Page 10 of Moonmarked

The boy pulled me to a halt, and the view in front of me tilted. He’d stopped us at the edge of a building that could have been someone’s house judging by the big yard and the table for two set in the middle of the perfectly trimmed grass. There, sitting across from one another were a man and a woman playing what looked like chess—except the pieces werealive,and they were moving on their own while the fae looked at them. They were hissing at the air, even cheering. Thank God I was far enough away that I didn’t see what they were exactly, if they had faces—but Iheardthem, and those sounds became part of my nightmare repertoire, too.

“This is Malina’s carriage, right over there,” the boy said, forcing me to focus on him for a change, and I did. He looked even younger from closer up, possibly Fiona’s age, which made my heart squeeze into a fist. His skin was flawless, his ears so sharp they looked like they could cut my finger if I reached out to touch them.

I shook my head to clear it, blinked fast to focus on where he was pointing—a carriage half in size as the one I had been in, and the back of it was completely open, too.

“Who’s Malina?” I whispered, pulling the silk over my mouth, hiding my face as much as I could. Nobody was looking my way, true, but how long until guards showed up searching for me?

“She trades with the merfolk. She takes merchandise to the Mercove every Sunday, and she’ll let you ride in her carriage. I’ll talk to her,” the boy said.

There were a lot of things that made me uncomfortable about this situation, not just the fact that I was lying through my teeth. So many questions and so many things that could go wrong—but it all went down the drain with a single thought:what other choice do I have? I either went with it, did whatever I needed to do to get out of this court and hide until Rune found me, or I could try to make a run for it now and ruin this little chance I had.

I swallowed hard. “What if she refuses?” I dared to ask, just so I could try to make another plan and move quickly if that was the case.

The boy looked confused of a moment. “Did the seer say that she will?”

Oh, hell… “No.”

“Then she won’t.” He nodded, like he knew it for a factnow. Because he thought the fucking seer had said so. “You will tell her about me, right?”

I cleared my throat. “Of course. As soon as I deliver this and come back.” I touched the silk around my shoulders for extra effect.

The boy smiled. “I’m Rikkin, by the way—of the Ores. In case she asks.”

I forced my lips to stretch, too, and felt like the biggest villain in the world. Never mind that I was running for my life here—I felt filthy for lying to this boy because he believed me.

“I’ll make sure to tell her that,” I said—and that was the last time I had to lie to him.

four

I climbedinto the back of the carriage and squeezed between crates of herbs wrapped in linen and bound with twine. The scent was a bit overwhelming—earthy, sharp, something like pine but not quite. It didnotsit well with my empty stomach.

Three fae were already in there, a guy with yellowish golden hair who barely glanced up before he returned to the book he was reading, and two women who were too busy sorting through a satchel of dried leaves to even notice I’d climbed into the carriage.

The boy—Rikkin—had gone to talk to the owner of this carriage, and I could see him there, just at the edge of the building. A woman I assumed was Malina wore a cream-colored cloak over her shoulders, and a mean expression on her face as Rikkin whispered something in her ear. She stood there, hands on her hips, watching. She didn’t move, didn’t speak—but her golden eyes locked on mine through the first row of crates behind which I sat, and my breath caught in my throat.

She knows, she knows, she knows!

But the woman said nothing, didn’t scream for me to get out of her carriage. Whatever Rikkin had told her had worked because she turned around and went inside the building, and then Rikkin smiled at me. Smiled—as if to say that everything was okay.

By some miracle, everythingreallywas.

Because Rikkin walked away, and Malina came out of the building and put the hood of her cloak on and shouted for someone toprepare for departure.

I hardly breathed, and my heart galloped so fast in my chest I was surprised I was still conscious.

The horses the carriage was tied to moved. The wheels underneath us turned, took us forward.

I was genuinelyshockedthat I was on my way.

“Hey, you.”

My stomach fell. I turned to the guy reading on the other side of the carriage. He was looking right at me. “Who are you?” he asked.

The women who were handling those herbs still finally looked up at me passively.

I thought my voice wouldn’t work at all, but… “Nobody.”

The women returned to their herbs. The man shrugged. “Aren’t we all?” And he continued to read his book.

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