Page 37 of Fractured
“May I suggest food first,” the lynx said, and fuck, he soundedexactlylike me, and it freaked me the hell out.
“No, no—no food. No…suggestions. Just—just talk. Tell me,” I said, trying but failing to hide my sudden panic, both from him and from myself.
“As you wish, Nilah Dune,” he said with such a human-like nod that I considered it a success that I hadn’t started running and banging my fists on those doors again already.
The real test was when the lynx stood up and came closer, and hopped onto the sofa, though on the other end. Screaming was out of the question. My muscles were locked tightly, so all I did was watch him sitting down, those blue eyes always on me, his tongue long and pink as he licked his lips one more time, then spoke as if he were a goddamn human trapped in an animal’s body.
“You are in the Ice Palace of the Frozen Court. I brought you here and the palace let you through. It has since locked itself down, I suspect until you prove your worth, and?—”
My heart tripped on itself so many times it wasn’t even funny. “Wait, wait, hold your horses,” I said—to a lynx.Both my hands were up in surrender, but I hadn’t stood up yet. “What do you mean,the palacelet you through and locked itself down—what the hell does that mean?!”
“It means the palace let you through and locked itself down.” He said this without batting an eye.
I wondered in what parallel universe would I have the guts to reach out and slap the hell out of a talking lynx.
“Yes, that is whatIsaid. Now is the part whereyousay what it actually means!” I said through gritted teeth, and like always, the anger, the irritation helped. They were my friends in situations like this because they combated the fear better than anything else I’d come across so far.
“It means the palace let you through, Nilah Dune. It?—”
“Just. Nilah.” Fuck, I sounded possessed just now.
But the lynx continued as if I hadn’t spoken at all. “The Ice Palace has locked itself down since the Ice Queen has gone. I come and go, but it will allow nobody else through the doors of the throne wing. It allowedyou.”
There went my mind, blank as a piece of paper. “Why are you talking about abuildinglike it’s a sentient being?”
This,of all things, surprised the lynx. “Because it is. The throne wing knows. Its magic is rooted deep inside Verenthia, as ancient as the stars. It is the first structure of this palace. The entire court was built around it.”
“Well, fuck.” The words slipped from me, but the lynx continued.
“It locked down upon our arrival, however, and it will not let you go until you’ve proven yourself worthy of being allowed inside.”
I shook my head and actually smiled at this.
Leaning forward, I rested my elbows on my knees and pressed the heels of my hands to my eyes for a moment.
God, this was so absurd I couldn’t even finda way to joke about it. Here I was, covered in dirt, dressed in that same white dress that was torn in several places, my hair a mess I didn’t dare even check with my hands, sitting on a sofa together with this creature who was talking to me about sentient fucking palaces.
“I never said I was worthy. I never wanted to come here. Does the palace care about that?” I said, not really sure which aspect of this whole mess to pick to go through first. Or to try to, at least.
“It is not about wanting to be worthy. It is about belonging,” he said.
“You don’t make a lot of sense, you know that?”
To my surprise, he nodded, and it was so fucking weird I had trouble believing my own eyes. “I haven’t in years.”
“How so?”
“I’m not sure,” he said. “But Iamsure that you will need to prove your worth before the palace lets you go.”
There we went again. “How? My worth forwhat?!” I shook my head. “I don’t understand.”
“That is up to you to decide,” the lynx said, his perked-up ears moving just slightly as if shivers went up to their tips. “You have to understand who you are…I think. You have to understandwhyyou are.”
“But I do. I’m Nilah Dune, a human from Earth, the former Lifebound of the Seelie Prince. That’s who I am.”
“No, no, that is not it,” said the lynx, again, just likeIwould say it. The same accent, the same voice.
“How would you know?!”
