Page 39 of Moonmarked

Images danced in my mind’s eye for a moment.

“Wow. That is quite a story,” I whispered, and I looked at the wolves walking ahead in a different light now. As their own beings for real, just like Maera said.

“It is,” she agreed. “And moon magic can only be transferred to another being through an alpha, through bite or scratch. It works immediately, which was why I scratched you. The magic was activated in you before you hit the ground and your bones broke.”

I stopped for a moment. “My bones didn’t break.”

“They did.” Memories rushed to me as she spoke—memories of the pain. The pain that had been everywhere on my body, pulsating in my right leg and arm the most. “You just healed while you slept. The moon magic, and…” Her voice trailed off.

Maera turned to look at me. The suspicion in her yellow eyes was as clear as day.

“And?” I dared to ask.

“And whatever it is that was already inside you.”

Those words.

So damn heavy, they pressed down on my chest.

“I-I-I…” I stopped, took in a deep breath, forced myself toget my shit together. “I already told you who I am by that stream. I’m the Seelie prince’s Lifebound.”

“But you’re a lot more than that.” She said it like she knew it for an undeniable fact.

“I’m actually not. I’m a mortal from Earth. It’s just the binding. Lyall did it accidentally and it…it transferred some of his magic to me, I think.” That was what Rune thought, too—and the only thing that made any sense.

“Except magic cannot be transferred to mortals, not even through life-bonds.”

I swallowed hard. “Maybe it can. I mean, I’m right here, so…”

“The life-bond linksus,too, to the dire wolves, Nilah. It’s the same magic. You shouldn’t have been able to withstand fae magic—and you would have most definitely died the moment I scratched you.” She thought about it for as second. “I only did it because I smelled the magic in you. Had I known you were mortal at any point in your life, I wouldn’t have.”

Mortal at any point in your life.The way she said it…

“Something must be missing here, then, because if I really wasn’t just a mortal, or if I had magic of my own or whatever, I’d have shifted, right? I’d have turned into a wolf as well—and I didn’t. You know I didn’t.” She’d been with me every step of the way.

“Oh, yes, I know. I waited for you to shift the first night. I waited, and you never did,” she said.

“Here’s another question—why not just scratch someone before when they didn’t believe that you were an alpha? That would have been plenty of proof,” I muttered, thankful to have a distraction, if only for a moment.

“Because the couple who call themselvespack leaderstricked me. Made a fool out of my pack mates, who werewilling and ready to believe them because the Ritual didn’t choose me,” Maera said. “They knew what they were doing. They were prepared. I wasn’t.”

“That sucks,” I admitted.

“But I am alive.” Maera looked at me again. “That sorcerer in the temple.”

My blood turned ice-cold instantly.

Here I’d hoped that I had only made that whole thing up. “He called youa queen.He said he could feel your frostfire.”

I shook my head, suddenly so frustrated I could fucking explode.

“First of all, I didn’t even know sorcerers could be male!” I said. “And second—you saw him! He wasn’t in his right mind. I am no queen—look at me! Do I look like I’m wearing a crown to you? And also, what the hell isfrostfire?Because that sounds like a made-up word if you ask me.”

Fuck, I was fuming from the ears, so angry so suddenly my hands shook.

“Male sorcerers are rare, but they do exist,” said Maera, her voice still calm. “And yes, it’s quite possible that he wasn’t well in the head. He’d given himself to whatever magic that altar was made of, butfrostfireis a kind of magic that the Ice fae possess. Some of them, not all. It’s like our moon magic, the final stage of magic, quite powerful, indeed.”

I thought about it for a second. “Well, the only magic I have is that thing you saw I did to your friends. I can just make light and then make things float on air, that’s all.”

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