Page 63 of Moonmarked

“Tell me, then. Tell me all about your trip to the Seelie Court, Nilah,” Lyall said as he carefully took my plate in his hand and began to put food on it.

“I would actually like to know more about the people who tried to kill you, Lyall. Any news about that yet?”

When he looked at me, his smile had turned sad. “No, not yet. But tonight, I don’t want to feel bad. I’m here and you’re here, and we somehow made it against all odds. I would rather focus onthat.”

Well, fuck. When he put it like that, I couldn’t find it in me to insist because he was right. Against all odds, we’d made it. Those two kids who met in that meadow on Earth at exactly the right time, and now we were somehow here, in this palace, eating dinner together.

Though I’d have loved it if Rune was sitting next to me right now, I thought I could make an attempt to bethankfulfor being here. For being alive. For not being threatened in any way—at least for the moment.

“Of course, yes. You’re absolutely right, Lyall,” I said with the best smile I could muster, and I cleared my throat. “Where do you want me to start?”

“At the very beginning,” he solemnly said.

So, I did.

twenty

I toldLyall I was tired, that I wasn’t feeling very well an hour into dinner. I ate and I was full, and that I wasn’t feeling well was the truth—I wanted to be alone so I could figure out a way to get to Rune. I didn’t care much about food—or anything at all right now—because he was here somewhere, Rune, in this very place, and I needed to find him. I needed to talk to himright now.

Lyall was a bit disappointed if the way his smile dropped was anything to go by, but he didn’t insist. Said he had a big day planned for us for tomorrow, that he would see me very soon.

Meanwhile, I had no idea if I would even be here tomorrow, but, of course, I kept that thought to myself.

The guards escorted me up the stairs and to the room Lyall calledmine.I immediately went out to that gazebo to try to find the part of the palace behind which was what the prince had calledthe forges.That’s where Rune would be because his job was to make weapons.

Unfortunately for me, the side of the palace I was in didn’t look out on the forges, only the gardens and the sea,which was an even more magical view under the dark sky and the soft glow of the small moon.

But that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to try to find him all night if I had to.

They’d taken away the clothes I’d stolen—a worker’s uniform, apparently, because I’d seen people in the hallways wearing the same green velvets threaded with silver. Now that I knew that they hid their things in walls, it was easy enough to find the built-in wardrobe near the vanity table. The wall opened with a touch of my hand, without even a click, and it revealed to me clothes—underwear and dresses and cloaks and shoes, all in different colors, and all in my size (which was weird as hell).

I exchanged the blue dress I’d worn for a pair of dark red pants that fit me just right, and a loose white silk shirt. I tied my hair in a braid over my shoulder to keep it out of the way, but I couldn’t find a band, so by the time I convinced myself to open the door and tell the guards I wanted to go out for a walk, it was completely loose.

I was a mess of nerves. My hands were ice-cold even though my heart was hammering and my blood was rushing. As I looked at the guards stationed against the walls right outside the doors, I thought I was going to pass the fuck out.

Instead, I screamed at myself in my head, straightened my shoulders, and said, “I want to go out in the gardens for a walk.”

By some miracle my voice worked as it should. It didn’t shake, didn’t waver, and the guards were silent for a good moment after. They just looked ahead, or maybe at each other, and said nothing.

The thing was that I was going to get out of this palace tonight no matter what I had to do. I’d jump off thefucking gazebo if necessary—but I was going to get out of there.

So, I closed the door behind me and faked confidence I didn’t have. “Lead the way,” I said, like I did this on the regular.

The guards moved.

Holy fuck, they moved, and two of them started ahead down the hallway, and one followed after me. I didn’t allow myself to feel excited or relieved or anything at all, just focused on putting one foot in front of the other and keeping my eyes on the backs of the guards.

My room was on the sixth floor, all right, but the floors in this place were much higher than back home, so by the time we made it to the bottom of the main stairway, my quads were fucking burning.

I didn’t complain, though. We were on the ground floor, and more fae workers wearing all kinds of uniforms walked around me, and barely a few glanced my way as the guards led me behind the staircase, through doors made of polished wood and glass—and finally, outside.

The gardens stretched out before me like a dream made real—row upon row of trees full of golden blooms, their petals drifting down every now and again like silent rain. Moonlight caught on the fountains scattered throughout the greenery, giving the water an even more magical feel. Paths of pale stone curved between hedges and vines, and white marble benches were everywhere.

My God, what a view. It was too perfect, too polished, and for a moment, all I could think about was how easily a person could disappear among these flowers—and how badly I needed to.

The guards had stopped walking, and they didn’t follow when I went near a patch of gorgeous irises and brushedmy fingers over the soft petals—just to convince myself that they existed, that all of this was real.

It was.

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