine. It no longer seemed as deadly to me as in the beginning. I had half a mind to throw it away but decided against it at the last second. The words she said to me whispered in my ear, but I ignored them. Not now. Maybe later when I could talk about it with Rune. Maybe then we could figure out where that place she spoke about was, if it was even real.Pour this where the world forgets itself…yeah, it sounded very much made up.

For now, I just hid the vial under the waistband of my pantyhose when the chambermaids weren’t looking. I was excited and nervous and impatient all at once, and when they left, I had a few minutes before the guards knocked on the door to tell me it was time. In those few minutes, I walked out into the gazebo, which would be one of the only two things I’d miss from this palace, the other one being the books. Luckily, Rune had one hidden for me in his shadow pockets still, and we’d take that with.

The view was breathtaking. Half the sun had already hidden behind the horizon. The sky was caught in a strange kind of in-between, where the gorgeous mix of oranges and blues and purples hadn’t yet faded, and silver had already risen. I watched in awe, fingers curled loosely around the stone edge of the railing, as the sun melted beyond the sea,while the full moon climbed steadily in the sky across from it.

In this moment they faced each other like they were old friends—or maybe like old rivals forced to share a sky. I wasn’t sure if the sun set in the west and the moon rose in the east here, but it looked…strange. I’d never seen them both so clearly before. Even though it was absolutely beautiful, I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was also a warning stitched into the sky.

And just before the guards came for me, I could’ve sworn the full moon was looking right at me.

In my mind, I saidgoodbyeto the bedroom, too. The bed and the books and the vanity table. It was the last time I was seeing this place, and I wasn’t going to forget it. Not a single moment, and especially not the night before when Rune had been with me.

I realized that this part of my life had really come to an end, and I would probably never again sleep in a royal palace in the fae courts of Verenthia—and you know what? That was perfectly fine by me.

The guards led me down the hallway and the stairs. For once, I tried to see everything, the paintings and the lights, the colors on the walls, the patterns on the marble floors. I tried to memorize them because I was never coming back here again. When I went home, I would want to remember last night in the Queen’s Palace of the Seelie Court.

What strange turns my life had taken, now that I thought of it. And to be honest, in this moment I couldn’t bring myself to regret any of it.

Sure, I’d have changed a few things along the way, but all in all, if it all led me here, to this moment, I’d say it all worked out for the best.

Because Rune was there, dressed in black velvet and asilvery white shirt, standing at the corner of a wide hallway on the first floor of the palace—and I wouldn’t trade the moment our eyes locked for the whole entire world.

He looked like he crawled right out of my dreams. His hair was sleeked back, and his jacket melted around his shoulders like it was trying to make me fucking jealous. His eyes sparkled as he smiled, just that half smile where only one corner of his lips curled up, and it was so perfect my heart hurt.

The memory of him saying those three words to me just that morning crawled all over my skin and settled into my soul. This guy was mine—and holy shit, I had no idea what I did to deserve him, but I’d take it. I’d be forever selfish and I’d take him, even if he thoughthewas the one who didn’t deserve me. I’d take him every single day for the rest of my life. Every second.

“Wildcat, you take my breath away,” he whispered when I was close enough to hear it, to read the words on those beautiful lips my whole body yearned for.

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