Page 84 of Moonmarked

Muttering to myself, I continued to walk without even looking at the water, until the mist spread in the air everywhere, and I began to smell it, taste it on my tongue. It wasn’t a particular taste, just…heavy. And when I looked at the river, I realized I could hardly even see the water from the tendrils of white that continuously slipped from its surface.

Not only that, but it made it impossible to see anythingin the distance as well. It had swallowed Rune and Lyall whole.

Reminding myself that this was all part of the game, I continued ahead, slower now, eyes on the river, wondering when the actual game would start for me.

After what must have been minutes, the only thing I could make out was the silhouette of a bridge.

It was a stone bridge, arched in the middle, with vines and flowers wrapped around the thick railings, and it was somehow perfectly visible through the mist when I went closer.

Once more, I turned around to look for Rune or Lyall, but I saw nothing, not even the trees that had been there moments ago. Just the bridge.

“Must be the game,” I thought out loud to give myself some courage. But it had to be the game if the only thing I could really see was that bridge. It made sense that I should cross to the other side, I thought. So, holding the token I’d won tightly in my fist, I walked ahead and right onto the bridge.

The thick stone blocks looked sturdy enough. The bridge didn’t budge under my weight. It was narrow so I could hold onto the railings on both sides as I went, until I was in the very middle, right over the highest point of the arch, and I finally saw.

I saw Rune and Lyall by the edge of the river just a few feet apart, and they weren’t far at all. They were just there, which made no sense at all because I’d walked for at least a few minutes. I shouldn’t have been so close to them at all, yet there they were. Half hidden by the mist, staring at the water of the river like they could actually see something in it.

Taking in a deep breath, I prepared to call for them, to tell them where I was—but I never got the chance.

Suddenly, the mist from the river belowblewup all at once, like it was steam coming from a chimney. It took away the view of the river and the men, and even the railing right in front of me. I couldn’t see it, even though I felt the cold stone underneath my hands.

It scared me shitless, but there was no time to scream or jump back before the mist began to gain color and shapes right in front of my eyes.

It quickly began to turn into an image, and it was so real. The very next moment, I was looking at…

“Rune.”

The name slipped from my lips, and suddenly everything around me disappeared. The mist and the river and the bridge I stood on—it all disappeared somewhere in the background, and the perfectly clear image that was in front of me waseverything.

Rune was standing there, smiling ear to ear, his hair combed back, his eyes vivid—and he saw me, too. He was standing near a tree in a forest somewhere all by himself, one hand in his pocket, and he wasbeaming,like nothing at all concerned him, nothing held him back. He wasn’t afraid or suspicious or anything at all—he was just completely focused on me with his mind and his body and his heart. He looked…in loveas he watched me, like he couldn’t wait to get to me, like this time, when he grabbed me in his arms, it would be forever. We werenevergoing to be apart again, not for a second.

No more setbacks, no more secrets, no more lies—just us. We wouldn’t hide. We could just…be.

And as if to prove every thought that went through my head—and I knew each one of them with absolutecertainty—Rune took a step closer to me and slowly reached out his hand for mine.

My heart jumped. Every instinct in me came alive, and I wanted to jump in his arms already. This wasit,all my dreams coming true! This was all I wanted, even if I’d never seen it so clearly before.

This was it for me, and finally, I could be happy. Really, truly happy.

So, I reached out my hand for his without hesitation. There were tears in my eyes and my heart was galloping in my chest, and Rune was right there, and…

Then he was gone.

The colors, the image, thelightthat had been shining on me disappeared the moment I thought I touched his fingertip with mine. All of it—gone.

I turned, looked to the sides as the panic settled on my shoulders, and those tears, nownothappy at all, spilled down my cheeks in a rush.

The colors were gone. Instead, I was surrounded by that mist that dulled everything around me—the mist rising from the river.

The fuckingIllusion Gamethat Lyall had brought us to play!

If the railing of that bridge hadn’t been there to hold my weight, I’d have collapsed. My heart broke so completely it couldn’t possibly be real. Rune had been there, my heart’s true desire, exactly like I yearned to see him, open and carefree and completelymine—and now he was gone.

Because it had never been real, that image.Illusion. Just an illusion.

And I’d lost Round Three of this fucking game.

Wiping my eyes with the hem of the dress, I forced myself to breathe, to straighten my shoulders, to walkdown the bridge and away from this fucking place right now. I was right when I said I didn’t want to play this stupid game, and I had no idea just how much.

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